This unit of study examines the major concepts and principles of community health nursing based on primary health care principles. It draws on public health concepts to focus on health promotion/illness prevention, community assessment and management of public health problems using epidemiological concepts integral to community health nursing. The nurse’s role in disease outbreak investigation and screening is also explored. The primary health care principles also inform community nursing practice to focus on individual, family and home assessment and case management. Increasingly complex and chronic health conditions are being managed in the community and concepts of patients as partners, self-management and collaborative care are integrated into the unit. Approaches to the provision of nursing care for people of all ages with acute, chronic, or life-threatening illness in settings where they live will be critiqued. Particular attention is given to the home visit process: its therapeutic nature, communication skills, and clinical governance regarding ethical and safety issues. Students will undertake a community assessment using a 'community profile' approach. This approach will be extended to explore and plan for the health needs of communities who experience health and social disparities including people living in rural and remote areas, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people living with physical, intellectual or psychiatric disabilities, minority cultural groups, and the homeless. Professional experience placements in the community setting afford students the opportunity to consolidate and integrate theoretical knowledge and community nursing practice.