The development of faith community nursing programs as a response to changing Australian health policy

This article discusses the context of Australian health care and the policy directions being implemented to meet current challenges. It demonstrates why and how faith community nursing/nurses (FCN) programs commenced within Australia as an innovative response to health policy, changing health needs and altering social and economic trends. The FCN demonstration project is described, and the unfolding FCN role and its relationship to the evolving health care continuum is discussed. Faith community (parish/pastoral) nursing fosters community participation in health and promotes whole person health, within the supported social and culturally specific context of a faith community. The FCN provides individuals and communities with health promotion and illness prevention activities, as well as care management services, and helps clarify and nurture the relationship between faith and health.