Aboriginal Health Workers: professional qualifications to match their health promotion roles
Miranda Rose and Lisa R. Jackson Pulver, Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit, University of New South Wales

Abstract

Issue addressed:
Aboriginal Health Workers are recognised as critical to meeting the health promotion needs of Indigenous communities, but addressing the complexity of these needs requires Aboriginal Health Workers to have a high level of professional skills and knowledge. Considerable progress has been made in developing health worker training programs, particularly in the vocational sector. However, a national review finds that training is still inadequate for enabling health workers to meet the level of communities' health needs and asks why this is so.

Methods:
To begin addressing the issues raised in the national review's question, this paper reviews a range of literature on the health promotion needs of Indigenous communities and the role of Aboriginal Health Workers in addressing these needs. It describes current vocational training provision for Aboriginal Health Workers, and the potential role of university-based programs to extend Aboriginal Health Worker professional qualifications to a level equivalent to allied health professionals.

Results:
This paper proposes that health promotion in Indigenous health is a specialist and central field of practice that is influenced by a complex range of factors. It also advocates that to practice effectively in this domain, Aboriginal Health Workers require sophisticated skills and knowledge at a level equivalent to other health professions. We contend that opportunities should be provided for Aboriginal Health Workers, if they choose to be qualified at a university level in parallel with other health professional qualifications.

Keywords:
Aboriginal health worker, health promotion, health worker education, health worker qualifications, health worker roles.



Health Promotion Journal of Australia 2004;15:240-4