Everyone creates influence during their lives. This may be consciously or unconsciously, through communication, actions or behaviours. A person can be influential through who they are or what they do, such as through their creativity, dependency, vulnerability, position and example. In complex health organisations, we need effective leadership that articulates vision, inspires, provides guidance and influences, and strong management to plan, organise, direct and control. Leaders and managers have different roles, functions and skill sets. These actions may be visionary, inspirational, task-focused, long or short term, through empowerment and supervision. These roles and responsibilities may be different but need to achieve impact in influencing.

Effective leadership and management can have a ‘strong positive influence on workplace empowerment, increase nurses’ job satisfaction and decrease the frequency of adverse patient outcomes’. Healthcare professionals must understand the main theories of leadership and management and how these approaches translate into improving work practices, so that they might develop their own work capacity. This chapter presents leadership and management theories used by healthcare professionals to inform their practice.

Politics is an inevitable feature of organisational life, particularly in large bureaucratic organisations such as hospitals or government departments. Political activities arise when there is a lack of consensus about how an organisation should be managed. They are typically employed to reconcile these divergent interests, which may be the result of competition for resources within the organisation, the pursuit of personal goals by individuals or a high level of uncertainty within the organisation.

The health and well-being of families is an important consideration for federal, state, and/or local levels of government. Family health policies based on recent knowledge of early childhood development have evolved to emphasise the importance of providing every child with the best possible start to life. Childhood sets the foundation for future health and well-being and is recognised by the 1979 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. To impact health inequalities, government policies and services must address the social determinants of early child health, development and well-being.

This chapter explores the relationship between primary health care (PHC), health literacy and health education with empowering individuals, groups and communities to improve and maintain optimum health. PHC philosophy encompasses principles of accessibility, affordability, sustainability, social justice and equity, self-determination, community participation and intersectoral collaboration, which drive health care service delivery and health care reform. Empowerment is a fundamental component of social justice, which seeks to redistribute power so those who are disadvantaged can have more control of the factors that influence their lives. Lack of empowerment is linked to poorer health outcomes due to limited control or agency, associated with poorer social determinants of health. This influences personal resources, agency and participation, as well as limited capacity to access services and opportunities. Health care professionals and systems need to work in ways to promote the empowerment of individuals, groups and communities to achieve better health outcomes.

Nurses and other health care professionals play a vital role in providing equitable, collaborative health care in the community. A primary health care approach is underpinned by the social model of health care and examines how social, environmental, economic and political factors affect the health of individuals, families and communities. An Introduction to Community and Primary Health Care provides a comprehensive and practical explanation of the fundamentals of this approach, preparing learners for professional practice in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

The fourth edition has been restructured into four parts covering theory, working with diverse communities, key skills for practice, and the professional roles that nurses and other health care practitioners can play in primary care and community health practice. Each chapter has been thoroughly revised to reflect the latest research and includes up-to-date case studies, reflection questions and critical thinking activities to strengthen students’ knowledge and analytical skills. A new postface reflects on the future directions of primary health care.

Written by an expert team of nurse authors with experience across a broad spectrum of professional roles, An Introduction to Community and Primary Health Care remains an indispensable resource for students of nursing and other health care professions.

Good nursing practice is based on evidence, and undertaking a community health needs assessment is a means of providing evidence to guide community nursing practice. A community health needs assessment is a process that examines the health status and social needs of a particular population. It may be conducted at a whole-of-community level, a sub-community level or even a subsystem level. Nursing practice frequently involves gathering data and assessing individuals or families to determine appropriate nursing interventions. This concept is transferable to an identified community when the community itself is viewed as the client.

Sex and gender have a significant relationship to health and health outcomes for women, men, and sexually and gender-diverse people. Sex relates to biological attributes, whether born female or male, while gender identity relates to how someone feels and experiences their gender, which may or may not be different to their physiology or sex at birth. Biological characteristics expose women and men to different health risks and health conditions. Gender also exposes people to different health risks, and gender inequity impacts on their potential to achieve health and well-being.

Chronic conditions, or non-communicable diseases, are the leading cause of death worldwide. Chronic conditions are responsible for 41 million deaths and 17 million premature deaths across the world each year. Most of these deaths are due to four major conditions: cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes. However, other chronic conditions, including injuries that result in persistent disability and mental health disorders, also contribute to increased morbidity and mortality. The significant increase in preventable chronic conditions and the need to manage these are major healthcare concerns of the industrialised world.

Primary health care (PHC) is a philosophy or approach to health care where health is acknowledged as a fundamental right, as well as an individual and collective responsibility. A PHC approach to health and health care engages multisectoral policy and action which aims to address the broader determinants of health; the empowerment of individuals, families and communities in health decision making; and meeting people’s essential health needs throughout their life course. A key goal of PHC is universal health coverage, which means that all people have access to the full range of quality health services that they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship.

In the ‘classic’ sense, health professionals often view the health of individuals from a three-part biopsychosocial model of health. In this case, the ‘psych’ part relates directly to ‘mental health’. However, it is important to resist the temptation to separate this part from the bio and social aspects of the well-established model. Instead, it is best to view all parts of the established model as equally important and inter-related to each other. For instance, it is difficult to maintain good mental health and well-being if we lack either good social or ‘bio’ (physical) health. Traditionally, however, health professionals have tended to focus on the physical health component of the biopsychosocial model, especially those working in acute hospital/clinic environments. From a primary health care perspective, the ‘social’ (community development-focused) aspect is supposed to be the most dominant part of the model.