Food insecurity is a complex 'wicked' problem that results from a range of unstable and uncertain physical, social, cultural, and economic factors that limit access to nutritious food ....
Midwives are well placed to promote vaccination awareness throughout a women's pregnancy and strengthen childhood vaccination demand following hospital discharge. In Perth, Western Australia, ...Aboriginal children experience some of the lowest vaccination coverage rates across the nation. To identify factors preventing greater vaccination uptake amongst the target population, a theory-based study was conducted with midwives across two Perth maternity hospitals to explore behavioural attributes, knowledge, attitudes and beliefs surrounding vaccination provision and the vaccines administered to Aboriginal children.
A purpose-designed questionnaire was distributed to midwives working in two Perth public maternity hospitals. The proximal constructs of The Theory of Planned Behavior were used to frame the questionnaire to enable the barriers to greater vaccination coverage to be identified and behaviourally situated. Descriptive statistics described the demographics of the study sample. Chi-square and the Fisher's exact test were used to identify associations between midwife characteristics and awareness of the coverage rates. Significance was set at α = 0.05.
Of the 58 midwives who completed the study questionnaire, 77.2% were unaware of the sub-optimal vaccination coverage in Perth's Aboriginal children. Level of education (p = 0.53) and years worked as a practising midwife (p = 0.47) were not found to be associated with an awareness of the coverage rates. Approximately, 50% of midwives reported some concern over the efficacy of childhood vaccines, 44.4% did not feel confident with their knowledge of vaccines, while 33.3% do not routinely discuss childhood vaccinations with parents prior to hospital discharge.
Key findings in the study identified that a range of educational, leadership and system-based issues are affecting midwives' capacity to play a more substantial role in influencing vaccination coverage in Perth's Aboriginal children.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the Australian food supply through changed consumer purchasing patterns, and potentially, household food security. The aim of this study was to determine the impact ...of COVID-19 on the prevalence of food insecurity and food supply issues, and perspectives of food supply stakeholders in regional Australia.
A mixed-methods consumer survey and in-depth interviews with food supply stakeholders were conducted in regional Australia, more specifically South West Western Australia between May and July 2020, immediately after the 1
wave of the pandemic.
The prevalence of food insecurity was 21% among consumers, and significantly more prevalent for those aged less than 30 years and living with a disability. Most consumers (73%) agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted the food supply. Food insecure respondents were more likely to report that food was more expensive, resulting in changes to the types and quantities of food bought. Food supply stakeholders perceived that consumers increased their intention to buy locally grown produce. Panic buying temporarily reduced the availability of food for both food suppliers and consumers, regardless of their food security status.
This study provided novel insights from South West Australian consumer and food supply stakeholder perceptions. Food insecure consumers provided insights about the high cost of food and the subsequent adaptation of their shopping habits, namely type and amount of food purchased. Stakeholder perceptions largely focused on supply chain issues and corroborated consumer reports.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
Outside-of-school-hours-care (OSHC) services are well positioned to influence the health behaviours of 489, 800 Australian children, and are an important setting for health promotion given the ...current rates of childhood overweight and obesity and associated health risks. OSHC Professionals are ideally placed to become positive influencers in this setting, although they may require training and support to confidently perform this role. This study piloted a multifaceted intervention strategy to increase OSHC Professional's confidence and competencies, to support a health promoting OSHC environment with a nutrition and physical activity focus.
A mixed methods approach was used. Nineteen OSHC Professionals participated in the study, including a face-to-face workshop, supported by a closed Facebook group and website. Role adequacy (self-confidence) and legitimacy (professional responsibility) were measured pre and post workshop and evaluated using non-parametric statistics. Facebook interactions were monitored, and four participants undertook qualitative exit interviews to discuss their experiences with the intervention.
Pre-workshop 68% of participants had not received any OSHC-specific health promotion training. Post-workshop significant improvements in confidence about menu planning, accessing nutrition information, activities and recipes was observed (P < 0.05 for all). A significant improvement was observed in role support and role related training (P < 0.05). A high level of support and interaction was observed between participants on Facebook and the website was reported a useful repository of information.
Health promotion training, combined with positive social connections, shared learning experiences, and a website improved OSHC Professionals confidence and capacity to provide a health promoting OSHC environment. Health promotion professional development for OSHC professionals should be mandated as a minimum requirement, and such learning opportunities should be scaffolded with support available through social media interactions and website access.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Scope
Nitrate from vegetables improves vascular health with short‐term intake. Whether this translates into improved long‐term health outcomes has yet to be investigated. To enable reliable analysis ...of nitrate intake from food records, there is a strong need for a comprehensive nitrate content of vegetables database.
Methods and results
A systematic literature search (1980–2016) was performed using Medline, Agricola and Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux s databases. The nitrate content of vegetables database contains 4237 records from 255 publications with data on 178 vegetables and 22 herbs and spices. The nitrate content of individual vegetables ranged from Chinese flat cabbage (median; range: 4240; 3004–6310 mg/kg FW) to corn (median; range: 12; 5–1091 mg/kg FW). The database was applied to estimate vegetable nitrate intake using 24‐h dietary recalls (24‐HDRs) and food frequency questionnaires (FFQs). Significant correlations were observed between urinary nitrate excretion and 24‐HDR (r = 0.4, P = 0.013), between 24‐HDR and 12 month FFQs (r = 0.5, P < 0.001) as well as two 4 week FFQs administered 8 weeks apart (r = 0.86, P < 0.001).
