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Follow the links below to find material targeted to the unit's elements, performance criteria, required skills and knowledge

Elements and Performance Criteria

1. Elements define the essential outcomes.
2. Review literature
   • Clearly identify health problem and community being addressed
   • Identify and access relevant sources of literature and data
   • Review the literature and data to reveal the established causes of the health problem, intervention programs and general information about the community
   • Critically appraise information accessed through literature review in terms of reliability and applicability
3. Collect other relevant data to further define community
   • Identify relevant types of data required to further define community
   • Collect required data that cannot be obtained through a literature search according to organisation procedures and ethical considerations
   • Document description of community in a manner that would provide sufficient information for purposes of evaluation and for examination of those considering duplicating interventions
4. Investigate the health problem as it occurs and is perceived within the community
   • Identify appropriate means of consulting with community regarding the health problem, its causes and appropriate interventions and solutions
   • Implement consultation with community and experts using allocated resources and according to organisation procedures and ethical considerations
   • Document results of consultation in a manner that supports planning, evaluating and duplicating interventions and according to organisation procedures and ethical considerations
5. Work with the community to define and prioritise their health needs
   • Clearly identify factors contributing to the health problem on the basis of findings from the literature review and other data collected and discuss with the community
   • Sort out, in a logical manner, factors that identify causal pathways defining health needs and discuss with the community
   • Recommend activities that would build the ongoing capacity of the community to identify their health needs to relevant stakeholders

Performance Evidence

The candidate must show evidence of the ability to complete tasks outlined in the elements and performance criteria of this unit, manage tasks and manage contingencies in the context of the job role. There must be demonstrated evidence that the candidate has:

facilitated at least 2 communities to identify, define and prioritise their own health needs including:

facilitating consultation between community and experts to identify and review literature and data to determine and understand causes and potential interventions

recommending at least 2 activities that would build the ongoing capacity of the community to identify their health needs.

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Knowledge Evidence

The candidate must be able to demonstrate essential knowledge required to effectively complete tasks outlined in the elements and performance criteria of this unit, manage tasks and manage contingencies in the context of the work role. This includes knowledge of:

legal and organisation requirements relating to identifying and assessing the health needs of a community, including:

ethical considerations

duty of care

equity issues in population health

evidence-based practice

relevant international charters/declarations and documents

national, State/Territory and local health policies, goals, targets and priorities

organisation standards, policies and procedures, including scope of own role and responsibilities

stakeholders or organisations for collaborative partnerships

strategies and activities that build the ongoing capacity of the community to identify their health needs

theory and practice of population health, including health promotion, and health protection and prevention of communicable and non-communicable diseases relating to identifying health needs

principles and techniques of consultation and participation

social change and advocacy processes

difference between and examples of qualitative and quantitative data

stages of health needs assessment

types of needs, including:

normative need (based on expert opinion)

expressed need (based on inferences made from observation of use of health services)

comparative need (base on examining the services provided in a similar communities)

felt need (based on what members of the community say they need)

sources of information and processes for critical appraisal of literature

common health problems of a community and causal pathways, including the following components:

risk markers (identify the target group, outlines the characteristics associated with occurrence of problem but do not necessarily directly contribute to it)

risk factors (directly account for why the problem is occurring)

contributing factors (contribute to or account for the risk factors and could be sorted out into predisposing factors, enabling factors and reinforcing factors).

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