Public Health Commons^™

Engaging Primary Health Care Providers In The Promotion Of Healthy Weight Among Young Children: Barriers And Enablers For Policy And Management, Lydia A. Hearn, Margaret R. Miller, Donna S. Cross

Research outputs pre 2011

Recent national efforts to stem the alarming growth of childhood overweight and obesity in Australia have highlighted the importance of preventative strategies that focus beyond the child-on parents, families, primary health care providers (PHCPs) and child care services. But, while such efforts have to date focused on school-based interventions, once poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles have set in, a growing body of research is indicating that PHCPs can play a more influential role in monitoring and modifying factors affecting prevention and early intervention in preschool children. This paper presents the findings of a systematic review to: (a) identify key …

Accident Denominators Relative To Age Groups In Heavy Industries Of The Port Hedland Region Of Western Australia, John R. Bottrell

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The aim of this research is to investigate characteristics of accident denominators across age groups in mining and associated process industries in the Port Hedland region of Western Australia. Emphasis has been focussed on comparing young, inexperienced groups with older, more experienced groups. A literature review revealed some key contributors to accidents among younger workers, in particular, those who had only recently entered the workforce. The review also revealed contributors impacting accidents regarding other age groups over a wide range of industry types. From these findings an accident construct model and questionnaire were designed to identify contributing and mitigating denominators …

Utilization Of Health And Medical Services: Factors Influencing Health Care Seeking Behaviour And Unmet Health Needs In Rural Areas Of Kenya, Trish Prosser

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

There are many factors that influence health and health care seeking. Although many of these factors are similar across populations, exactly how they interact and influence the actions of people is often unique to a population in the context of the environment they live in. The current study, a population-based cross sectional survey, identifies three specific geographically diverse populations in rural areas of Kenya, to gain information regarding overall influences on health care seeking, and also information specific to each geographical area to directly target the health needs of the individual population living there. Participants of the survey were interviewed …

Review Of Diabetes Among Indigenous Peoples, Australian Indigenous Healthinfonet

Research outputs pre 2011

This review provides detailed information on the extent of diabetes, and its complications and comorbidities among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including: incidence and prevalence data; hospitalisations; mortality and burden of disease. This review discusses the issues of prevention and management of diabetes, and provides information on relevant programs, services, policies and strategies that address the health issue of diabetes among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

This review concludes by discussing possible future directions for combatting the growing epidemic of diabetes in Australia.

The review focuses primarily on type 2 diabetes among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people …

Maximising Parent Involvement In The Pedestrian Safety Of 4 To 6 Year Old Children: Final Report, Child Health Promotion Research Centre

Research outputs pre 2011

In Australia pedestrian injury is the leading specific cause of death among 5-9 year old children, and pedestrian injuries among 0-14 year old children in 1999-20000 were the second highest cause of hospitalisation. This mortality and morbidity can be attributed largely to unsafe road environments and under 10 year old children's significant deficits in cognitive and perceptual abilities when crossing roads. For all children under 10 years learning to cross the road needs to be taught by parents in the same way that children learn to swim i.e. under close adult supervision and in the 'real' environment where the skills …

Process Evaluation Of A School- And Home-Based Sun Safety Education Intervention, Robyn S. Johnston

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Effective interventions that reduce children's sun exposure are likely to reduce melanoma incidence in the longer term. However, for such interventions to have an impact they must be adequately implemented. School-based sun protection programs have been evaluated to determine their effectiveness in changing behaviours, however, few studies have assessed the implementation of such programs, or the effect of their implementation on outcomes. Kidskin was a five-year intervention trial designed to assess the effectiveness of a multicomponent intervention in reducing sun exposure in children in Perth, Western Australia. This thesis describes the process evaluation of the school- and home-based educational components …

Neck Loading In High Performance Combat Pilots During Aerial Combat Manoeuvres And Specific Neck Strengthening Exercises, Kevin J. Netto

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Background: Neck pain and injury is a common occurrence in high performance combat pilots (HPCP) around the world. The cause of this has been attributed to exposure to the unavoidable high mechanical loading related to the neck being positioned in non-neutral head postures whilst being exposed to moderate to high +Gz levels. Specific neck conditioning exercises have been proposed as being a possible method to decrease the incidence of neck pain and injury in this population. However, there has been sparsely published research examining the suitability of selected exercises for HPCP who participate in regular aerial combat manoeuvres (ACM).

