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Strengthening the knowledge base of primary health care

The mission of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute (APHCRI) is to provide national leadership in improving the quality and effectiveness of primary health care through the conduct of high quality priority-driven research and the support and promotion of best practice. It focuses on important sectoral questions relating to the organisation, financing, delivery and performance of primary health care, including its interaction with public health and the secondary and tertiary health care sectors.

The Institute's Research Advisory Board has determined that the research priorities for APHCRI are:

• Innovation in State/Commonwealth relationships
• Innovation in funding arrangements for new or existing services/models
• Innovation in organisation and linkages within the Primary Health Care sector

In undertaking all aspects of its work, APHCRI places high value on:

• respectful engagement of policy makers, practitioners and their organisations, consumers and their organisations and the research community
• genuine partnerships, collaboration and teamwork with its associates and stakeholders
• scientific independence and academic excellence
• ethical practice, transparency, openness and accountability
• practical and policy relevance to Primary Health Care priorities and issues in Australia
• avoiding duplication of work undertaken by other programs or organisations
• innovation and an orientation towards the future of Primary Health Care in Australia.

APHCRI Streams of Work

Domain	Topic	Stream	Lead Investigator	Lead Investigator's institution
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander PHC	•  Sustaining an Aboriginal mental health service partnership	Stream One	A/Professor Jeffrey Fuller	The University of Sydney
	• Sustainable chronic disease management in remote Australia	Stream One	Professor John Wakerman	Flinders University of South Australia
	• Mapping Aboriginal Health Partnerships for the Evidence policy Transfer (MAHPET)	Stream Five	A/Professor Jeffrey Fuller	The University of Sydney
Adolescent/child health	•  A trial of new ways to encourage adolescent Australians to avoid or reduce risk behaviours like smoking, drinking, drug use and unprotected sex	Stream Three	Dr Lena Sanci	The University of Melbourne
	•  Interventions to prevent growth faltering in remote indigenous communities	Stream Four	Professor Ross Bailie	Menzies School of Health Research/ Flinders University of South Australia
	•  Preventing overweight and obesity in young children: synthesising the evidence for management and policy making	Stream Four	Professor Donna Cross	Edith Cowan University
	•  Building a portfolio of interventions for primary health care providers to promote healthy weight among young children	Stream Five	Professor Donna Cross	Edith Cowan University
	•  Primary health care and readiness for school	Hub Research	Ms Karen Gardner	The Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute
Chronic disease management	•  Sustainable chronic disease management in remote Australia	Stream One	Professor John Wakerman	Flinders University
	•  Caring for a marginalised community: the costs of engaging with culture and complexity	Stream One	Dr Gary Rogers	The University of Adelaide
	•  Models of chronic disease management in primary for patients with mild to moderate asthma or COPD	Stream Four	A/Professor Alan Crockett	The University of Adelaide
	•  A systematic review of chronic disease management	Stream Four	Professor Nicholas Zwar	University of New South Wales
	•  Southern Highlands Division of General Practice diabetes program - report on implementation	Hub Research	A/Prof Beverly Sibthorpe	The Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute
	•  European Observatory - Chronic Disease	Hub Research	Professor Nicholas Glasgow	The Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute
	•  Serious and continuing illness policy and practice study	Hub Research	Professor Nicholas Glasgow	The Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute
E-health	•  Electronic data for primary health care outcomes	Hub Research	Dr Chris Kelman	The Australian National University
Mental health	•  Sustaining an Aboriginal mental health service partnership	Stream One	A/Professor Jeffrey Fuller	The University of Sydney
	• Exploratory economic analyses of two primary care mental health projects: implications for sustainability	Stream One	Professor Jane Gunn	The University of Melbourne
	• Re-order - Re-organising care for depression and related disorders in the Australian primary health care setting	Stream Three	Professor Jane Gunn	The University of Melbourne
	• Extending Re-order - Tasmanian and cross-cultural component	Stream Five	Professor Jane Gunn	The University of Melbourne
	• Models of mental health delivery: efficacy, support and policy	Stream Four	Professor Helen Christensen	The Australian National University
