REHB1001 Chap.7 Chronic Conditions, Risk Factors and Priority Populations
Chronic Conditions, Risk Factors and Priority Populations
The Week 3 lectures define chronic conditions, describe their burden in Australia and separate modifiable from non-modifiable risk, while the management series contrasts acute care with long-term partnership.
This chapter charts the five risk factors carrying the most burden, works two statistics the way a quiz would, explains macro, meso and micro levels of care and the 2026 framework's focus areas, and summarises the Week 10 priority population lectures on First Nations, rural and remote, and LGBTQIA+ communities.
Practice items ask you to interpret the figures the way the quizzes do, naming the source and saying what each number means for physiotherapy.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Chronic conditions and multimorbidity
- 02
The AIHW ten condition groups
- 03
Modifiable risk and the burden of disease
- 04
Risk is not the same as cause
- 05
Acute versus chronic condition management
- 06
Self-management and the physio as coach
- 07
Priority populations and Closing the Gap
Worked example · free
Explaining a modifiable risk factor without overstating it
- +1Tobacco is the risk factor carrying the largest share of disease burden in the lecture, 8.6%, and it is modifiable.
- +1Changeable risk factors, the lecture says, matter more than fixed ones in moving people from poor to good health.
- +1Risk is not cause: stopping lowers risk but cannot guarantee freedom from disease.
- +1Offer support for change and refer to a quit service as part of the plan.
Key terms
- Chronic condition
- A long-lasting condition with persistent effects.
- Modifiable risk factor
- A risk factor that can be changed, such as smoking, diet or physical inactivity.
- Closing the Gap
- The national agreement and targets to improve health and life outcomes for First Nations people.
- Misgendering
- Using a pronoun or term that does not match a person's gender identity.
- Macro level
- The health-system level of care set by policy, funding and national strategies.
- Social determinants
- The conditions in which people are born, live and work that shape access to good health.
- Self-management support
- Help that builds a person's skills and confidence to manage their own condition.
Chronic Conditions, Risk Factors and Priority Populations FAQ
How many Australians live with a chronic condition?
The Week 3 lecture cites the 2022 National Health Survey: one in two, 49.9%, had at least one. The management handout quotes the 2026 national framework with three in five, about 15.4 million, and two in five with multimorbidity. They come from different sources, so give each with its source.
Why is the rural and remote population a priority?
About 28% of Australians live there. Total burden of disease rises with remoteness, daily smoking rises from 7.4% in major cities to 20.4% in remote areas, and access to many health professionals falls. Physiotherapy services and programmes therefore need to fit distance, cost and local resources.
What do the priority population lectures ask physiotherapists to do differently?
Understand the social determinants behind health gaps, work in partnership with communities as the Closing the Gap reforms describe, and examine your own biases. For LGBTQIA+ patients the lecture stresses correct pronouns and careful language because physiotherapy involves touch, observation and undressing.
What separates acute care from chronic condition management?
The management handout contrasts a short timeframe with a lifelong one, a professional directing treatment with shared decisions, a focus on the injury with a focus on the whole person, and restoring previous function with optimising function and quality of life. Chronic care is self-management focused and ongoing.
What are the five focus areas of the 2026 framework?
The national framework quoted in the Week 3 handout sets prevention and self-management, early diagnosis and intervention, continuity of care, integrated approaches to multimorbidity, and enhanced, targeted support for priority populations. The handout presents them as interconnected rather than separate programmes.
What does 'risk is not the same as cause' mean?
A risk factor raises the chance of a condition without guaranteeing it. The Week 3 lecture points to the lifelong smoker who never develops cancer and the non-smoker who does. Risk factors help identify who to screen and where prevention helps, but they should be explained without false alarm or false reassurance.
Exam move
Make a one-page sheet of the key statistics, each with its source and year, and practise saying what each means for practice. Learn the four Closing the Gap priority reforms and the five framework focus areas as lists. For each clinical pattern you study later, add one line on how it affects a priority population.
Practise explaining the difference between acute and chronic management to a friend in under a minute, using the self-management figure of about 99.9% of the year.
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