ArticleBMC health services research2021
A community-based program to reduce acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in northern Australia.
Article in BMC health services research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Assessing mothers' knowledge and attitudes towards rheumatic fever and the chronic nature of rheumatic heart disease: an analysis of influential factors.BMJ paediatrics open · 2026Article
- Integrating equity and justice in rheumatic heart disease policy: addressing reproductive health challenges.International journal of public health · 2026Article
- Infectious disease outcomes associated with inadequate housing and access to healthy living practices in Australia: a systematic review.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Community co-design of contextually relevant rheumatic heart disease primary prevention.BMJ global health · 2025Article
- Acceptability and Implementation Challenges of Benzathine Penicillin G Secondary Prophylaxis for Rheumatic Heart Disease in Ethiopia: A Qualitative Study.Global heart · 2025Article
- Rheumatic Heart Disease Burden in Africa and the Need to Build Robust Infrastructure.JACC. Advances · 2024Review
- Agreement between Handheld and Standard Echocardiography for Diagnosis of Latent Rheumatic Heart Disease in Brazilian Schoolchildren from High-Prevalence Settings (Agreement between Screening and Standard Echo for RHD).Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Research priorities for the primordial prevention of acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease by modifying the social determinants of health.BMJ global health · 2023Review
- Evaluation of a Community-Led Program for Primordial and Primary Prevention of Rheumatic Fever in Remote Northern Australia.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Rheumatic heart disease prevalence in Namibia: a retrospective review of surveillance registers.BMC cardiovascular disorders · 2022Article
- The projections of global and regional rheumatic heart disease burden from 2020 to 2030.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn Australia's north, Aboriginal peoples live with world-high rates of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and its precursor, acute rheumatic fever (ARF); driven by social and environmental determinants of health. We undertook a program of work to strengthen RHD primordial and primary prevention using a model addressing six domains: housing and environmental support, community awareness and empowerment, health literacy, health and education service integration, health navigation and health provider education. Our aim is to determine how the model was experienced by study participants.
methodsThis is a two-year, outreach-to-household, pragmatic intervention implemented by Aboriginal Community Workers in three remote communities. The qualitative component was shaped by Participatory Action Research. Yarning sessions and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 individuals affected by, or working with, ARF/RHD. 31 project field reports were collated. We conducted a hybrid inductive-deductive thematic analysis guided by critical theory.
resultsAboriginal Community Workers were best placed to support two of the six domains: housing and environmental health support and health navigation. This was due to trusting relationships between ACWs and families and the authority attributed to ACWs through the project. ACWs improved health literacy and supported awareness and empowerment; but this was limited by disease complexities. Consequently, ACWs requested more training to address knowledge gaps and improve knowledge transfer to families. ACWs did not have skills to provide health professionals with education or ensure health and education services participated in ARF/RHD. Where knowledge gain among participant family members was apparent, motivation or structural capability to implement behaviour change was lacking in some domains, even though the model was intended to support structural changes through care navigation and housing fixes.
conclusionsThis is the first multi-site effort in northern Australia to strengthen primordial and primary prevention of RHD. Community-led programs are central to the overarching strategy to eliminate RHD. Future implementation should support culturally safe relationships which build the social capital required to address social determinants of health and enable holistic ways to support sustainable individual and community-level actions. Government and services must collaborate with communities to address systemic, structural issues limiting the capacity of Aboriginal peoples to eliminate RHD.
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