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Notifications for sexually transmitted diseases in young people in Australia are increasing. Young people are a priority population within the National Sexually Transmissible Infections Strategy, yet their knowledge of sexual health issues is limited. In the context of Health-Promoting Universities, we examined sexual health knowledge and access to care of both on and off-campus students at a regional university. In late 2012, 418 tertiary students aged 18-29 years completed an online baseline survey on their recent sexual behaviours and attitudes. In mid-2014, 956 students aged 18-31 years, of which 105 had completed the 2012 survey, completed the same or "endline" survey which also measured exposure to a university sexual health campaign. The low response rate to both the baseline and endline surveys meant only endline survey data were analysed. Two-thirds of students had been sexually active in the past 12 months. Students had positive attitudes towards condom use and STI screening. Around half reported using condoms at last sexual encounter. Students were positive about condom use, but hesitant about instigating it. STI screening was more prevalent than in the general Australian population, and largely accessed at General Practices. Screening was least likely in those with the greatest number of recent sexual partners and highest for those in de facto relationships. Students felt annual reminders or scheduled appointments would assist in ensuring STI screening. Findings showed regional university students are positive and knowledgeable about sexual health issues. Despite this, condom use is not consistent and more emphasis needs to be placed on STI transmission in this population. Students were willing to increase STI screening, and current initiatives to increase chlamydia screening in Australia are relevant to this population.

Objective To report on self-reported physical and mental health of informal carers in rural regions of New South Wales, Australia. Methods A cross-sectional community-based sample (n=222) of carers completed a questionnaire incorporating self-reported measures of health from validated international instruments including Medical Outcomes Study Scale (SF-36), the Centre for Epidemiology-Depression (CES-D) and Kessler-10 (K-10) Psychological Distress Scales, along with information on participant demographics and other key caregiving characteristics such as health condition of care recipient. Results Rural carers' self-reported health was poor as evident on the SF-36 Physical and Mental Health component scores as well as each individual domain of the SF-36. Results from the CES-D and K-10 scores indicated very high rates of depressive symptoms and psychological distress. Over 70% of carers within the current study had CES-D scores indicative of depressive symptoms. Scores on the K-10 indicate almost half the carers were experiencing high levels of psychological distress, which is over 4 times the rate reported in the general Australian population. Conclusions and implications Results from this study were compared to Australian population normative data and were found to be significantly below Australian age-matched population norms for SF-36, CES-D and K-10. These findings illustrate the poor health profile of informal carers relative to the general Australian population, especially in terms of depressive symptoms and psychological distress. This highlights the need for additional support for rural carers in order to ease the accumulated mental and physical health burdens of this group.

OBJECTIVE To investigate differences in self-reported health among Australian women with a history of intimate partner violence (IPV) in relation to rurality of residence. METHODS Data were drawn from six survey waves of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health 1973-78 birth cohort. Self-reported general and mental health scores derived from the SF-36 scale were compared for women with a history of IPV living in metropolitan, regional and rural areas. Multivariable generalised estimating equations were constructed adjusting for income hardship, number of children, education, social support, age and marital status. RESULTS Women with a history of IPV living in regional and rural areas had no significant differences in self-reported general health scores compared to their metropolitan counterparts. Rural women affected by IPV had slightly better self-reported mental health than equivalent women living in metropolitan or regional areas. The socio-demographic factors with the strongest association with self-reported health were income, education, social support, and number of children. CONCLUSIONS Women in regional and rural areas were no more disadvantaged, in terms of self-reported general health or mental health, than IPV affected women living in major cities in Australia.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is known to be linked to significant negative physical and mental health outcomes. This study addresses a gap in the Australian IPV literature by investigating lifetime IPV prevalence by rurality of residence, using data from a population-based sample of young women. The overall lifetime IPV prevalence rate in the sample was 21.6%, but there were significant differences in IPV rates from major cities (19.6%), inner regional areas (24.4%) and other rural areas (26.1%). After adjusting for demographic variables, multivariable analysis revealed that there were still significantly raised odds of women from inner regional (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.01–1.33) and other rural areas (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.11–1.56) reporting lifetime IPV compared to women from major cities. Multivariable analysis also showed that a history of IPV was significantly associated with women being separated/divorced/widowed, having lower levels of education, income hardship and limited available social support