"Respecting our patients' choices": making the organizational decision to participate in voluntary assisted dying provision: findings from semi-structured interviews with a rural community hospice board of management.

Background: There is limited literature around how palliative care organizations determine the degree to which they will interface with voluntary assisted dying in jurisdictions where it is legal. The aim of this research was to describe the experience of the board of management of an Australian community-based hospice during their decision-making process around whether to support voluntary assisted dying in the facility, prior to the legislation coming into operation.

Methods: The Board considered this decision over ten meetings in 2020, during which time they received information on the legislation, relevant literature, feedback from workshops which included the community, comment from hospice founders, staff survey results and presentations by clinicians able to discuss the impact of voluntary assisted dying on palliative care services.

Health conditions and their impact among adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome.

Objective: To examine the prevalence of medical conditions and use of health services among young adults with Down syndrome and describe the impact of these conditions upon their lives.

Methods: Using questionnaire data collected in 2011 from parents of young adults with Down syndrome we investigated the medical conditions experienced by their children in the previous 12 months. Univariate, linear and logistic regression analyses were performed.

Hospital admissions in children with down syndrome: experience of a population-based cohort followed from birth.

Objective: Children with Down syndrome, the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability, are prone to multiple and varied health-related problems. This study describes patterns of hospitalisations for children and young people with Down syndrome in Western Australia.

Methods: Birth records were linked to the Western Australian population-based Intellectual Disability database to identify all children born with Down syndrome in Western Australia between 1 January, 1983 and 31 December, 1999.

The epidemiology of injury among surfers, kite surfers and personal watercraft riders: wind and waves.

The objective of this review was to summarize the epidemiological literature for surfboard riding (surfing), kite surfing and personal watercraft (PWC) riding injuries and describe the incidence and nature of these injuries, common risk factors, and strategies for prevention. The databases searched for relevant publications included Medline, ScienceDirect, ProQuest International, PubMed, Academic Search Premier as well as Google Scholar to identify additional, non-indexed studies. Overall, there was a lack of good quality descriptive studies for these three sports and many of the studies reviewed involved the use of administrative datasets or case-series designs.

Developing a tool to measure safe recreational boating practice.

To reduce the number of recreational boating injuries and incidents, appropriate educational measures are important to improve boat operator safety practice. A tool (the boating safety scale (BSS)) to measure safe practice was developed and tested among Western Australian recreational boaters. The BSS allowed the identification of factors influencing safety behaviour among recreational boaters.

Associations between intrapersonal and neighborhood environmental characteristics and cycling for transport and recreation in adults: baseline results from the RESIDE study.

Background: This study investigated the relationship between individual and neighborhood environmental factors and cycling for transport and for recreation among adults living in Perth, Western Australia.

Methods: Baseline cross-sectional data from 1813 participants (40.5% male; age range 18 to 78 years) in the RESIDential Environment (RESIDE) project were analyzed.

Physical activity behavior of dog owners: development and reliability of the Dogs and Physical Activity (DAPA) tool.

Background: This study aimed to develop a reliable instrument, the Dogs and Physical Activity (DAPA) tool, for measuring important attributes and scales relating to the dog-walking behavior of dog owners.

Methods: Items measuring dog-specific individual, social environmental, physical environmental, and policy-related factors that affect dog owners' walking with their dogs were assessed for test-retest reliability. Factor analysis was undertaken to demonstrate that the collection of test items had underlying constructs consistent with the theoretical framework.

Can the impact on health of a government policy designed to create more liveable neighbourhoods be evaluated? An overview of the RESIDential Environment Project.

There is growing interest in the impact of community design on the health of residents. In 1998, the Western Australian Government began a trial of new subdivision design codes (i.e.

Evaluation of the implementation of a state government community design policy aimed at increasing local walking: design issues and baseline results from RESIDE, Perth Western Australia.

Objectives: To describe the design and baseline results of an evaluation of the Western Australian government's pedestrian-friendly subdivision design code (Liveable Neighborhood (LN) Guidelines).

Methods: Baseline results (2003-2005) from a longitudinal study of people (n=1813) moving into new housing developments: 18 Liveable, 11 Hybrid and 45 Conventional (i.e.

Constructing indices representing supportiveness of the physical environment for walking using the Rasch measurement model.

Background: The objectives of this study were to use the Rasch model to 1) assess the psychometric properties of a physical environmental audit instrument and 2) to develop indices of interrelated environmental attributes that summarize environmental supportiveness for walking.

Methods: A set of items were derived representing two conceptual physical environmental constructs: 1) functional/safety, and; 2) aesthetics. Ad hoc criteria based on point-biserial and Rasch-based fit statistics were used to examine the construct validity and internal reliability of the two constructs.

Correlates of distances traveled to use recreational facilities for physical activity behaviors.

Background: Information regarding how far people are willing to travel to use destinations for different types of recreational physical activity behaviors is limited. This study examines the demographic characteristics, neighborhood opportunity and specific-physical activity behaviors associated with distances traveled to destinations used for recreational physical activity.

Methods: A secondary analysis was undertaken of data (n = 1006) from a survey of Western Australian adults.

Neighborhood environmental factors correlated with walking near home: Using SPACES.

Purpose: The physical environment plays an important role in influencing participation in physical activity, although the specific factors that are correlated with different patterns of walking remain to be determined. We examined correlations between physical environmental factors and self-reported walking for recreation and transport near home.

Methods: The local neighborhood environments (defined as a 400-m radius from the respondent's home) of 1678 adults were assessed for their suitability for walking.

Development of a reliable measure of walking within and outside the local neighborhood: RESIDE's Neighborhood Physical Activity Questionnaire.

Background: The RESIDential Environment project (RESIDE) is a longitudinal study evaluating the impact of a new residential design code on walking.

Objective: To develop a reliable measure of walking--undertaken within and outside the neighborhood--and overall physical activity.

Methods: A test-retest reliability study was undertaken (n = 82, mean age 39 years).

Developing a reliable audit instrument to measure the physical environment for physical activity.

Background: The physical environment plays an important role in influencing participation in physical activity, although which factors of the physical environment have the greatest effect on patterns of activity remain to be determined. We describe the development of a comprehensive instrument to measure the physical environmental factors that may influence walking and cycling in local neighborhoods and report on its reliability.

Methods: Following consultation with experts from a variety of fields and a literature search, we developed a Systematic Pedestrian and Cycling Environmental Scan (SPACES) instrument and used it to collect data over a total of 1987 kilometers of roads in metropolitan Perth, Western Australia.