Public Health Commons^™

A Retrospective Cohort Study Of Factors Associated With Severity Of Falls In Hospital Patients, Manonita Ghosh, Beverly O’Connell, Ebenezer Afrifa-Yamoah, Sue Kitchen, Linda Coventry

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Severity of falls in hospital patients are threat to patient safety which can result in a financial burden on the patient’s family and health care services. Both patient specific and environmental and organisational factors are associated with severity of falls in hospital. It is important to continuously analyse the factors associated with severity of fall which can inform the implementation of any fall preventive strategies. This study aims to identify factors associated with the severity of falls in hospitalised adult patients in Western Australia. This study involved a retrospective cohort analysis of inpatient falls records extracted from the hospital’s Clinical …

Environmental Health Responses To Covid 19 In Western Australia: Lessons For The Future, Jacques Oosthuizen, Melissa Stoneham, Toni Hannelly, Edmore Masaka, Giverny Dodds, Victor Andrich

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The COVID-19 pandemic tested the health system of Western Australia (WA) and the relatively new overarching legislative framework that guided the state-wide public health response to the pandemic. This study aimed to evaluate the experiences and roles of environmental health officers (EHOs) in WA during the management of COVID-19 and to identify any policy changes that are needed to facilitate the rapid deployment of EHOs during a future public health crisis. An online survey with 78 respondents was administered and analysis was both qualitative and quantitative. It was found that participants believed there was inadequate resourcing, workforce shortages, increased workloads, …

Lacking Clarity Or Strategic Ambiguity? Comment On “Competing Frames In Global Health Governance: An Analysis Of Stakeholder Influence On The Political Declaration On Non-Communicable Diseases”, Angela Carriedo, Kathrin Lauber, Margaret M. Miller, Rob Ralston

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This commentary engages with Suzuki and colleagues’ analysis about the ambiguity of multi-stakeholder discourses in the United Nations (UN) Political Declaration of the 3rd High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (HLM-NCDs), suggesting that blurring between public and private sector in this declaration reflects broader debates about multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) and public-private partnerships (PPPs) in health governance. We argue that the ambiguity between the roles and responsibilities of public and private actors involved may downplay the role (and regulation) of conflicts of interest (COI) between unhealthy commodity industries and public health. We argue …

Precision Health In Behaviour Change Interventions: A Scoping Review, Chelsea E. Mauch, Sarah M. Edney, John Noel M. Viana, Shakuntla Gondalia, Hamza Sellak, Sarah J. Boud, Dakota D. Nixon, Jillian C. Ryan

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Precision health seeks to optimise behavioural interventions by delivering personalised support to those in need, when and where they need it. Conceptualised a decade ago, progress toward this vision of personally relevant and effective population-wide interventions continues to evolve. This scoping review aimed to map the state of precision health behaviour change intervention research. This review included studies from a broader precision health review. Six databases were searched for studies published between January 2010 and June 2020, using the terms ‘precision health’ or its synonyms, and including an intervention targeting modifiable health behaviour(s) that was evaluated experimentally. Thirty-one studies were …

Protective Factors Against Self-Harm And Suicidality Among Australian Indigenous Adolescents: A Strengths-Based Analysis Of The Longitudinal Study Of Indigenous Children, Irteja Islam, Lisa Sharwood, Verity Chadwick, Tuguy Esgin, Alexandra Martiniuk

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Understanding and encouraging social and emotional well-being (SEWB) among Indigenous adolescents is vital in countering the impacts of colonisation and intergenerational trauma. As self-harm and suicidality are considered markers of poor SEWB among Indigenous communities, we aimed to identify the individual-level and community-level factors protecting Indigenous adolescents from self-harm and suicidality. Methods: Data came from Footprints in Time—The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (waves 10 and 11), conducted among Indigenous families across Australia. A strengths-based analysis fitted multilevel logistic regression to explore associations with factors proposed as protective against self-reported self-harm and suicidality among Indigenous adolescents. Results: Our study …

