Permeable boundaries? Patient perspectives on space and time in general practice waiting rooms.

This paper considers an under-examined space in primary health care - the reception area/waiting room. This space can be challenging to negotiate, particularly for those who experience social marginalisation. We begin by situating the significance of the 'entry into the health care setting' in the patient journey in terms of time as well as space.

New Zealand children's health stamps: Ideological artefacts linking health and place.

This paper addresses a hitherto unexamined phenomenon in the geography of health promotion: the use of postage stamps. We 'read' health stamps as featuring imagery and exhortations that reflect temporally-specific understandings of children's health and wellbeing. As a case study, we examine examples of the stamps sold annually since 1929 as a fund-raiser for New Zealand Children's Health Camps Foundation.

Neighbourhoods for Active Kids: study protocol for a cross-sectional examination of neighbourhood features and children's physical activity, active travel, independent mobility and body size.

Introduction: New Zealand children's physical activity, including independent mobility and active travel, has declined markedly over recent decades. The Neighbourhoods for Active Kids (NfAK) study examines how neighbourhood built environments are associated with the independent mobility, active travel, physical activity and neighbourhood experiences of children aged 9-12 years in primary and intermediate schools across Auckland, New Zealand's largest city.

Methods And Analysis: Child-specific indices of walkability, destination accessibility and traffic exposure will be constructed to measure the built environment in 8 neighbourhoods in Auckland.

The care work of general practice receptionists.

INTRODUCTION The care work of general practice receptionists has received limited research attention, despite receptionists position at the beginning of patients' journeys in many health care systems. We examine receptionists' perceptions of their work and the opportunities and constraints they experience in caring for patients while providing administrative support to practices. METHODS Data were collected in focus group interviews with 32 receptionists from urban and rural general practices in the Auckland and Northland regions of New Zealand.

Associations between the neighbourhood built environment and out of school physical activity and active travel: An examination from the Kids in the City study.

This study's aim was to examine selected objectively-measured and child specific built environment attributes in relation to proportion of out-of-school time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (%MVPA) and active travel in a group of ethnically and socio-economically diverse children (n=236) living in Auckland, New Zealand. Street connectivity and distance to school were related to the proportion of trips made by active modes. Ratio of high speed to low speed roads and improved streetscape for active travel were related to %MVPA on weekdays only.

Reprint of: A healthy island blue space: From space of detention to site of sanctuary.

Island blue spaces are associated with restorative potential, but few studies examine this proposition when an island's use has changed over time. We examine Rotoroa Island (near Auckland, New Zealand) where, for almost a century, the Salvation Army ran an alcohol treatment facility. The island's relative isolation was central to its mixed therapeutic and carceral roles.

The place of receptionists in access to primary care: Challenges in the space between community and consultation.

At the point of entry to the health care system sit general practice receptionists (GPRs), a seldom studied employment group. The place of the receptionist involves both a location within the internal geography of the clinic and a position within the primary care team. Receptionists literally 'receive' those who phone or enter the clinic, and are a critical influence in their transformation from a 'person' to a 'patient'.

Distance to School is Associated with Sedentary Time in Children: Findings from the URBAN Study.

Sedentary behavior is associated with overweight and obesity in children, and distance to school has been negatively associated with active commuting to school. It is not known how distance to school relates to sedentary behavior in children. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between distance to school and children's sedentary behavior during weekdays at times where children interact with the neighborhood environment.

A healthy island blue space: from space of detention to site of sanctuary.

Island blue spaces are associated with restorative potential, but few studies examine this proposition when an island׳s use has changed over time. We examine Rotoroa Island (near Auckland, New Zealand) where, for almost a century, the Salvation Army ran an alcohol treatment facility. The island׳s relative isolation was central to its mixed therapeutic and carceral roles.

Seasonal and locational variations in children's play: implications for wellbeing.

Physical activity, through independent outdoor play, has come to the fore as a way to improve children's health through it fostering healthy mental and social as well as physiological development. However, in many high-income countries children's autonomous play opportunities have diminished due to urban intensification and declining parental license. Regardless of this trend, children's play varies across countries, cities, cultures and seasons.

Association of neighbourhood residence and preferences with the built environment, work-related travel behaviours, and health implications for employed adults: findings from the URBAN study.

Although the neighbourhoods and health field is well established, the relationships between neighbourhood selection, neighbourhood preference, work-related travel behaviours, and transport infrastructure have not been fully explored. It is likely that understanding these complex relationships more fully will inform urban policy development, and planning for neighbourhoods that support health behaviours. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to identify associations between these variables in a sample of employed adults.

Kids in the city study: research design and methodology.

Background: Physical activity is essential for optimal physical and psychological health but substantial declines in children's activity levels have occurred in New Zealand and internationally. Children's independent mobility (i.e.

Community capacity building in practice: constructing its meaning and relevance to health promoters.

Community capacity building (CCB) is held up as a benchmark for sustainable health promotion, reflecting the empowering discourse of the Ottawa Charter (WHO 1986). In light of concerns that this language may be that of the presiding bureaucratic elite rather than the realities of those working directly with communities (Laverack & Labonte 2000), we question whether CCB reflects the work of New Zealand health promoters. The aim of this study is to assess what CCB means to health promoters and how relevant it is to their work in New Zealand.

