A socio-ecological approach to reduce the physical activity drop-out ratio in primary care-based patients with type 2 diabetes: the SENWI study protocol for a randomized control trial.

Background: Physical activity (PA) is a key behaviour for patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). However, healthcare professionals' (HCP) recommendations (walking advice), which are short-term and individually focused, did not reduce the PA drop-out ratio in the long run. Using a socio-ecological model approach may contribute to reducing patient dropout and improving adherence to PA.

An Intervention for Mental Health Literacy and Resilience in Organized Sports.

Purpose: In this study, we tested the effectiveness of a multicomponent sports-based program aimed at promoting early intervention, help seeking, and resilience among a sample of adolescent male sport participants.

Methods: The Ahead of the Game program comprised four intervention components and a messaging campaign. Two components targeted mental health literacy, intentions to seek and provide help, and resilience among adolescent boys.

From secondary school to university: associations between sport participation and total and domain-specific sedentary behaviours in Spanish students.

Effective ways to reduce sedentary behaviour in adolescents are needed to mitigate the risk of chronic disease and poor mental health. Organised sport participation is the most practiced physical activity during adolescence. However, the influence sport participation has on sedentary behaviours remains unclear.

Drop-out ratio between moderate to high-intensity physical exercise treatment by patients with, or at risk of, type 2 diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Aims: Physical exercise represents the cornerstone in the treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, it is not clear how different physical exercise intensities might affect the drop-out ratio. The aim of this review is to examine the extent to which exercise interventions impact dropout risk in patients with, or at risk of, T2DM.

Determinants of bed net use among older people in Nigeria: results from a nationally representative survey.

Introduction: the use of bed nets is a well-recognized and cost-effective preventive measure against malaria. However, little is known about factors associated with the use of bed nets among older people in Nigeria. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the determinants of bed net use among older Nigerian adults.

Australian lessons for developing and testing a culturally inclusive health promotion campaign.

The purpose of the study was to develop and test culturally appropriate health promotion materials that were seen to be socially inclusive in regard to blood donation within the Australian-African community. Materials were produced in multiple languages (English, Arabic, Swahili and Kirundi) and were initially developed based on previous pilot data, with feedback from the project partner (Australian Red Cross Blood Service) and the African community. Seven formative focus groups with 62 participants were then conducted to ensure the materials would be effective, credible and culturally acceptable to the target audience, including preferred messages, taglines and images.

Atypical Facial Clefts From Northcentral Nigeria, Review of 36 Cases.

Objective: This study aims to present the pattern and management of atypical facial clefts from a Nigerian population.

Design: This is a retrospective study of patients seen during series of surgical outreach programs in North Central Nigeria, between 2011 and 2017. All cases of atypical facial clefts encountered were evaluated for the pattern of presentation using Tessier classification system.

Are older Australians with chronic diseases online?

Issue Addressed: Health information can be easily and cheaply provided through the Internet. However, we do not know whether older adults, those people most likely to be living with a chronic disease, are online or whether they use the Internet to find health information.

Methods: In order to establish the proportion of older Australians online, the impact of their current health status and chronic disease diagnosis on Internet usage and whether they use the Internet to search for health information, a paper-based survey was developed and mailed to 9000 older adults, resident in New South Wales, Australia (response rate = 46.

Ahead of the game protocol: a multi-component, community sport-based program targeting prevention, promotion and early intervention for mental health among adolescent males.

Background: There is a recognised need for targeted community-wide mental health strategies and interventions aimed specifically at prevention and early intervention in promoting mental health. Young males are a high need group who hold particularly negative attitudes towards mental health services, and these views are detrimental for early intervention and help-seeking. Organised sports provide a promising context to deliver community-wide mental health strategies and interventions to adolescent males.

When are they old enough to drink? Outcomes of an Australian social marketing intervention targeting alcohol initiation.

Introduction And Aims: This paper reports on the evaluation of an Australian whole-of-community social marketing intervention targeting social norms, which aimed to reduce inflated perceptions of the prevalence of underage drinking and increase the age at which alcohol initiation is considered acceptable.

Design And Methods: A community-wide intervention was delivered in a single community over a period of 2 years, targeting adolescents, parents and community members. Pre-and post-intervention computer-assisted telephone interview surveys were conducted in the intervention and a matched comparison (control) community.

The effects of a culturally-tailored campaign to increase blood donation knowledge, attitudes and intentions among African migrants in two Australian States: Victoria and South Australia.

Research suggests that African migrants are often positively predisposed towards blood donation, but are under-represented in participation. A culturally-tailored intervention targeting the African migrant community in Australia was developed and implemented, to enhance knowledge about blood donation, improve attitudes towards donating, increase intentions to donate blood, and increase the number of new African donors in Australia. Four weeks after a targeted campaign, a survey evaluation process commenced, administered face-to-face by bilingual interviewers from the African community in Melbourne and Adelaide, Australia (community survey).

Harnessing advances in computer simulation to inform policy and planning to reduce alcohol-related harms.

Objectives: Alcohol misuse is a complex systemic problem. The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of using a transparent and participatory agent-based modelling approach to develop a robust decision support tool to test alcohol policy scenarios before they are implemented in the real world.

