BSWPHU delivers Introduction to Prevention and Population Health for ecosystem partners

Through consultation processes undertaken to develop the Barwon South West Public Health Strategy and Population Health Catchment plans, ecosystem partners prioritised the need for accessible workforce development opportunities that focused on population health and prevention to support the translation of evidence into practice. It was seen as critical that ecosystem partners have a shared understanding of the key concepts of prevention and population health enabling the foundations for collaborative action towards shared priorities.

In response, the Barwon South West Public Health Unit (BSWPHU) has developed and is delivering an Introduction to Prevention and Population Health four hour short course across the BSW catchment, in line with BSWPHU Implementation Plan 2023-24.

Facilitated by the BSWPHU Community Partnerships team, the sessions aim to:

• Build common understanding of the key concepts and frameworks used to promote health at a population level
• Support ecosystem partners to embed health promotion principles into practice
• Influence practice towards evidence informed and equitable practice.

150 participants registered for the 9 sessions offered across the region to optimise regional and rural participation.  Critical ecosystem partners including 8/10 Local governments, 10 /14 health services, 2/2 Regional Sports assemblies and the regions Women’s Health Service have staff registered to participate in the training.

To date, 7 sessions have been delivered – Warrnambool, Portland, Hamilton, Geelong, Point Lonsdale and Colac as well as one online with a combined attendance of 81 participants.  (69% participation rate from those registered (n=118). There was diverse representation from the prevention ecosystem including 15 participants from local government, 32 from health services, 21 from not for profit and 13 other organisations.

The remaining 2 sessions will be delivered in August.

Of the 81 participants 69 have completed the evaluation survey (response rate of 85%). Eighty eight percent of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that they would change their practice as a result of the training.  Practice change examples included increased collaboration with other agencies, knowledge building and embedding change at systems level.  Incorporation of frameworks and tools introduced in the training were highlighted as enablers to assist practice change (i.e. Ottawa Charter, Guiding Principles and systems thinking) and are indicative of the session aims.

When asked if the session increased the participants knowledge about prevention and population health, 97% either strongly agreed, or agreed that it did.

Overall the sessions were well attended with representation from a diverse range of ecosystem partners who all agreed or strongly agreed that the course was useful and provided a great opportunity for both cross sector and peer to peer connection.

The following quotes reflect key learnings:

• “Health promotion is an enormous area that is very complex”
• “Public health promotion is much more intersectional than I thought”
• “Knowledge alone won’t change behaviour…” “…complex health issues require a complex approach”
• “Remember to think bigger than self and partner, partner, partner!”

All who have completed the course will have the opportunity to participate in ongoing Communities of Practice to support the translation of what was learnt into practice.

Building the workforce capability will continue to be a focus of the BSWPHU in response to ongoing consultation with ecosystem partners. Other topics include planning and evaluation, systems thinking, accessing and interpreting local level data and strengthening  collaboration for action on shared priorities.

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