A Scoping Review Of Non-Pharmacological Health Education Provided To Families Of Children With Idiopathic Childhood Constipation Within Primary Health Care, Davina Houghton, Diana Arabiat, Deborah Ireson, Evalotte Mörelius

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Objectives: Idiopathic childhood constipation is a prevalent condition that initially brings the child under the care of the primary health care team. Although it is acknowledged that health education is crucial to reducing chronicity, the range of evidenced-based non-pharmacological health education provided to families has not previously been reviewed. For this scoping review, 4 research questions sought to identify papers that provide information on the utilization of guidelines, the range of health education, who provides it, and whether any gaps exist. Methods: Following a registered protocol and using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping …

Show, Attend And Detect: Towards Fine-Grained Assessment Of Abdominal Aortic Calcification On Vertebral Fracture Assessment Scans, Syed Zulqarnain Gilani, Naeha Sharif, David Suter, John T. Schousboe, Siobhan Reid, William D. Leslie, Joshua R. Lewis

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

More than 55,000 people world-wide die from Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) each day. Calcification of the abdominal aorta is an established marker of asymptomatic CVD. It can be observed on scans taken for vertebral fracture assessment from Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry machines. Assessment of Abdominal Aortic Calcification (AAC) and timely intervention may help to reinforce public health messages around CVD risk factors and improve disease management, reducing the global health burden related to CVDs. Our research addresses this problem by proposing a novel and reliable framework for automated “fine-grained” assessment of AAC. Inspired by the vision-to-language models, our method performs sequential …

Flavonoid Intakes Inversely Associate With Copd In Smokers, Nicola P. Bondonno, Benjamin H. Parmenter, Frederik Dalgaard, Kevin Murray, Daniel Bech Rasmussen, Cecilie Kyrø, Aedin Cassidy, Catherine P. Bondonno, Joshua R. Lewis, Kevin D. Croft, Gunnar Gislason, Augustin Scalbert, Anne Tjønneland, Kim Overvad, Anja Olsen, Jonathan M. Hodgson

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction: Higher flavonoid intakes are beneficially associated with pulmonary function parameters; however, their association with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is unknown. This study aimed to examine associations between intakes of 1) total flavonoids, 2) flavonoid subclasses and 3) major flavonoid compounds with incident COPD in participants from the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health study. Methods: This prospective cohort included 55 413 men and women without COPD, aged 50-65 years at recruitment. Habitual flavonoid intakes at baseline were estimated from a food frequency questionnaire using Phenol-Explorer. Danish nationwide registers were used to identify incident cases of COPD. Associations were modelled …

Risk Factors For Child Stunting In Bangladesh: An Analysis Using Mics 2019 Data, Tuhinur R. Chowdhury, Sayan Chakrabarty, Muntaha Rakib, Stephen Winn, Jason Bennie

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background Malnutrition is considered a major public health challenge and is associated with a range of health issues, including childhood stunting. Stunting is a reliable and well-recognized indicator of chronic childhood malnutrition. The objective of this study is to determine the risk factors associated with stunting among 17,490 children below five years of age in Bangladesh. Methods Correlates of child stunting were examined using data generated by a cross-sectional cluster survey conducted in Bangladesh in 2019. The data includes a total of 17,490 children (aged < 5 years) from 64,400 households. Multiple logistic regressions were used to determine the risk factors associated with child stunting and severe stunting. Results The prevalence of stunting and severe stunting for children was 25.96% and 7.97%, respectively. Children aged 24 to < 36 months [Odds Ratio (OR) = 2.65, 95% CI: 2.30, 3.05] and aged 36 to < 48 months [OR = 2.33, 95% CI: 2.02, 2.69] had more risk of stunting compared to the children aged < 6 months. Children from Sylhet division had the greatest risk of stunting of all the eight divisions [OR = 1.26, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.46]. Children of secondary complete or higher educated mothers were less likely to develop stunting [OR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.56, 0.79] compared with children of mothers having no education at all. Similarly, children of secondary complete or higher educated father [OR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.63, 0.87] were found to have lower risk of stunting compared with children whose father hadn’t any education. Substantially lower risk of stunting was observed among children whose mother and father both completed secondary education or above [OR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.52, 0.69]. Children from the richest households [OR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.41, 0.58] had 51% lower odds of stunting compared to children from the poorest households. Conclusions After controlling for socioeconomic and demographic factors, parental education and household position in the wealth index were found to be the most important determinants of child stunting in Bangladesh.

