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Background: Through the provision of advice and counselling, general practitioners (GPs) play an important part in promoting physical activity (PA). Lack of knowledge is a key barrier to engaging in such practice. Little is known about the knowledge and attitudes of current medical students and their preparedness to engage in PA promoting practice in the future. This study aimed to investigate the PA knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of medical students attending an Australian university. Methods: A sample of 107 pre-clinical medical students from an Australian university completed an online survey. Questions asked about age, sex and past-week PA behaviour (using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short form) as well as understanding of key PA messages and perceptions of the role of a GP, confidence to engage in PA promoting practices and satisfaction with current medical school training (responses were on 5-point Likert scale). Descriptive statistics (proportions, means) were used to summarise demographic and attitudinal measures. Results: Almost all students (92%) were categorised as being moderately or highly active in the past-week. Knowledge of key PA messages was moderate (3.6 ± 0.9), however understanding of key messages about the dose of PA varied (ranging from 0% to 80.4% agreement). GPs were regarded as having a role to play in promoting PA; with high agreement that discussing the benefits of PA is a part of the role of a GP (4.7 ± 0.5). There was only moderate agreement that participants had received training in the health benefits of PA (3.1 ± 1.0) and in PA counselling (3.2 ± 1.0). Students indicated lower levels of satisfaction with this training (2.5 ± 0.9). Conclusions: Students in this study were typically physically active, had positive attitudes toward PA and felt that it was the role of the GP to engage in PA promoting practices. Students understood key PA messages, and while they reportedly received some training in providing PA counselling, they were somewhat dissatisfied with this training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts to combat childhood obesity in Australia are hampered by the lack of quality epidemiological data to routinely monitor the prevalence and distribution of the condition. This paper summarises the literature on issues relevant to childhood obesity monitoring and makes recommendations for implementing a school-based childhood obesity monitoring program in Australia. The primary purpose of such a program would be to collect population-level health data to inform both policy and the development and evaluation of community-based obesity prevention interventions. Recommendations are made for the types of data to be collected, data collection procedures and program management and evaluation. Data from an obesity monitoring program are crucial for directing and informing policies, practices and services, identifying subgroups at greatest risk of obesity and evaluating progress towards meeting obesity-related targets. Such data would also increase the community awareness necessary to foster change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the association of weight perception and weight satisfaction with body change intentions and weight-related behaviours in 928 overweight adolescents (aged 11–18 years, 44% female). Accurate perception of weight was associated with trying to lose weight and inaccurate perception was associated with trying to gain muscle. Weight dissatisfaction was associated with trying to lose weight and gain muscle. Accurate weight perception and weight dissatisfaction were not associated with healthy weight-related behaviours. Awareness of overweight and body dissatisfaction may be detrimental to the adoption of healthy weight-control behaviours. Interventions with overweight adolescents should encourage body satisfaction, rather than promoting awareness of overweight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies have confirmed that the rate of mental illness is no higher in rural Australians than that of urban Australians. However, the rate of poor mental health outcomes, and in particular suicide, is significantly raised in rural populations. This is thought to be due to lack of early diagnosis, health service access, the distance-decay effect, poor physical health determinants and access to firearms. Research conducted by the National Centre for Farmer Health between 2004 and 2009 reveals that there is a correlation between obesity and psychological distress among the farming community where suicide rates are recognised as high. Chronic stress overstimulates the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis that is associated with abdominal obesity. Increasing physical activity may block negative thoughts, increase social contact, positively influence brain chemistry and improve both physical and mental health. This paper describes the design of the Farming Fit study that aims to identify the effect of physical activity on psychological distress, obesity and health behaviours such as diet patterns and smoking in farm men and women. Methods/Design: For this quasi-experimental (convenience sample) control-intervention study, overweight (Body Mass Index ≥25 kg/m²) farm men and women will be recruited from Sustainable Farm Families™ (SFF) programs held across Victoria, Australia. Baseline demographic data, health data, depression anxiety stress scale (DASS) scores, dietary information, physical activity data, anthropometric data, blood pressure and biochemical analysis of plasma and salivary cortisol levels will be collected. The intervention group will receive an exercise program and regular phone coaching in order to increase their physical activity. Analysis will evaluate the impact of the intervention by longitudinal data (baseline and post intervention) comparison of intervention and control groups. Discussion: This study is designed to examine the effect of physical activity on psychological health and other comorbidities such as obesity, impaired glucose tolerance, hypertension and dyslipidaemia within a high-risk cohort. The outcomes of this research will be relevant to further research and service delivery programs, in particular those tailored to rural communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Previous studies have reported mixed findings on the associations between neighbourhood greenness and physical activity. This may be because different methods employed in these studies to measure greenness capture different aspects of greenness. This study examined agreement between perceived greenness of neighbourhoods and an objective measure of greenness using a normalised vegetation index (NDVI). A mail survey collected data on perceived greenness from adults (N =94) living in Warrnambool, Australia. Participants to the study were randomly selected from areas classified as ‘high’ or ‘low’ greenness, based on satellite imagery data using a mean NDVI value calculated from a 400m buffer around each respondent''s address. Results indicate that there was a lack of agreement between the perceived and objective measures of greenness, suggesting that these measures are capturing different aspects of neighbourhood greenness. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: There is only limited evidence available on how best to prevent childhood obesity and communitybased interventions hold promise, as several successful interventions have now been published. The Victorian Government has recently funded six disadvantaged communities across Victoria, Australia for three years to promote healthy eating and physical activity for children, families, and adults in a community-based participatory manner. Five of these intervention communities are situated in Primary Care Partnerships and are the subject of this paper. The interventions will comprise a mixture of capacity-building, environmental, and whole-of-community approaches with targeted and population-level interventions. The specific intervention activities will be determined locally within each community through stakeholder and community consultation. Implementation of the interventions will occur through funded positions in primary care and local government. This paper describes the design of the evaluation of the five primary care partnership-based initiatives in the 'Go for your life' Health Promoting Communities: Being Active Eating Well (HPC:BAEW) initiative. Methods/Design: A mixed method and multi-level evaluation of the HPC:BAEW initiative will capture process, impact and outcome data and involve both local and state-wide evaluators. There will be a combined analysis across the five community intervention projects with outcomes compared to a comparison group using a crosssectional, quasi-experimental design. The evaluation will capture process, weight status, socio-demographic, obesity-related behavioral and environmental data in intervention and comparison areas. This will be achieved using document analysis, paper-based questionnaires, interviews and direct measures of weight, height and waist circumference from participants (children, adolescents and adults). Discussion: This study will add significant evidence on how to prevent obesity at a population level in disadvantaged and ethnically diverse communities. The outcomes will have direct influence on policy and practice and guide the development and implementation of future obesity prevention efforts in Australia and internationally. Trial registration: ACTRN12609000892213 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]