HS5101 - Primary Health Care Research

Credit points:	03
Year:	2016
Student Contribution Band:	Band 2
Administered by:	College of Medicine & Dentistry

Available to all postgraduate students in health sciences programs.

To ensure evidence based care, primary and community health care practitioners need to apply research, be involved in research projects and undertake their own research. Students will gain knowledge and skills to undertake research in Primary Health Care (PHC) and other health and community settings. This subject introduces a broad range of research methodologies, including quantitative and qualitative and mixed methods. Students will gain an understanding of issues unique to PHC research, including the practical implications of conducting research in rural and remote settings, with Indigenous people and in cross-cultural and low-resourced settings. They will appreciate ethical issues such as confidentiality, informed consent and access to information. Students will acquire skills in applying critical appraisal techniques to a wide range of health literature to their own area of professional practice. The concepts, collection and implementation of evidence based practice will be explored. Students will also gain skills in effective proposal and grant development for research funding, evaluation in PHC as well as research dissemination through publications, conferences, and the media and policy makers. During the semester students will be supported to develop a research idea that they could undertake in their workplace or in a research subject. Past students have included clinical, community and public health professionals from outside the primary health care sector.

Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate an understanding of the history and development of PHC research;
• Appreciate the issues unique to PHC Research, including ethical issues, rural and remote research, and research with Indigenous people;
• Critique and apply PHC research evidence through an understanding of the concepts, collection and implementation of evidence based practice;
• Understand the processes involved in developing a research proposal, through proposal writing, reviewing the literature, budgeting, designing methodologies, project management, data analysis and write-up;
• Understand the issues of disseminating PHC research outcomes through publications, conference presentations and working with the media and policy makers; and apply a range of PHC research and evaluation methods and skills and grant and proposal writing.

Availabilities
External, Study Period 1
Census Date 24-Mar-2016
Coordinator:	Dr Robyn Preston
Lecturer:	Professor Sarah Larkins.
Method of Delivery:	WWW - LearnJCU
Assessment:	tutorial attendance and participation (10%); assignments (20%); research question outline due week 8 (30%); power point presentation paper and conference poster due week 13 (40%).
Special Assessment Requirements:	Satisfactory completion of all assessment items
Restrictions:	An enrolment quota applies to this offering.

Note: Minor variations might occur due to the continuous Subject quality improvement process, and in case of minor variation(s) in assessment details, the Subject Outline represents the latest official information.