	• Primary care management of comorbid mental health and drug and alcohol problems	Stream Five	Professor Helen Christensen	The Australian National University
Multidisciplinary teams	• Co-ordination of care within primary health care and with other sectors: a systematic review	Stream Four	A/Professor Gawaine Powell Davies	University of New South Wales
	• Integration, co-ordination and miltidisciplinary care in Australia: growth via optimal governance arrangements	Stream Four	Professor Claire Jackson	The University of Queensland
	• Integration, co-ordination and miltidisciplinary approaches in primary care: a systematic investigation of the literature	Stream Four	Professor David Currow	Flinders University of South Australia
Primary health care models/delivery	• SIREN project: Systems innovation and reviews of evidence in primary health care: narrative review of innovative models for comprehensive primary health care delivery	Stream Four	Dr Lucio Naccarella	The University of Melbourne
	•  Systematic review of comprehensive primary health care models	Stream Four	Ms Julie McDonald	University of New South Wales
	• A systematic review of primary health care delivery models in rural and remote Australia 1993 - 2006	Stream Four	Professor John Wakerman	Flinders University of South Australia
Primary health care performance	• Qualitative study of the impact of National Performance Indicators on Divisions' planning	Hub Research	A/Prof Beverly Sibthorpe	The Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute
	• Development of a pool of common local performance indicators	Hub Research	A/Prof Beverly Sibthorpe	The Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute
Practice nursing	• Australian General Practice Nurses Study	Stream Three	Dr Christine Phillips	The Australian National University
	• Practice Nurse Adolescent Clinic for Health Evaluation (PANACHE )	Stream Five	Professor Kelsey Hegarty	The University of Melbourne
Preventative medicine	• Implementation of a SNAP intervention in two divisions of general practice: a feasibility study	Stream One	Professor Mark Harris	University of New South Wales
	• 45-49 year old chronic disease prevention health checks in general practice: utilisation, acceptability and effectiveness	Stream Five	Professor Mark Harris	University of New South Wales
Rural and remote PHC	• A/Professor Jeffrey Fuller and Professor John Wakerman's projects both deal with rural and remote issues (see above and below)	Stream One	A/Professor Jeffrey Fuller Professor John Wakerman	The University of Sydney Flinders University of South Australia
	• Implementation, sustainability and generalisation of exemplary models of PHC service delivery in rural and remote Australia: a case study analysis	Stream Five	Professor John Wakerman	Flinders University of South Australia
Self-help organisations	• A critical evaluation of the benefits of self-help organisations to people who suffer chronic diseases and examine ways to improve links between the groups and General Practitioners	Stream Three	Dr Frances Boyle	The University of Queensland
Workforce	• An investigation into the evidence base for competency-based training in primary health care settings, specifically on chronic disease in the general practice context	Hub Research	Professor Nicholas Glasgow	The Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute
	• Optimising the primary mental health care workforce: how can effective psychological treatments for common mental disorders best be delivered in primary health care?	Stream Six	Dr Grant Blashki	The University of Melbourne
	• The contribution of approaches to organisational change in optimising the primary care workforce	Stream Six	Professor James Dunbar	Flinders University of South Australia
	• What is the place of generalism in the 2020 primary care team?	Stream Six	Professor Jane Gunn	The University of Melbourne
	• Improving primary health care workforce retention in small rural and remote communities - how important is ongoing education and training?	Stream Six	Professor John Humphreys	Monash University
	• Review of primary and community care nursing	Stream Six	Professor Helen Keleher	Monash University
	• The expanding role of generalists in rural and remote health: A systematic review	Stream Six	A/Professor Dennis Pashen	Australian College of Rural and Remmote Medicine
	• What is the place of generalism in mental health care in Australia? A systematic review of the literature	Stream Six	Dr David Perkins	University of New South Wales
	• Attracting health professionals into primary care: Strategies for recruitment	Stream Six	A/Professor Jill Thistlewaite	The University of Sydney
	• Optimising skill mix in the primary healthcare workforce for the care of older Australians	Stream Six	Professor Nicholas Zwar	University of New South Wales
	• Optimising residential aged care workforce: Leadership and management	Hub Research	Dr Yun-Hee Jeon	The Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute