title: Boundary crossers, communities, and health: exploring the role of rural health professionals.
abstract: Boundary crossers understand the culture and language of community and health service domains and have the trust of both. Rural health professionals living within the communities they serve are ideally placed to harness community capacity so as to influence community-level determinants of health. We analyse five case studies of rural health professionals acting as boundary crossers against indicators of capacity for communities and external agents such as health services working in partnership. A more explicit evidence base for inclusion of community health development in the jobs of rural health professionals is needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rural Health, University of Tasmania, Locked Bag 1372, Launceston, Tasmania 7250, Australia. Sue.Kilpatrick@utas.edu.au
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kilpatrick
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cheers
authors.forename: Marisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gilles
authors.forename: Judy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Taylor
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D024382:Professional Role; D012423:Rural Health; D019035:Rural Health Services; D013021:South Australia; D013648:Tasmania; D014904:Western Australia; D000078329:Workforce