Controlling And Constraining The Participation Of The Hepatitis C-Affected Community In Australia: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of The First National Hepatitis C Strategy And Selected News Media Texts, Judith D. Pugh

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The construction of texts that place hepatitis C-positive persons at social risk (Candlin, 1989, p. ix), informs this study of the ways in which public health policy makers and journalists in Australia communicate about hepatitis C. The institutions of public health and the news media form part of the cultural context within which persons construct their illness narratives. The privileged perspectives and framing of public health policy and news media discourses; the discursive practices associated with the institutions of public health and the media around hepatitis C and hepatitis C-positive persons, the “objects” of knowledge (Foucault, 1969/2002, p. 81); and …

Pastoral Care In Education, Lydia Hearn, Renee Campbell-Pope, Joanne House, Donna Cross

Research outputs pre 2011

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. During the past decade, there has been growing recognition the school environment plays a major role in the social and emotional competence and wellbeing of children. As a consequence, increasing national and international commitment has been directed towards the development of Health Promoting Schools2, with efforts being made to assess how curriculum and pastoral practice can best contribute to students’ social, emotional, physical and moral wellbeing. Within Australia, the National Safe Schools Framework3 has set as a key priority the importance of achieving a shared vision of physical and emotional safety and wellbeing for all students …

Exploring Young People's Concepts Of Smoking Addiction: Perceived Opportunities To Try Smoking Without Becoming Addicted, Calvin Wang

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study explores how young people conceptualise addiction to smoking and, also the relationship between young people's addiction beliefs and intentions to smoke cigarettes. Addiction to smoking is a major health problem, not just for adults, but also for young smokers, up to 60% of whom are dependent on nicotine. However, anti-smoking prevention efforts targeted at young people generally emphasise ill-health effects and little attention is paid to addiction education which is generally considered relevant only to adult smoking and cessation efforts. Perhaps as a consequence, young people appear to have many misconceptions and unrealistic ideas about addiction, and these …

Confined Space Fatalities, Ciaran Maccarron

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The extent of work related fatal accidents has been analysed statistically by agencies throughout the world. As a result of this analysis there is a wealth of information available categorised by industry types, sub-industry, occupation, sex, age, nature of occurrence, bodily location, agency of occurrence and mechanism of injury. It is however extremely difficult to identify information pertaining to confined space fatalities such as contributory factors, mechanisms of injury and other data of an epidemiological nature.

Producing Safety: Evaluating Structuration Theory As A Framework For Exploring The Values In Action Within The Civil Construction Industry In Wa, Susanne Bahn, Llandis Barratt-Pugh

Research outputs pre 2011

In this paper we argue that occupational safety and health (OS&H) in the workplace is a production of values in action. We propose that such relations may best be explored through the structuration lens generated by Giddens (1984). We both use structuration theory to conceptualise the relations that produce safety and evaluate the utility of the theory as a research framework. We provide a detailed discussion of the context of, and rationale for a proposed study. The paper then analyses the components of structuration theory and frames the production of safety within these conceptual relations. The paper argues that the …

A Descriptive Study Of Ethical Procedures That Maintain Cultural Security When Conducting Health Research With Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander School Children In Western Australia, Dionne Paki

Theses : Honours

Cultural security is the maintenance of values and beliefs and the celebration of diversity unique to different cultures. This honours thesis developed a proposed framework to guide collaborative ethics procedures that demonstrate the Aboriginal values relevant to health research for use in Western Australia (WA). These values of reciprocity, respect, equality, responsibility, survival and protection, and spirit and integrity have been identified in the National Health and Medical Research Council's Values and Ethics: Guidelines for Ethical Conduct in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research. Ethical procedures for maintaining cultural security when conducting health research among Aboriginal people throughout Australia …

The Search For An Effective International Regime For The Long-Term Safety And Security Of High Level Radioactive Waste: Pangea And Beyond, Vincent Cusack

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis is a study of public policy issues relating to multinational geological repositories for high-level radioactive waste disposal (HLW). Nuclear states have attempted for decades to implement effective radioactive waste policies, though with limited success. The safe disposal of HLW has proven particularly troublesome and, thus far, a solution has eluded all states. A review of radioactive waste policy in the UK, the US and Switzerland reveals some of the underlying themes behind community opposition to repository siting and the reasons for a broader global search. The failure to achieve HLW repositories at a national level has led to …

In Search Of Possibilities : Informal Responding To Domestic Violence, Marilyn Palmer

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis is based on a feminist ethnography. designed to explore how we as members of informal networks (family, social,,student/work and neighbourhood networks) can respond usefully where there is domestic violence. Here, domestic violence refers to violence against women by their intimate partners and I have filtered the various discourses which seek to explain domestic violence through the lens of a feminist ecological model. The inquiry process has been informed by a postmodem feminism. Non-foundationalist ideas about knowledge have influenced the gathering, interpretatation and representation of the research data. The ideas which emanate from the stady have been informed by …

The Effectiveness Of Back Belts As A Control Measure For Occupational Low Back Pain In A Retail Hardware Chain, Nick Merdith