Conclusion
This comprehensive nitrate database allows quantification of dietary nitrate from a large variety of vegetables. It can be applied to dietary records to explore the associations between nitrate intake and health outcomes in human studies.
Dietary nitrate found in vegetables increases NO through the NO3‐NO2‐NO pathway improves vascular health. It has yet to be investigated if this translates into improved long‐term health outcomes. To enable reliable analysis of nitrate intake from dietary records,a nitrate content of vegetables database is constructed containing 4237 records from 255 publications with data on 178 vegetables and 22 herbs and spices. This will allow quantification of nitrate from a large variety of vegetables to explore associations between nitrate intake and health outcomes in human studies.
The South West Food Community (SWFC) project was implemented in 2018 to enhance food security action within the South West (SW) region of Western Australia (WA) and utilised an innovative Systemic ...Innovation Lab approach (SIL). The SW region is located in the south-western corner of Australia and covers an area of nearly 24 000 square kilometres and includes inner regional and outer regional towns. The SW is the most populated region outside the capital city Perth with an estimated population of 170 000 in 2013 and predicted to rise to 217 000 by 2023. SW residents are reportedly the happiest of all WA regions with a high sense of community and connectedness.
Early childhood education and care services are a significant feature of Australian family life, where nearly 1.4 million children attended a service in 2019. This paper reports on the cost of food ...provided to children in long day-care (LDC) services and extrapolates expenditure recommendations to support food provision compliance. A cross-sectional audit of LDC services in metropolitan Perth was conducted to determine food group provision by weighing raw ingredients of meal preparation-morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea (MT, L, AT). Ingredients were costed at 2017 online metropolitan pricing from a large supermarket chain. Across participating services, 2 days of food expenditure per child/day ranged between $1.17 and $4.03 across MT, L, AT, and averaged $2.00 per child/day. Multivariable analysis suggests that an increase of $0.50 per child/day increases the odds of a LDC service meeting >50% of Australian Dietary Guideline (ADG) recommendations across ≥4 core food groups by fourfold (
= 0.03). Given the fact that the literature regarding food expenditure at LDC services is limited, this study provides information about food expenditure variation that impacts planning and provision of nutritionally balanced menus recommended for children. An average increase of food expenditure of $0.50 per child/day would increase food provision compliance.
There are currently 1.3 million children utilising Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services in Australia. Long day care (LDC), family day care and out of school hours care currently provide ...this service in different environments. This research reports findings from a LDC perspective. Children can consume 40-67% of their food intake whilst at LDC services, this highlights the importance of monitoring food provision at a service level. There are several methods to measure food provision which typically focus on intake at an individual level. There is limited evidence of measuring food provision accurately at a service level and for young children. Accurate and consistent dietary assessment methods are required to determine compliance with dietary guidelines and to provide rigour for comparison between studies.
Convenience sampling was used to recruit 30 LDC services and food provision assessed over two consecutive days. To ensure consistency, trained researchers weighed raw food ingredients used in food preparation at each service. Food and food weights were allocated to food groups to determine average serves of food group provision at morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea per child. All data were entered into Foodworks for dietary analysis and compliance with dietary guidelines was assessed using Wilcoxon signed-rank and one-sample t-tests (SPSS).
This paper outlines the process of data collection for the measurement and auditing of food provision and food waste at a service level. There is an urgent need to ensure that food provision at a service level complies with current dietary guidelines and is accurately assessed. Following a standard method of data collection will allow a more accurate comparison between studies and allow change to be monitored more accurately over time to guide decision makers.
As this research project is conducted at a service level and not a clinical trial, registration was not required.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
To explore how determinants of food security affect children in regional and remote Western Australia (WA), across food availability, access and utilisation dimensions.
The Determinants of Food ...Security framework guided the thematic analysis (using NVivo 10) of semi‐structured interviews with 20 key informants.
Food availability factors included availability, price, promotion, quality, location of outlets and variety. Food access factors included social support, financial resources, transport to food outlets, distance to food outlets and mobility. Food utilisation factors included nutrition knowledge and skills, children's food preferences, storage facilities, preparation and cooking facilities and time to purchase food.
Key food availability recommendations include increasing local food supply options. Food access recommendations include ensuring equitable formal social support and empowering informal support options. Food utilisation recommendations include prioritising food literacy programs focusing on quick, healthy food preparation and budgeting skills.
Policymakers should invest in local food supply options, equitable social support services and experiential food literacy programs. Practitioners should focus child/parent programs on improving attitude, knowledge and skills.
Food literacy is seen as a key component in improving the increasing levels of food insecurity. While responsibility for providing training falls on the charitable service organizations, they may not ...have the capacity to adequately reach those in need. This paper proposes a tertiary education - (university or higher education) led model to support the food literacy training needs of the food charity sector. A cross-sectional study comprised of online surveys and discussions investigated food services offered by Western Australia (WA) and Australian Capital Territory (ACT) agencies, food literacy training needs for staff, volunteers and clients, and challenges to delivering food literacy training programs. Purposive sampling was used, and ACT and WA charitable service originations (survey: ACT
= 23, WA
= 32; interviews: ACT
= 3, WA
= 2) were invited to participate. Findings suggest organizations had limited financial and human resources to address the gap in food literacy training. Nutrition, food budgeting, and food safety education was delivered to paid staff only with limited capacity for knowledge transfer to clients. The Food Literacy Action Logic Model, underpinned by a tertiary education engagement strategy, is proposed to support and build capacity for organizations to address training gaps and extend the reach of food literacy to this under-resourced sector.
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