Publications by authors named "Courtney Barnes"

Background: A range of school-based interventions are effective in improving student diet and physical activity (e.g. school food policy interventions and classroom physical activity interventions), and reducing obesity, tobacco use and/or alcohol use (e.

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Background: Chronic diseases are a considerable burden to health systems, communities, and patients. Much of this burden, however, could be prevented if interventions effective in reducing chronic disease risks were routinely implemented.

Aims: The aim of this paper is to discuss the role of public health agencies in preventing chronic disease through the application of learning health system (LHS) approaches to improve the implementation of evidence-based interventions.

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Introduction: Adolescent e-cigarette use, globally and within Australia, has increased in recent years. In response, public health agencies have called for the development of education and communication programmes targeting adolescents. Despite such recommendations, few rigorous evaluations of such interventions currently exist.

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Background: Workplaces are an important setting to deliver programs to reduce risk factors for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). To help decision makers understand the most current and relevant evidence regarding effectiveness of workplace programs, we conducted an umbrella review to present a comprehensive synthesis of the large volume of literature.

Methods: Systematic reviews of workplace interventions targeting primary risk factors for NCDs-unhealthy diet, insufficient physical activity, overweight/obesity, tobacco use, and/or excessive alcohol use-published since 2010 were sourced.

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Introduction: An important impediment to the large-scale adoption of evidence-based school nutrition interventions is the lack of evidence on effective strategies to implement them. This paper describes the protocol for a "Collaborative Network Trial" to support the simultaneous testing of different strategies undertaken by New South Wales Local Health Districts to facilitate the adoption of an effective school-based healthy lunchbox program ('SWAP IT'). The primary objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of different implementation strategies to increase school adoption of the SWAP across New South Wales Local Health Districts.

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Objectives: To identify, characterise and broadly synthesise factors associated with child and adolescent electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and/or electronic non-nicotine delivery systems (ENNDS) ever-use and/or current use.

Methods: Four electronic databases were searched from inception to 3rd June 2022. Non-experimental studies that provided quantitative factors associated with adolescent and/or child ENDS or ENNDS ever-use and/or current use were included.

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Background: Digital health interventions (DHIs) are effective in improving poor nutrition, physical inactivity, overweight and obesity. There is evidence suggesting that the impact of DHIs may be enhanced by improving user engagement. However, little is known about the overall effectiveness of strategies on engagement with DHIs.

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Background: Understanding the views of policy-makers and practitioners regarding how best to communicate research evidence is important to support research use in their decision-making.

Aim: To quantify and describe public health policy-makers and practitioners' views regarding the source, content and form of messages describing public health research findings to inform their decision-making. We also sought to examine differences in preferences between public health policy-makers and practitioners.

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Background: The prevalence of e-cigarette use has increased globally amongst children and adolescents in recent years. In response to the increasing prevalence and emerging evidence about the potential harms of e-cigarettes in children and adolescents, leading public health organisations have called for approaches to address increasing e-cigarette use. Whilst evaluations of approaches to reduce uptake and use regularly appear in the literature, the collective long-term benefit of these is currently unclear.

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Objectives: Health Promotion Units within New South Wales (NSW) local health districts (LHDs) frequently collaborate and test innovations to address priority health issues or approaches to support the implementation of a health promotion program in a way that is consistent with the needs, resources, and contexts of their regions. Compatible with learning health system approaches, mechanisms to facilitate the exchange of evidence and expertise across districts could improve the collective impact of health promotion services across the state. This study aimed to assess the use of a health promotion Community of Practice (CoP) model as a strategy to achieve this.

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Background: Dietary intake during early childhood can have implications on child health and developmental trajectories. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are recommended settings to deliver healthy eating interventions as they provide access to many children during this important period. Healthy eating interventions delivered in ECEC settings can include strategies targeting the curriculum (e.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the dissemination strategies for Food-based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG) worldwide, highlighting that these guidelines are crucial for enhancing public health but are often poorly communicated.
  • - A cross-sectional audit of FBDG from 53 countries showed that health departments were the main source, emphasizing messages about food quantities, types, and physical activity, primarily using infographics and booklets for public outreach.
  • - Only a small percentage of countries had formal dissemination plans, and none fully adhered to recommended guidelines, indicating a gap in effective communication strategies for these health resources.
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Problem: There is limited data regarding dose and duration of nitrous oxide use by women in peripartum care. Experiences of using nitrous in Australian settings have not previously been explored BACKGROUND: More than 1:2 women use nitrous oxide analgesia during labour and birth, despite this, there are limited published data on nitrous oxide use for labour or procedural analgesia in Australia.

Aim: To explore the use of nitrous oxide during labour and birth or procedural care.

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Problem: There is little documented evidence of midwives' perspectives regarding the use of nitrous oxide in the peripartum period.

Background: Nitrous oxide is an inhaled gas used widely in the peripartum period; usually offered and managed by midwives.

Aim: Explore midwives' knowledge, perceptions, and practices of facilitating women's use of nitrous oxide in the peripartum period.

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Background: Dietary intake during early childhood can have implications on child health and developmental trajectories. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are recommended settings to deliver healthy eating interventions as they provide access to many children during this important period. Healthy eating interventions delivered in ECEC settings can include strategies targeting the curriculum (e.

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Problem: There is minimal evidence regarding the role or impact of birth plans from the perspective of women experiencing scheduled caesarean birth.

Background: Quality maternity care requires respect for women's preferences. Evidence suggests birth plans enable communication of women's preferences and may enhance agency when vaginal birth is intended, however there is limited evidence of how this translates in the perioperative environment where caesarean birth is the intended outcome.

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Background: Several school-based interventions are effective in improving child diet and physical activity, and preventing excessive weight gain, and tobacco or harmful alcohol use. However, schools are frequently unsuccessful in implementing such evidence-based interventions.

Objectives: 1.

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Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has a higher infection rate in pregnant women than age-matched adults. With increased infectivity and transmissibility, the Delta variant is predominant worldwide.

Methods: In this study, we describe intrauterine fetal demise in unvaccinated women with mild symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant infection.

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Background: Internationally, the implementation of evidence-based healthy eating policies and practices within early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings that encourage children's healthy diet is recommended. Despite the existence of evidence-based healthy eating practices, research indicates that current implementation rates are inadequate. Web-based approaches provide a potentially effective and less costly approach to support ECEC staff with implementing nutrition policies and practices.

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Schools are identified as a key setting to influence children's and adolescents' healthy eating. This umbrella review synthesised evidence from systematic reviews of school-based nutrition interventions designed to improve dietary intake outcomes in children aged 6 to 18 years. We undertook a systematic search of six electronic databases and grey literature to identify relevant reviews of randomized controlled trials.

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Despite the benefits of factorial designs in quantifying the relative benefits of different school-based approaches to prevent unhealthy weight gain among students, few have been undertaken. The aims of this 2 × 2 cluster randomized factorial trial was to evaluate the impact of a physical activity and nutrition intervention on child weight status and quality of life. Twelve primary schools in New South Wales, Australia randomly allocated to one of four groups: (i.

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