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of the mandatory introduction of back belts on the incidence, days lost and cost of occupational low back injuries resulting from manual handling in 11 retail hardware chain. The study was of a non-experimental before-and-after design with all retail employees in Western Australia being included in a retrospective cohort. The pre-intervention period extended for 21 months and included 2,265,933 work hours with 647 full-time equivalent positions, while the intervention period was 32 months for 4,411,352 hours worked and 827 full-time equivalent positions. Workers' compensation claims for all occupational injuries occurring …

Healthcare Practitioners' Perspectives On The Use Of E-Health Applications To Support Overweight And Obese Adolescents, Rachel J. Mahncke

Theses : Honours

The aim of this research was to investigate, from an Australian healthcare practitioners' perspective, whether online and e-health applications could provide support for and be beneficial to overweight and obese adolescents. This research has investigated whether diet and exercise related environmental causes of obesity could be positively affected by using e-health applications to re-educate adolescents about healthy eating and exercise behaviours the research identified what online and electronic resources healthcare practitioners' recommended to their patients, in order to understand how information systems· solutions could better assist these patients in achieving healthier lifestyle outcomes. Additionally, the research investigated what content, features …

Implementing Best Practice Protocols For Occupational Hygiene Monitoring, Hayden Wing

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis outlines the results of an occupational hygiene monitoring program implemented at Minara Resources' Murrin Murrin mine site. The research was conducted as part of a collaborative agreement between Edith Cowan University and Minara Resources, the title of which was "Establishing best practice protocols in the management of occupational and environmental health in a high risk mining and ore processing environment". To form the basis of this research it was hypothesised that chemical hazards had not been adequately identified, that existing occupational hygiene monitoring programs did not adequately quantify employee exposures to these hazards, and that the implementation of …

Exploring The Use Of Guided Interviews As A Research Tool In A Doctoral Study Of Safe Work Practices Of Young Construction Workers, Susanne Bahn

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper uses the research processes of a doctoral study that investigates young workers learning safe practices within the housing construction industry to explore the use of guided interviews with artefacts as an ethnographic technique to gather qualitative data. The paper identifies how this specifically vulnerable group are subject to the 'Cycle of Abuse'. The complications of gathering accurate data from the 15-19 age group in this industry are discussed, including dealing with low literacy levels, defensive trainers, power of access and high emotions. The paper reviews the use of images within guided interviews and provides a conceptual model. The …

Identifying And Enabling Core Management Competencies And Compliance Factors In High Reliability Organisations : A Study In Organisational Risk Management Psychology And Training: A Small N Modified Grounded Theory Qualitative Analysis, Patrick S. Maher

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

High reliability entities governed by statutory regulations are required to comply with safety guidelines and specifications. When fatalities or serious injuries occur in otherwise preventable accidents these entities are routinely exonerated from any responsibility by claiming to have ‘systemic management problems’ and their managing coalitions have been able to hide behind the ‘corporate veil’. This thesis maintains that the core managerial competencies needed to prevent preventable accidents, can be acquired through training, particularly if their mastery is mandated by a strong regulatory and compliance regime. The cases chosen for analysis revealed ten core managerial and organisational competencies and compliance as …

Impact Of Extra-Curricular Activities On Adolescents' Connectedness And Cigarette Smoking: Annual Report, Donna Cross, Greg Hamilton, Rob Mcgee, Margaret Hall

Research outputs pre 2011

Cigarette smoking is the primary cause of preventable death in Australia, killing approximately 19,000 people every year.⁸ Up to 90% of smokers begin smoking by 18 years of age.^9,10 In spite of the obvious public health burden, current approaches have led to very modest decreases in adolescent smoking in the past 10 years. ¹¹ The Smoking Cessation for Youth Project (SCYP)⁴ was a cluster randomised control trial that resulted in lower cigarette smoking among Year 10 students who received a harm minimisation intervention over two years. This project also led to the identification of connectedness as a …

Male Sexuality And Masculinity: Implications For Stis/Hiv And Sexual Health Interventions In Bangladesh, Sharful I. Khan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

My thesis concerns male sexuality as revealed by men living in contemporary urban and rural Bangladesh. I pursue what men think it means to be a man. dimensions of manliness and manhood, and male influences in the construction of male/female relationships. Significant meanings men attribute to sexual acts, pleasure, pain,. risk and safety in multiple social realities, particularly in the era of HIV/AIDS, were explored. A social constructionist perspective guided my research. Using qualitative research methods, I conducted 50 in-depth interviews with men aged between 18 and 58 years from diverse socio-occupational backgrounds. Twenty key informants included religious leaders. traditional …

