Online Utilization of the Nominal Group Technique to Gather Consensus Opinion Across Geographically Disparate Locations.

Introduction: The nominal group technique (NGT) is a structured focus group that gathers opinion and generates consensus from groups on topics of interest. Previous studies using online NGTs (ONGTs) in health have been conducted in regions of high population density and internet connectivity. This activity aimed to determine the feasibility and utility of ONGTs in gathering opinion and reaching consensus on curriculum topics for a continuing research education program for health professionals dispersed across various locations in Southern Queensland.

Aspire2Health and COVID-19: the impact of the pandemic on outcomes from an outreach program to increase high school student interest in rural health careers.

Introduction: Rural health career outreach programs promote health careers to secondary school students and aim to address rural health workforce shortages. This study analyses student feedback data from Aspire2Health, a multidisciplinary rural health career outreach program conducted in Queensland Australia before COVID in 2019, and during COVID lockdown and isolation periods during 2020-2021. The study aims were to assess the suitability of the program and its elements, the program's short-term impact on students' interest in health careers and whether COVID restrictions on program delivery affected students' program experience and outcomes.

Identifying predictors of the reasons women give for choosing to breastfeed.

The aims of this article are to outline the reasons Australian women give for initiating breastfeeding, identify unique predictors for these reasons, and use principal components factor analysis to determine factors that influence a woman's decision to breastfeed. Data were collected as part of a large longitudinal study investigating the breastfeeding behaviors and supports of women in Southern Queensland, Australia. The most common reason women (N = 562) gave for deciding to breastfeed was breast milk is better for my baby (95.

An evaluation of a telephone-based postnatal support intervention for infant feeding in a regional Australian city.

Background: Postnatal breastfeeding support in the form of home visits is difficult to accommodate in regional Australia, where hospitals often deal with harsh economic constraints in a context where they are required to provide services to geographically dispersed consumers. This study evaluated a predominantly telephone-based support service called the Infant Feeding Support Service.

Methods: A prospective cohort design was used to compare data for 696 women giving birth in two regional hospitals (one public, one private) and participating in the support service between January and July 2003 with data from a cohort of 625 women who gave birth in those hospitals before the introduction of the support service.