Can virtual streetscape audits reliably replace physical streetscape audits?

There is increasing recognition that the neighborhood-built environment influences health outcomes, such as physical activity behaviors, and technological advancements now provide opportunities to examine the neighborhood streetscape remotely. Accordingly, the aims of this methodological study are to: (1) compare the efficiencies of physically and virtually conducting a streetscape audit within the neighborhood context, and (2) assess the level of agreement between the physical (criterion) and virtual (test) audits. Built environment attributes associated with walking and cycling were audited using the New Zealand Systematic Pedestrian and Cycling Environment Scan (NZ-SPACES) in 48 street segments drawn from four neighborhoods in Auckland, New Zealand.

Entitlements to health care: why is there a preference for private facilities among poorer residents of Chennai, India?

This paper examines access to health care by poorer residents in Chennai, India. It reveals constraining and enabling conditions for impoverished users seeking treatment. We explore patterns of health-seeking behaviour through the reasoning of residents themselves as well as stakeholders involved in providing care for these users.

Cool aid? Health, wellbeing and place in the work of Bono and U2.

Through a discussion of the sounds and statements of Bono and U2, this paper explores the ways in which music can work in particular spatial contexts, contributing towards both personal and population-wide health and wellbeing. We engage critically with the idea of celebrity diplomacy, and look beyond this notion to suggest ways in which the production, circulation and consumption of music warrants greater attention within the unfolding domain of health geography.

Seeking affective health care: Korean immigrants' use of homeland medical services.

This paper explores the phenomenon of migrants returning to their country of origin for health care. Specifically, it examines the case of Korean immigrants to New Zealand making trips to their homeland to obtain medical operations. We situate our inquiry at the intersection of literatures on home, therapeutic spaces and health care consumption.

Understanding the Relationship between Activity and Neighbourhoods (URBAN) Study: research design and methodology.

Background: Built environment attributes are recognized as being important contributors to physical activity (PA) engagement and body size in adults and children. However, much of the existing research in this emergent public health field is hindered by methodological limitations, including: population and site homogeneity, reliance on self-report measures, aggregated measures of PA, and inadequate statistical modeling. As an integral component of multi-country collaborative research, the Understanding the Relationship between Activity and Neighbourhoods (URBAN) Study seeks to overcome these limitations by determining the strengths of association between detailed measures of the neighborhood built environment with PA levels across multiple domains and body size measures in adults and children.

Recycling former psychiatric hospitals in New Zealand: echoes of deinstitutionalisation and restructuring.

This paper addresses a gap in the understanding of the geography of deinstitutionalisation: the fate of closed asylums. We contend that the closure process was an exercise in both deinstitutionalisation and welfare state restructuring, and examine discourses surrounding the re-use of two former psychiatric hospitals in New Zealand-Seaview in Hokitika and Kingseat near Auckland. Drawing on an analysis of media coverage and field observation, we consider former asylums as sites of celebrity.

Bringing health home: householder and provider perspectives on the healthy housing programme in Auckland, New Zealand.

This paper describes the Healthy Housing Programme, an ongoing intervention initiated for New Zealand public housing tenants in 2000 and presents findings from an evaluation conducted over three consecutive years. The Programme aims to improve well-being by addressing the housing circumstances of families at high risk of infectious diseases, experiencing high levels of deprivation, and living in areas with high concentrations of low-income, and largely public, housing. This is achieved through improving the housing stock and better integrating housing, health and social services.

Discourses of disease: representations of tuberculosis within New Zealand newspapers 2002-2004.

This paper critically examines the ways that tuberculosis (TB) has been represented in the print media in New Zealand over recent years (2002-2004). Our broad contention is that, notwithstanding its biomedical reality, TB is socially constructed by, and through, human experience. Further, public health practitioners depend, to a large extent, on the media to alert the public to threats of disease and opportunities for protection.

Creating a place for population health: interpreting the spaces of a new School in Auckland, New Zealand.

Although the reconfiguring of health care within the hospital sector has gained considerable attention by social scientists, the tertiary education sector's response to new health philosophies and practices has proceeded largely unexamined. This paper considers the new School of Population Health at the University of Auckland, accounts for its origins and considers the synergies between its design and workplace organisation. The results of a thematic analysis of narratives offered by 24 employees collected in 2004 are then presented.

Sociocultural barriers to cervical screening in South Auckland, New Zealand.

Cervical screening has been subject to intense media scrutiny in New Zealand in recent years prompted by a series of health system failings through which a number of women developed cervical cancer despite undergoing regular smears. This paper considers why underscreening persists in a country where cervical screening has a high profile. It explores how the promotion of cervical screening has impacted on the decisions of women to undergo a smear test.

"An integral part of the children's education": placing sun protection in Auckland primary schools.

Links between ozone depletion, sun exposure and the incidence of melanoma in later life have focussed public health attention on risk management, including attempts to curtail children's exposure to sunlight. Schools are potentially valuable sites in sun protection efforts, as they may combine behavioural messages with protective environments. In this paper, we outline the sun-related attitudes and policies of a random sample of 20 Auckland primary schools, and situate them within the framework of the new public health.