The art of aging well: a study of the relationship between recreational arts engagement, general health and mental wellbeing in cohort of Australian older adults.

Introduction: Evidence of the benefits of arts engagement to community wellbeing has been mounting since the 1990s. However, large scale, quantitative, epidemiological studies of the "arts-healthy aging" relationship, or the types of arts older adults voluntarily choose to engage in as part of their everyday life, for enjoyment, entertainment or as a hobby (vs. therapy or interventions) are limited.

Strategies to Address the Complex Challenge of Improving Regional and Remote Children's Fruit and Vegetable Consumption.

Fruit and vegetables (F&V) are imperative for good health, yet less than one per cent of Australian children consume these food groups in sufficient quantities. As guided by Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), this paper aimed to: (i) understand key informant perspectives of the amount, types and quality of F&V consumed by rural and remote Western Australian (WA) children; and, (ii) determine strategies that could increase F&V consumption among rural and remote WA children. This qualitative study included 20 semi-structured interviews with health, school/youth and food supply workers, focusing on topics including: quantity and type of F&V consumed and strategies to increase children's consumption.

Are regional and remote Western Australian children eating for good health? An investigation into fruit and vegetable consumption.

Issue addressed Little is known about the fruit and vegetable (F&V) habits of regional and remote Western Australian (WA) children beyond quantities consumed. This study aimed to ascertain the proportion of regional and remote WA children who met the Australian Dietary Guidelines (ADG) for F&V; the types and varieties of F&V consumed; and whether consumption behaviour was associated with remoteness. Methods Caregiver and child dyads (n=256 dyads) completed similar paper-based surveys, 196 of these children completed 24-h dietary records.

What are the determinants of food security among regional and remote Western Australian children?

Objective: To explore how determinants of food security affect children in regional and remote Western Australia (WA), across food availability, access and utilisation dimensions.

Methods: The Determinants of Food Security framework guided the thematic analysis (using NVivo 10) of semi-structured interviews with 20 key informants.

Results: Food availability factors included availability, price, promotion, quality, location of outlets and variety.

Which Food Security Determinants Predict Adequate Vegetable Consumption among Rural Western Australian Children?

Improving the suboptimal vegetable consumption among the majority of Australian children is imperative in reducing chronic disease risk. The objective of this research was to determine whether there was a relationship between food security determinants (FSD) (i.e.

Which ecological determinants influence Australian children's fruit and vegetable consumption?

This study investigated determinants of fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption among regional and remote Western Australian (WA) children, using an Ecological Model of Health Behaviour. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 key informants (Health Workers, Food Supply Workers, and School/Youth Workers) purposively sampled from across regional and remote WA. Interviews were transcribed, analysed thematically using QSR-NVivo 10 software, and embedded within an Ecological Model of Health Behaviour to demonstrate the multiple levels of influence on health.

The art of being healthy: a qualitative study to develop a thematic framework for understanding the relationship between health and the arts.

Objective: In recent years the health-arts nexus has received increasing attention; however, the relationship is not well understood and the extent of possible positive, negative and unintended outcomes is unknown. Guided by the biopsychosocial model of health and theories of social epidemiology, the aim of this study was to develop a framework pertaining to the relationship between arts engagement and population health that included outcomes, confounders and effect modifiers. A health-arts framework is of value to researchers seeking to build the evidence base; health professionals interested in understanding the health-arts relationship, especially those who use social prescribing for health promotion or to complement treatments; in teaching medical, nursing and health-science students about arts outcomes, as well as artists and health professionals in the development of policy and programmes.