Barriers And Facilitators To Hiv Prevention Interventions For Reducing Risky Sexual Behavior Among Youth Worldwide: A Systematic Review, Fungai Mbengo, Esther Adama, Amanda Towell-Barnard, Arvin Bhana, Maggie Zgambo

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Interventions aimed at reducing risky sexual behavior are considered an important strategy for averting Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection among youth (15-24 years) who continue to be at risk of the disease. Enhancing intervention success requires a comprehensive understanding of the barriers and facilitators to interventions targeting youth. However, there is lack of a systematic review of both quantitative and qualitative studies to comprehensively identify and synthesize barriers and facilitators to HIV prevention interventions for reducing risky sexual behavior among youth worldwide. This review aimed to identify and synthesize barriers and facilitators to HIV prevention interventions for reducing risky …

Needs And Views On Healthy Lifestyles For The Prevention Of Dementia And The Potential Role For Mobile Health (Mhealth) Interventions In China: A Qualitative Study, Jinxia Zhang, Esmé Eggink, Xiaoyu Zhang, Xingming Li, Bin Jiang, Hongmei Liu, Siqi Ge, Wei Zhang, Jihui Lyu, Yixuan Niu, Yueyi Yu, Haifeng Hou, Xizhu Xu, Xiaoyan Ye, Wenzhi Wang, Ruben Terlou, Edo Richard, Wei Wang, Youxin Wang, Eric P. Moll Van Charante, Song Manshu, Prodemos Consortium

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Objectives:

Over the coming decades, China is expected to face the largest worldwide increase in dementia incidence. Mobile health (mHealth) may improve the accessibility of dementia prevention strategies, targeting lifestyle-related risk factors. Our aim is to explore the needs and views of Chinese older adults regarding healthy lifestyles to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD) and dementia through mHealth, supporting the Prevention of Dementia using Mobile Phone Applications (PRODEMOS) study.

Design:

Qualitative semi-structured interview study, using thematic analysis.

Setting:

Primary and secondary care in Beijing and Tai’an, China.

Participants:

Older adults aged 55 and over without dementia with an increased dementia risk, …

Tox And Detox: Are Teens' Smartphone Use And Non-Use Practices Fully Fungible?, Lelia Green, Debra Dudek, Lynne Cohen, Kjartan Ólafsson, Elisabeth Staksrud, Carmen Louise Jacques, Kelly Jaunzems

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The public sphere includes a range of credible discourses asserting that a proportion of teenagers (“teens”) has an unhealthy dependence upon continuous connection with media devices, and especially smartphones. A review of media discourse (Jaunzems et al.) in Australia, and a critical review of public discourse in Australia and Belgium (Zaman et al.), reveal both positive and negative commentary around screentime. Despite the “emotionally laden, opposing views” expressed in the media, there appears to be a groundswell of concern around young people’s dependence upon digital devices (Zaman et al. 120). Concerns about ‘addiction’ to and dependency on digital media first …

Exploring Orthopaedic Patients’ Experiences Of Hospital Discharge: Implications For Nursing Care, Rosemary Saunders, David Dineen, Karen Gullick, Karla Seaman, Renee Graham, Sandra Finlay

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background

Nurses play a key role in providing discharge education. With the increased demand for orthopaedic surgery and subsequent fast‐track surgical programmes resulting in reduction in hospital length of stay, obtaining patient feedback about discharge is important to inform nursing practice of discharge.

Aim

To explore patients’ experiences of discharge from hospital following orthopaedic surgery.

Methods

A descriptive qualitative study was undertaken with a sample of 34 patients discharged following orthopaedic surgery at a private acute Australian hospital. Individual semistructured telephone interviews were conducted and analysed using inductive thematic analysis.

Findings

From the analysis, patient experiences have been described in …