Implementation and evaluation of an innovative student-led rehabilitation and lifestyle service in Northern Australia for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with chronic and disabling conditions: A pilot study

This fellowship entitled ‘Implementation and evaluation of an innovative student-led rehabilitation and lifestyle service in Northern Australia for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with chronic and disabling conditions: A pilot study’ will pilot an innovative rehabilitation and lifestyle service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in Napranum and Weipa. An interprofessional student-led service model will be designed in partnership with Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service (TCHHS), James Cook University Centre for Rural and Remote Health (MICRRH) and Apunipima Cape York Health Council (ACYC). A sequential mixed methodology will be used to evaluate the service from stakeholders’ perspectives: participants, allied health students, Aboriginal and allied health workforce and collaborating organisations. To privilege the voices of Aboriginal people, Indigenous methodologies will be used.

The pilot will run over 7 months with university students from different allied health professions (e.g. Dietetics, Physiotherapy, Social Work) allocated to Weipa for a clinical placement. Services will be individual or group, centre- or community-based. Professional supervision for students will be provided by local allied health professionals. The service model will be supported by the language and framework of the WHO International Classification for Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF).

This project will provide a model for other health organisations, universities and remote communities seeking innovative ways to provide rehabilitation and lifestyle services to remote communities across Northern Australia. If successful, in 2019 this model will be piloted in additional remote communities of Northern Australia.

There is a disproportionally high prevalence of chronic conditions within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Paradoxically, there is a dearth of community rehabilitation and lifestyle services for people living with the disabling consequences of chronic disease (e.g. generalized functional decline, stroke, and amputation). In Northern Australia, rehabilitation and lifestyle services are particularly scarce due to remoteness of communities and the limited number, and fluctuating availability, of allied health professionals.