(HIpE) 2009 Program and Abstracts - Health Sciences - Curtin ...

AbstractsExperiential interprofessional remote and Indigenous health education in the bush - CountryWeekHelen McHugh, Hamish Morgan, Corrina Pesich, Ivan Lin & Des ThompsonCombined Universities Centre for Rural Health - CUCRHNowhere is there a greater priority for health professionals to work together effectively as a team than in remotehealth service delivery. But understanding remote health is complex. Whilst epidemiological data clearlydemonstrates the poorer health status of those in remote regions, particularly for Aboriginal people,understanding the factors underpinning this scenario is hard to appreciate from a book. Furthermore thesestatistics fail to elaborate on the powerful connections people have to living in remote areas as well as thepotential benefits these places can have on health and well being, and this relationship may be used to facilitatedelivering health care in this context.Since 2002 the Combined Universities Centre for Rural Health has offered a program called Country Week toaddress this. Country Week is an annual one week intensive interprofessional program that focuses on remoteand Indigenous health, and is offered in a remote or rural place. It is offered to all Australian resident studentsstudying health courses in the five major Western Australian universities. Country Week is underpinned by anumber of guiding principles. It is firmly based on experiential interprofessional education. It is offered as muchas is possible as a partnership with people and organizations in remote regions where we carefully considernotions of reciprocity between students and community. The process of reflection is key to facilitating learning.This presentation will focus on the immediate impact of Country Week on students, discuss brieflyconsiderations in delivering this program, and more broadly, our views on the place of such programs inaddressing remote and Indigenous health.Interprofessional experience opportunities in Curtin’s Activity, Food and Attitudes Program:A multidisciplinary program for overweight and obese adolescents.Melissa Davis, Mahi Weiss, Leon Straker & Margo BrewerCurtin University of TechnologyApproximately 25% of all Australian young people are overweight or obese. This historically unprecedented rateis believed to be contributed to by changes to environmental and societal factors such as a decrease in physicalactivity, an increase in sedentary behavior and the availability of high fat, high energy food. Overweight andobese adolescents are likely to become obese adults, and are at an increased risk for a range of short-term andlong-term psychosocial and medical problems. Therefore, treating obesity in adolescence is an important priorityfor health-care providers. Given the multiple factors contributing to adolescent obesity, best practice guidelinesspecify that treatments offered in a family context and incorporating strategies from multiple domains are mostlikely to be efficacious. This presents a challenge for health professionals to effectively work together to presentan intervention.Staff and students from physiotherapy, dietetics, psychology, social work, health promotion and medicalprofessionals have developed a program for overweight and obese adolescents and their parents, based on aprogram developed at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children. Participants attend two-hour sessions, twice aweek for 8 weeks, involving exercise sessions for adolescents, and education sessions for adolescents and parents.The program aims to create changes in family habits which will lead to long term and sustainable changes.Developing and implementing the multidisciplinary intervention has provided staff and students excellentopportunities to learn about other health professions and how multidisciplinary collaboration can maximizepositive outcomes for clients.Health Interprofessional Education (HIpE 2009) — Student Conference 8