Understanding and Changing Community Attitudes Toward Vulnerable Families: A Review of Literature and Practice.

Communities can play an important role in protecting children and supporting vulnerable families. However, there is currently a lack of understanding of what communities actually think and do regarding these groups. The purpose of this study was to review and synthesize evidence on community attitudes and behaviors toward vulnerable families.

From policy to practice: prioritizing person-centred healthcare actions in the state of Victoria.

Background: Meaningful involvement of consumers in healthcare is a high priority worldwide. In Victoria, Australia, a Partnering in Healthcare (PiH) policy framework was developed to guide health services in addressing consumer-focused healthcare improvements. The aim of this project was to identify priorities for improvement relating to the framework from the perspective of Victorian healthcare consumers and those who work in the healthcare sector.

Retirement Confidence: Development of an Index.

Older workers who are confident about the changes accompanying retirement report higher well-being. We have developed an index to measure retirement confidence - the Retirement Confidence Index (RCI). A six-stage approach was used to develop the index items, including (i) a literature review to catalogue retirement confidence components; (ii) a consultation with a panel of experts to review the proposed indicators and combine components according to their meaning; (iii) normalisation of the selected components to make them comparable; (iv) weighting of the top-level dimensions using experts' judgement; (v) linear aggregation of the dimension scores according to their corresponding relative weight; and (vi) correlation of the composite score with a self-report measure of retirement confidence.

The construct validity of the multidimensional AIMES connection to nature scale: Measuring human relationships with nature.

Over the last decades, a plethora of nature connectedness measures have been developed, including unidimensional scales and others claiming to be multidimensional scales. Recently, Ives et al. (2018) conceptualised connection with nature as five general categories including attachment, cognition/identity, materialistic consumption, experiential components, and spiritual connection to nature.

Ambulances are for emergencies: shifting behaviour through a research-informed behaviour change campaign.

Background: A major review of Victoria's ambulance services identified the need to improve public awareness of the role of ambulances as an emergency service. A communications campaign was developed to address this challenge. This research paper expands on an initial evaluation of the campaign by focusing on the long-term behavioural outcomes.

Ambulances are for emergencies: shifting attitudes through a research-informed behaviour change campaign.

Background: In Victoria, Australia, emergency calls requesting an ambulance have been increasing at a rate higher than population growth. While most of these calls are for genuine emergencies, many do not require an immediate ambulance response. A collaborative research approach was undertaken to address this issue.

Short Message Service Reminders to Parents for Increasing Adolescent Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Rates in a Secondary School Vaccine Program: A Randomized Control Trial.

Purpose: In Victoria (Australia), the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is delivered within a state-wide secondary school vaccine program, administered by local government. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that sending a short message service (SMS) reminder to parents who had consented to their child's receiving the HPV vaccine would lead to greater uptake of the vaccine within the program. The secondary aim was to assess the effect of self-regulatory versus motivational message content in the SMS.

Communication-based interventions for increasing influenza vaccination rates among Aboriginal children: A randomised controlled trial.

Background: In Australia, the influenza vaccine is funded for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter referred to as Aboriginal) children aged 6 months to <5 years old. In Victoria, only 2% of Aboriginal children are vaccinated against influenza.

Objective: To evaluate whether sending a letter or sending a pamphlet directly to parents/guardians would improve influenza vaccine uptake amongst Aboriginal identified children.

Digital Inclusion & Health Communication: A Rapid Review of Literature.

Information and communication technologies can be a valuable tool for enhancing health communication. However, not everyone is utilising the wide suite of digital opportunities. This disparity has the potential to exacerbate existing social and health inequalities, particularly among vulnerable groups such as those who are in poor health and the elderly.

The effect of O2 and CO2 on the dive behavior and heart rate of lesser scaup ducks (Aythya affinis): quantification of the critical PaO2 that initiates a diving bradycardia.

Lesser scaup ducks were trained to dive for short and long durations following exposure to various gas concentrations to determine the influence of oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) on diving behavior and heart rate. Compared with normoxia, hyperoxia (50% O2) significantly increased the duration of long dives, whereas severe hypoxia (9% O2) significantly decreased the duration of both short and long dives. Hypercapnia (5% CO2) had no effect on dive duration.