AEW		Aboriginal Education Worker
AHW		Aboriginal Health Worker
ATAPS		Access to Allied Psychological Services
ATSI		Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
BP		Blood pressure
BMI		Body mass index
BSL		Blood sugar level
CCSM		Chronic condition self-management
CCTU		Coordinated care training unit
CDSM		Chronic disease self-management
CDSMP		Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (Stanford Course)
CS		Case Study
EPC		Enhanced Primary Care
EPDGP		Eyre Peninsula Division of General Practice
FFNDGP		Flinders and Far North Division of General Practice
FHBHRU		Flinders Human Behaviour and Health Research Unit
GP		General Practitioner
GPMP		GP Management Plan
LEHS		Lower Eyre Health Services
LEHSCHS		Lower Eyre Health Services Community Health Service
LIFE		Living Improvements for Everyone
MAHS		More Allied Health Services
MBS		Medicare Benefits Schedule
OATSIH		Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health
PAR		Participatory action research
PLAHS		Port Lincoln Aboriginal Health Service
PLHS		Port Lincoln Health Services
PIP		Practice Incentives Program
SGRHS		Spencer Gulf Rural Health School
SHCI		Sharing Health Care Initiative
SMaRT		self-management and Rating Tool
SIP		Service Incentive Payments
TCA		Team Care Arrangements
WHO		World Health Organisation

Allied Health		Comprises a wide range of health professionals. Under the (More Allied Health Services (MAHS) program it includes: Aboriginal health workers, Aboriginal mental health workers, audiologists, chiropodists, chiropractors, counsellors, dieticians/nutritionists, occupational therapists, orthoptists, orthotists/prosthetists, osteopaths, physiotherapists, podiatrists, psychologists, radiographers, Registered Nurses (asthma & diabetes educators, mental health, generalists and others), social workers & speech pathologists. (4)
Best practice		The benchmark against which programs can be evaluated. Best practice guidelines are statements based on the careful identification and synthesis of the best available evidence in a particular field. They are intended to assist people in that field, including both practitioners and consumers, to make the best use of the available evidence. (4)
Burden of disease		Refers to the loss of health and premature mortality at the population level. (2)
Capacity Building		Development of structures (organisational and physical) within the community that contribute to the overall health and well being of that community. (2)
Carer		A person whose life is affected by virtue of a close relationship and a caring role with a health care consumer. (4)
Chronic		A process that begins and proceeds slowly, and lasts over a long period of time. (2)
Co-morbidity		The co-occurrence of two or more health conditions, such as heart disease with depressive disorder. (4)
Demographic		A statistic characterising human populations (or segments of human populations broken down by age or sex or income). (4)
Depression		A mood disorder with prolonged feelings of being sad, hopeless, low and inadequate, with a loss of interest or pleasure in activities and often with suicidal thoughts and self blame. (4)
Disability		A concept of several dimensions relating to an impairment in body structure or function, a limitation in activities (such as mobility and communication), a restriction in participation (involvement in life situations such as work, social interaction and education), and the affected person's physical and social environment. (4)
Evidence based practice		A process through which professionals use the best available evidence integrated with professional expertise to make decisions regarding the care of an individual. It is a concept which is now widely promoted in the medical and allied health fields and requires practitioners to seek the best evidence from a variety of sources; critically appraise that evidence; decide what outcome is to be achieved; apply that evidence in professional practice; and evaluate the outcome. Consultation with the client is implicit in the process. (4)
Health Behaviours		Personal behaviours that impact on a person's health and well being. For example, nutrition and physical activity. (1)
Health indicator		A key statistic that indicates an aspect of population health status, health determinants, interventions, services or outcomes. Indicators are designed to help assess progress and performance, as a guide to decision making. They may have an indirect meaning as well as a direct one - for example, Australia's overall death rate is a direct measure of mortality but is often used as a major indicator of population health. (4)
Health promotion		is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. This incorporates actions not only at the level of the individual, but also aimed at building healthy public policy, creating supportive environments, strengthening community action, developing person skills and reorienting health services. (4)
Incidence		The rate at which new cases of a disease occur in a given place at a given time. (4)
Morbidity		Any departure, subjective or objective, from a state of physiological or psychological wellbeing. (4)
Mental health		The capacity of individuals within groups and the environment to interact with one another in ways that promote subjective wellbeing, optimal development and use of mental abilities (cognitive, affective and relational) and achievement of individual and collective goals consistent with justice (Australian Health Ministers 1991) (4)
Mental health problems		Diminished cognitive, emotional or social abilities, but not to the extent that the criteria for a mental illness are met. (4)
Mental illness		A diagnosable illness that significantly interferes with an individual's cognitive, emotional or social abilities. Also referred to as mental disorder. (4)
Population health		The health of whole communities or populations including both a population's health status and the determinants of health. (2)
Prevalence		The total number of cases of a specific disease in existence in a given population at a certain time. (2)
Prevention		In population health the following definitions apply to the stages at which prevention is undertaken across the continuum of disease. Primary prevention - the goal of which is to limit the incidence of disease and disability in the population by measures that eliminate or reduce causes or determinants of departures from good health, control exposure to risk, and promote factors that are protective of health. Secondary prevention - aims to reduce progression of the disease through early detection, usually by screening at an asymptomatic stage, and early intervention. Tertiary prevention - the goal of which is to improve function and includes minimisation of the impact of established disease, and prevention of complications and the establishment of chronic conditions through effective management and rehabilitation. (4)
Primary Health Care		Incorporates personal care with health promotion, the prevention of illness and community development. The philosophy of PHC includes the interconnecting principles of equity, access, empowerment, community self-determination and intersectoral collaboration. It encompasses an understanding of the social, economic, cultural and political determinants of health. (2)
Primary Care		Health care provided by a medical professional which is a client's first point of entry into the health system. Primary care is practised widely in nursing and allied health, but is predominantly in general practice. (2)
Primary care networks		Networks of providers of primary health care for a region or geographical area. (2)
Public health		Is one of the efforts organised by society to protect, promote and restore the people's health. It is the combination of sciences, skills and beliefs that is directed to the maintenance and improvement of the health of all the people through collective or social actions. The programs, services and institutions involved emphasise the prevention of disease and the health needs of the population as a whole. Public health activities change with changing technology and social values, but the goals remain the same: to reduce the amount of disease, premature death, and disease produced discomfort and disability in the population. Public health is thus a social institution, a discipline and a practice. Population health describes the condition, whereas public health is the practices, procedures, institutions, and disciplines required to achieve the desired state of population health. Public health in Australia seeks to improve health and wellbeing by focusing on whole populations. It aims to reduce disparities in health status between social groups and to influence the underlying social, economic, physical and biological determinants of health. Public health practice informs and empowers individuals and communities, creating health environments through the use of evidence informed strategies, best practice and quality improvement approaches and effective governance and accountability mechanisms. The National Public Health Partnership has a leadership role in this area in Australia. (4)
Self-efficacy		In the context of health, it is the belief in one's own ability to successfully perform a health behaviour. Self-efficacy is proposed as the most important prerequisite for behaviour change and will affect how much effort is put into a task and the outcome of that task. (3)
Specialist care		The health care provided by a health practitioner who is registered as a specialist under state or territory law; or holds a fellowship of a recognised specialist college; or is considered eligible for recognition as a specialist or consultant physician by a specialist recognition advisory committee. (4)
Socio-economic status		A relative position in the community as determined by occupation, income and level of education. (4)
Sustainability		Ability of something to continue for a period of time. (1)

Abbreviations & glossary