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TAS PHCRED SYMPOSIUM
The 5th Annual State Conference
28 November 2008
Ellen McIntyre, PHC RIS and Theresa Doherty, Statewide Coordinator, Tas PHCRED
Building Primary Health Care Research Communities of Practice the theme of the Tasmania PHCRED Symposium was illustrated in various ways by most of the presentations made by both keynote speakers and early career researchers.
Professor James Dunbar from Greater Green Triangle, University Department of Rural Health, Flinders and Deakin University, described how he had established and developed the GGT Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Partnership. He outlined the key features of an effective partnership - people with complimentary skills committed to a common purpose, with agreed goals, and an approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. In addition, there needs to be a WIFM (what's in it for me) for those involved as well as shared values where the members put the collective group first and have an end product orientation. This partnership has built on the foundations of using data for monitoring, engaging wide support, having adequate resources and getting on with it! Following risk factor studies, this partnership is now embarking on an RCT with 20 general practices examining a complex intervention to manage comorbid depression, heart disease and diabetes.
Other presentations included the evaluation (by Kim Jose) of the Family Food Patch project where training peer educators in children's nutrition, physical activity and community action was found to be in an effective way of changing nutrition and physical activity behaviours at a local community level. Emily Shepherd in her study of print based media found that the media, because of their “appropriate activities for later life” messages, may be contributing to the low physical activity rates among older adults. Managing hypertension, quitting smoking, physiotherapy services, COPD, assessment of physical activity, breastfeeding in late pre-term infants, sexual dysfunction, hearing loss, MRSA, foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and friendships for young people with intellectual disabilities were other topics covered.
Building communities of practice requires people to talk to each other about their interests and needs so they can work together; something that most definitely happened throughout the day in this Tasmanian primary health care research community of practice.
Further information about the conference and Tas PHCRED can be found at <www.phcred.utas.edu.au>.
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