Methods: A consortium of Australia's leading alcohol experts was engaged to collaboratively develop an agent-based model of alcohol consumption behaviour and related harms.

Should I drink responsibly, safely or properly? Confusing messages about reducing alcohol-related harm.

'Responsible drinking' campaigns emerged in the early 1970s as a means of addressing hazardous drinking and its related consequences. While these were initially the product of public health agencies and health-related NGOs, they are increasingly being developed and disseminated by the alcohol industry. There is considerable debate as to whether industry-generated campaigns are designed to reduce hazardous drinking and related problems (as argued by their developers) or are designed to avoid government regulation or even to increase sales.

A systematic review of children's alcohol-related knowledge, attitudes and expectancies.

Understanding the nature of, and transitions in, young children's alcohol-related knowledge and attitudes is important to determining the age at which we should start educating children about alcohol and informing our understanding of the focus of such education. This paper aimed to explore current literature on the alcohol-related knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and expectancies of children aged 12years and under. Electronic databases were searched for papers published from January 2000-August 2016.

Maternal education and child immunization: the mediating roles of maternal literacy and socioeconomic status.

Introduction: Previous studies in Nigeria have documented significant association between maternal education and child immunization. However, little is known about the pathway through which maternal education improves immunization uptake. This study aims to examine whether maternal literacy and socioeconomic status mediates the relationship between maternal education and complete immunization coverage in children.

Heroic struggles, criminals and scientific breakthroughs: ADHD and the medicalization of child behaviour in Australian newsprint media 1999-2009.

There is a dearth of scholarly analysis and critique of the Australian newsprint media's role in the medicalization of child behaviour. To begin to redress this lack this paper analyses newsprint media's use of metaphors that re/describe and construct realities of ADHD with a medicalizing effect. The interdisciplinary team used the Factiva database to locate and review 453 articles published in Australian national and metropolitan newspapers during the decade 1999-2009.

Intention stability assessed using residual change scores moderates the intention-behaviour association: a prospective cohort study.

Intention stability is considered to be one of the key pre-requisites for a strong association between intention and behaviour. It has been claimed, however, that studies examining the moderating impact of intention stability may be invalid, as they have relied on statistically inferior methods. Residual change scores have been suggested as a more appropriate method of measuring change (or lack thereof) in constructs.

'It's like a drink you'd have before you go to a party': Analysis of a Vodka Cruiser advertising campaign.

Introduction And Aims: The aim of the present study was to explore young women's understandings of, and interactions with, an advertising campaign for a pre-mixed alcohol product that appeared to be promoting pre-drinking. This campaign was the subject of complaints to the Alcohol Advertising Review Board, revealing an inconsistency between the way the company responded to such complaints (arguing that the campaign does not encourage pre-drinking) and the way it described the campaign in trade press (the pre-drink enjoyed by the 'girls' while getting ready …).

Design And Methods: Twelve focus groups were conducted with 72 young women, aged 15-25 years in Melbourne, Australia.

Qualitative process evaluation of an Australian alcohol media literacy study: recommendations for designing culturally responsive school-based programs.

Background: Alcohol media literacy programs seek to mitigate the potentially harmful effects of alcohol advertising on children's drinking intentions and behaviours through equipping them with skills to challenge media messages. In order for such programs to be effective, the teaching and learning experiences must be tailored to their specific cultural context. Media in the Spotlight is an alcohol media literacy program aimed at 9 to 12 year old Australian children.

Combining Social Norms and Social Marketing to Address Underage Drinking: Development and Process Evaluation of a Whole-of-Community Intervention.

Youth alcohol consumption has been steadily declining in Australia, as in other countries; fewer young people are drinking and the age of initiation is increasing. However, young people, their parents and others in their communities continue to believe that adolescent (excessive) drinking is the norm. This perception, and the concurrent misperception that the majority of parents are happy to provide their underage children with alcohol, creates a perceived culture of acceptance of youth alcohol consumption.

Evaluation of an Australian Alcohol Media Literacy Program.

Objective: A 10-lesson alcohol media literacy program was developed, underpinned by the message interpretation processing model, inoculation theory, and constructivist learning theory, and was tailored to be culturally relevant to the Australian context. This program aimed to increase students' media deconstruction skills and reduce intent to drink alcohol. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the program in achieving these goals through a short-term quasi-experimental trial.

Personality and sedentary behavior: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: Too much sitting is associated with an increased risk of chronic disease and premature death. This investigation aimed to systematically review the evidence for personality as a correlate of time spent in sedentary pursuits.

Method: Electronic databases (PubMed; Science Direct; PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, and SPORTDiscus via EBSCO; Web of Science; MEDLINE via Ovid; Scopus; ProQuest) were searched in December 2015 for studies reporting an association between at least 1 personality trait and time spent in at least 1 sedentary behavior.

What is 'binge drinking'? Perceptions of Australian adolescents and adults, and implications for mass media campaigns.

Objective: While the term 'binge drinking' has no definitive definition, it is commonly used in lay conversation and mass media communication campaigns. It is important to understand how the general population interprets the term, and their positive and negative perceptions of this behaviour.

Methods: A convenience sample of 549 participants from two Australian towns completed a survey on perceptions of binge drinking; 221 adolescents, 104 parents of adolescents and 224 adult community members.