The LiveLighter® 2016 'Junk Food' campaign ran for 5 weeks in Western Australia (WA) and urged adults to reduce their junk food consumption to avoid weight gain and associated chronic disease. A cohort design assessed campaign impact on knowledge, beliefs and behaviour. Pre-campaign (n = 1501) and post-campaign (n = 737) telephone surveys of WA…

Objective: Schools are important settings for health promotion. In schools, children and adolescents can be reached regardless of their social background, which represents a unique opportunity for promoting health. Several studies have demonstrated the importance of school leadership in initiating and sustaining health promotion; however, efforts…

The enactment of the Australian Curriculum for Health and Physical Education (AC:HPE) is intended to be informed by five 'propositions' or Key Ideas, one of which is 'Develop Health Literacy'. Our study occurred at four Tasmanian primary schools and was conducted by a research team consisting of public health and education academics. This team…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of an online short course based on the Health Promoting Schools Framework and specifically designed for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) professionals. The short course aimed to enhance ECEC professionals' nutrition knowledge, confidence, role legitimacy and adequacy to model healthy behaviours,…

The oral health of people with intellectual and developmental disability is poorer than that of the general community. Any solution for people with intellectual and developmental disability living in residential services needs to include disability support workers (DSWs). Previous studies have used either didactic or train-the-trainer approaches…

Past efforts to address endemic rates of sexually transmissible infections amongst young Aboriginal people living in remote/very remote Australian communities have had limited success. Peer education has been used in youth sexual health promotion but has received limited evaluation and has not been tested in remote Aboriginal settings. The Young…

Teachers are responsible for children at school during peak ultraviolet (UV) times of the day. It is paramount that teachers have knowledge and understanding of UV to effectively protect themselves and their students. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the effect of a short intervention on preservice teachers' sun protective…

There has been a recent surge in the popularity of school gardening programmes with different models claiming to address learning outcomes within the curriculum. For example, the 'kitchen garden' concept has had a rapid uptake across many Australian schools, promoted by both government curriculum support documents, and private organisations.…

Purpose: Health literacy is a key international public health goal. Conceptualising health literacy as an asset highlights the importance of fostering a health literate youth for the benefit of future generations, yet research has predominantly focused on examining adults' and older adolescents' health literacy. This presents a gap for…

Boarding schools, by definition, house students in residence either on campus or close by in residential facilities - where the sleep environment is likely to differ from their home environment. For boarders, being in the boarding environment occurs alongside a convergence of psychosocial and physiological factors likely to impact adolescent…

In remote and very remote Australia, young people engage youth workers in sexual health discussions, often out of necessity due to low access to health services. Youth workers' and youth service managers' perspectives on these interactions and the sexual health training they receive are poorly understood. In this study, youth workers and youth…

Refugee and migrant communities from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in Australia experience dependency, stigma, isolation, mental health issues, family issues and other problems associated with alcohol and other drugs. Yet, refugee and migrant communities also face major linguistic, cultural and technological barriers to health…

Objective: As children become increasingly exposed to health information and education, it is important to understand how these messages affect the way children speak about health and health behaviours. Children are social agents and co-constructors of their social worlds. Exploring how pre-school children speak about health and health-promoting…

Objective: This study explored young university students' (aged 18-24 years) health literacy, asthma experiences and help-seeking behaviours to inform the development of a web-based asthma education intervention relevant to this age group. Design: Exploratory mixed-methods design incorporateing a health literacy survey and interviews, plus the…

The Western Australian (WA) "LiveLighter" (LL) mass media campaign ran during June-August and September-October 2012. The principal campaign ad graphically depicts visceral fat of an overweight individual ("why" change message), whereas supporting ads demonstrate simple changes to increase activity and eat healthier…