Application

This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required to integrate, into service provision, knowledge of social and cultural determinants that influence the health of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. It requires the ability to identify the social and cultural determinants of health for individual clients, families and the broader community, and to support clients and communities to access services beyond the health system. It covers skills to promote awareness of social and cultural determinants of health to clients, communities and external service providers.
This unit is specific to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people working as health workers or health practitioners. They work as part of a multidisciplinary primary health care team to provide primary health care and other support services to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander clients and communities.
The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State or Territory legislation, Australian standards and industry codes of practice.
No occupational licensing, certification or specific legislative requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication. For information about practitioner registration and accredited courses of study, contact the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia (ATSIHPBA).

What You'll Learn

Assessment Requirements

Performance Evidence

Evidence of the ability to complete tasks outlined in elements and performance criteria of this unit in the context of the job role, and:
• collect information on the social and cultural determinants of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health from three credible sources and evaluate relevance to the local state, territory or local community
• promote awareness of determinants during one interaction with each of the following:
• an individual client or family
• community representatives
• external health service or social support providers
• consult with three different Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander clients or families to identify underlying social and cultural factors influencing their health
• for each client or family, source information from two non-health related social support service providers to meet their individual needs and:
• provide information resources and explain to client
• advise on the services and assist client to access.

Knowledge Evidence

Demonstrated knowledge required to complete the tasks outlined in elements and performance criteria of this unit:
• World Health Organization definition of social determinants of health
• key aspects of social determinants of health and how conditions for the following influence health outcomes for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people nationally, and at a state or territory and local community level:
• early childhood development
• education and literacy
• employment, income and working conditions
• environment, housing, services and utilities
• food security and affordability
• social support
• access to health services
• systematic racism
• historical issues:
• colonisation, historical government policies and lack of self-determination
• intergenerational trauma
• key aspects of cultural determinants of health and how the following influence health outcomes for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people:
• traditional cultural practices and lifestyle
• spiritual and cultural connections to country
• cultural values and beliefs, particularly holistic view of health
• preferences for western medicine or traditional/cultural healing including the use of bush medicines and traditional healers
• difference between addressing risk factors for illness and lifestyle modification, and addressing underlying social causes of ill-health
• overview knowledge of social and cultural support services available in the community, state or territory:
• housing services
• education services
• employment services
• legal services
• advocacy organisations
• foodbanks
• domestic violence services and emergency shelters
• groups for different genders and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender; queer or questioning and intersex (LGBTQI) community
• Centrelink benefits
• facilities, services and groups that provide connection to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander culture
• barriers for local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people that impact access to health, social and cultural support services
• practices that health services can implement to provide better access to health services:
• documenting language preferences of clients, identifying language skills of staff and providing interpreter services
• extending clinic hours and locating clinics close to where people live and work
• providing transport to attend appointments and health promotion activities
• providing home visits, and regular clinics in remote community locations
• supporting clients to access external health service providers
• advocating on behalf of individuals and communities
• community protocols for obtaining permission to share community information
• techniques used to communicate on highly sensitive issues
• ethical, legal and cultural obligations to protect the privacy of client and community information, and the contents of organisational policies and procedures for maintaining confidentiality.

Assessment Conditions

Skills must be demonstrated in a health service workplace within a multidisciplinary primary health care team.
Evidence of performance must be gathered:
• during on-the-job assessments in the workplace under live conditions while interacting with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander clients and community representatives, or
• during off-the-job assessments in the workplace, not under live conditions, using simulated activities while interacting with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander clients and community representatives.
Evidence of workplace performance can be gathered and reported through third party report processes. (Refer to the Companion Volume Implementation Guide for information on third party reporting.)
Evidence can be supplemented by assessments in a simulated workplace environment using simulated activities, scenarios or case studies only when:
• the full range of situations covered by the unit cannot be provided in the individual’s workplace, or
• situations covered by the unit occur only rarely in the individual’s workplace.
Assessment must ensure the use of:
• interaction with external health and social support service providers either through actual work activities or simulations
• information resources from social support service providers
• resources from facilities, services and groups that provide connection to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander culture
• organisational policies and procedures for maintaining confidentiality of individual and community information.
Assessors must satisfy the Standards for Registered Training Organisations requirements for assessors, and:
• be an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person who has applied the skills and knowledge covered in this unit of competency through experience working as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker or practitioner, or
• be a registered health practitioner or a community service worker with experience relevant to this unit of competency and be accompanied by, or have assessments validated by, an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person.

Foundation Skills

• {'skill': 'Reading skills to:', 'description': 'interpret and evaluate unfamiliar and potentially complex information about social and cultural determinants of health and extract relevant information.'}
• {'skill': 'Oral communication skills to:', 'description': 'use language and terms sensitive to clients’ values and circumstances; ask open and closed probe questions and actively listen to elicit information from clients and determine understanding of information provided; present complex information about determinants of health to individuals and groups using language and terms suited to the audience.'}
• {'skill': 'Learning skills to:', 'description': 'use information provided in support service resources to update and extend knowledge of available services.'}
• {'skill': 'Initiative and enterprise skills to:', 'description': 'source information that meets the needs of specific clients and communities.'}
• {'skill': 'Self-management skills to:', 'description': 'critically evaluate specific determinants of health for clients and communities and determine appropriate responses.'}

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