In Pursuit Of Best Practice : Benchmarking Tools And Processes For The Management Of Hazardous Substances In The Workplace, Barry Chesson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Many organisations now strive to achieve excellence in various aspects of occupational health and safety. Benchmarking of the techniques and approaches of other organisations is becoming a popular way of bridging gaps and seeking to achieve high levels of performance. There exist many sources of guidance in the form of external and internal standards, regulations, codes of practice, publications by professional institutions and similar. However, there are clear shortfalls in terms of tools and processes needed to identify areas of opportunity and to overcome barriers to the efficient transfer of ideas and techniques from one enterprise to another. This is …

Is It 'Too Bloody Late'? : Older People's Attitudes To Physical Activity And To The Recommendations In The National Physical Activity Guidelines, Joan Jackson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Participation in physical activity confers many health benefits by reducing the risk factor for a number of lifestyle related diseases such as diabetes, colon cancer, and heart disease. Other benefits include improved mental and physical well-being. For older people the benefits are even more important; engagement in physical activity extends to such health benefits as reduction in the risk of falls and related potential injuries. However the most significant benefit to older people is that physical activity enables older people to live independently for longer and with a greater sense of well-being. This study explores, through qualitative research, older people's …

An Ethnographic Investigation Of The Relevance Of Shop Floor Culture To Effective Safety Communication In An Australian Minerals Refinery, David R. Leith

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Many organisations which aim to achieve excellent workplace safety choose 'culture change' as the means to achieve this. They make use of employee communication media to help re-form the values, beliefs, norms and behaviours which are generally thought to comprise culture. However, culture is a complex and profound phenomenon. Successful communication between two culturally separate groups requires each to achieve an understanding of the other, no less so in workplaces than in societies composed of different cultures.Yet even employers who believe in communicating fully with their workforces find it difficult to convey viewpoints other than their own. Their communication tends …

Fatigue, Ambulance Perspectives In A Comparative Study Between Air And Road Transports, Wayne J. Mckenna

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The study of fatigue in the health and transport sectors has predominantly been focused on night shift or day shift operations. This study has been applied to the hours of operation of Ambulance Officers who perform both night and day shifts, while also being required for on-call. The Officer on-call is on stand-by between shifts, to be available to respond for duties from the completion of one shift until the commencement of the next, usually a ten-hour shift. Studies of a similar focus have not been identified so a comparison of these specific findings has not been possible. However trends …

Risk Factors For Coronary Heart Disease And Mediation By Socio-Economic Status : An Analysis Of The 1995 National Health Survey, Natalie J. Sherriffs

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

As the leading cause of death and disease in Australia, Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) places a significant burden on society. There are many lifestyle factors that are known to increase the risk of CHD. This study looks at both risk factors and protective factors of CHD. Research also shows CHD prevalence to be predicted by socio-economic status (SES) variables. This study aims to identify the extent to which risk and protective factors predict CHD prevalence in an Australian National survey and whether the association between risk factors and CHD is confounded by SES variables. This study used data from the …

Predictors Of Young Women's Attitudes Toward Sexual Health Practices, Alison G. Dougall

Theses : Honours

The present study examined whether cognitive (beliefs), affective (emotions) and I or behavioural processes predicted young women's attitudes towards their sexual health practices. For pragmatic reasons, safer sex promotion has largely relied on the provision of factual information to promote behaviour change. Although the importance of emotional and behavioural influences has been indicated, these elements have not traditionally been included in sexual health interventions. In order to examine this issue, Zanna and Rempel's (1988) tripartite model of attitude formation was used. A convenience sample of female participants (N=98) aged 18 to 29 years was asked to rate their attitudes towards …

Examination Of The Transtheoretical Model Of Behaviour Change To Increase Physical Activity Within An Organisational Setting, Justine L. Goldspink

Theses : Honours

This study explored the application of Prochaska and DiClemente's (1982) transtheoretical model of behaviour change (TIM) to the area of physical activity adoption and maintenance within an organisational setting. One hundred and nine employees of the Bunbury Centrelink Call Centre participated in a six-week physical activity intervention modelled on the Take Charge Challenge (TCC) (Leonard, 2000). Based on the TIM, this program attempts to increase individual physical activity through organisational change in order to counterbalance the sedentary nature of roles undertaken by staff and to maximise physical and psychological health benefits for employees. Time (in minutes/ week) engaging in physical …

A Retrospective Cohort Study Of Workers' Compensation Indicators From An Occupational Safety And Health Perspective, Alan D. Verdonk

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Since 1984 the role of the government in Western Australia, has changed in relation to occupational safety and health. This study considers the effect of the occupational safety and health legislation using workers' compensation accident data. Academic and general staff accident data from a Western Australian University were researched. The time period is 20 years- 1979 through 1998 inclusive. 2,773 worker's compensation claims were analysed using Mann Whitney -U tests and cross-tabulations of safety prevention expenditure against the claims. The work environment provides the full spectrum of workplace activities ranging from domicile duties (student housing services) to heavy machinery work …