Taranaki community partnership model.
BACKGROUND
This exercise was undertaken as part of a re-engineering of community health services. 'Community' needed to be defined in order to understand its components, to develop a philosophy and a common understanding to assist in the re-engineering process.


OBJECTIVE
To define community health as it is understood by practitioners in the Taranaki province.


METHODS
Workshops were held involving as many community workers as possible. Newsletters kept staff informed of developments. Individual interviews and phone calls also featured.


RESULTS
A community partnership model was developed encompassing the concepts of equity, communication, responsiveness and sustainability. The people working within the model were staff, client and customer.


CONCLUSIONS
This was a worthwhile exercise that resulted in a unique model developed by practitioners for practitioners which gave a feeling of 'belonging' to a fragmented service. It has uses in further research, in education and in the day to day running of community services.
Sylvester
M R
MR
Taranaki Polytechnic, New Plymouth, New Zealand.
McTavish
S M
SM
D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019058:Community Networks / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D016294:Models, Nursing; D009520:New Zealand; D010687:Philosophy, Nursing; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000458:organization & administration*