Understanding And Influencing Physical Activity To Improve Population Health
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$4,668,376.00
Summary
Three of Australia's leading researchers on physical activity and population health will use new NHMRC program grant funding to consolidate and extend their already internationally-recognised studies. Doing regular physical activity is very important for maintaining good health. It helps to prevent weight gain, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and breast and colon cancer. Unfortunately, most Australian adults are not active enough for health benefits. Rates of overweight and obesity are increasing ....Three of Australia's leading researchers on physical activity and population health will use new NHMRC program grant funding to consolidate and extend their already internationally-recognised studies. Doing regular physical activity is very important for maintaining good health. It helps to prevent weight gain, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and breast and colon cancer. Unfortunately, most Australian adults are not active enough for health benefits. Rates of overweight and obesity are increasing rapidly; more than 50% of Australian adults are above the healthy weight range. Rates of type 2 diabetes have doubled in the past 20 years. New ideas and practical tools are therefore needed to tackle these serious ‘diseases of inactivity’. To this end, Professors Neville Owen, Adrian Bauman and Wendy Brown will bring together innovative and practically useful scientific approaches drawn from psychology, epidemiology and exercise physiology. The approach is interdisciplinary – it combines theories and methods from their individual disciplines in an innovative manner, within a public health framework. Their research to date has developed better methods for measuring people’s exercise habits and has provided new insights into how personal, social and environmental circumstances can make people less active. They have also shown how to design and deliver wide-reaching programs for different social groups and evaluated their effectiveness. Their new research program will build on and significantly extend these ideas and approaches into new areas.For example, they will develop new measures of incidental physical activity and sedentary behaviour and will develop and test new, complex community interventions.Their new program will involve in-depth study of some of the most challenging researchproblems in an important and under-researched area of public health. They will further combine their disciplines and the skills of their research team in new, creative and practical ways, to answer important research questions about physical activity and population health. These ideas and approaches will be used to identify practical ways to help more people to be more physically active.Read moreRead less
Building Capacity For Physical Activity Research In Population Health
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,118,560.00
Summary
The program will focus on the 'diseases of inactivity' and will look at factors like obtaining accurate statistics on rates of inactivity and better statistics on which social groups are least active. It will look at: • the types of activity that are best for different people; • what the best types of exercise programs are; • the types of information campaigns that will be most effective; and • how community amenities and local environments might be used to help people to be active in ways that ....The program will focus on the 'diseases of inactivity' and will look at factors like obtaining accurate statistics on rates of inactivity and better statistics on which social groups are least active. It will look at: • the types of activity that are best for different people; • what the best types of exercise programs are; • the types of information campaigns that will be most effective; and • how community amenities and local environments might be used to help people to be active in ways that are more convenient and enjoyable.Read moreRead less
Understanding And Promoting Physical Activity Amongst Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Women
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$336,601.00
Summary
Physical activity (PA) confers significant protection against heart disease and other chronic conditions, but women and those of low socioeconomic position (SEP) are at increased risk of physical inactivity. In order to inform the development of PA promotion strategies, it is important to determine why some women of low SEP are physically active despite their adversity. This research aims to understand influences on PA, and how and where to best intervene to promote PA, among women of low SEP.
The proposed program of research consists of (i) conducting a new trial to examine feasible and relatively low-cost physical activity promotion programs for adults with pre-diabetes; (ii) completing a series of existing major-funded studies relating to health promotion and education programs to promote physical activity; and (iii) I will serve as the Director for the University of Newcastle’s recently-funded Priority Research Centre in Physical Activity and Nutrition.
Partnering With Local Government Councils For Scalable Physical Activity Promotion In Community Parks
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,060,745.00
Summary
Aerobic & resistance-based physical activity (PA) levels are alarmingly low in Australia. Council parks are ideal locations for community PA but these facilities are underutilised. There’s a need to partner with Councils to investigate strategies to promote aerobic & resistance-based PA in parks. Partnering with Councils we will evaluate eCoFit, a multi-component intervention involving installation of outdoor fitness equipment with a linked innovative smartphone App, education & social support.
Population-based Approaches To Physical Activity Promotion: Improving The Evidence For Website-delivered Interventions
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$292,639.00
Summary
As most Australians do not engage in sufficient physical activity to achieve health benefits, effective low-cost programs are needed. Computerised programs delivered via the Internet can provide unique personally-relevant activity information for individuals, can effectively reach large numbers of people and can help them to increase activity levels. This research will evaluate website-delivered physical activity programs and will find ways of improving their reach, appeal and effectiveness.
A Longitudinal Multilevel Study Of Change In Physical Activity In Mid-age And Factors Associated With Change
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$742,678.00
Summary
This project will examine patterns of change in physical activity for men and women aged 40-64 years between 2007-2011; determines the relative contribution of sociodemographic, psychological, social, environmental factors to any observed changes. Knowledge produced by this study will be crucial for the development of strategies to increase physical activity in mid-aged adults, and to prevent high levels of inactivity-related chronic health problems among this group as they move into old age.
Supported Treadmill Training To Establish Walking In Non-ambulatory Patients Early After Stroke
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$341,349.00
Summary
This project will improve the health and well being of people affected by stroke. Stroke is the most common disabling neurological condition in adults and consumes up to 5% of health care expenditure in developed countries, estimated by the National Stroke Foundation at $1-2 billion per year in Australia. Some 48,000 people suffer a stroke each year in Australia, with approximately one third of these people requiring inpatient rehabilitation and 70% of them are unable to walk on admission to reh ....This project will improve the health and well being of people affected by stroke. Stroke is the most common disabling neurological condition in adults and consumes up to 5% of health care expenditure in developed countries, estimated by the National Stroke Foundation at $1-2 billion per year in Australia. Some 48,000 people suffer a stroke each year in Australia, with approximately one third of these people requiring inpatient rehabilitation and 70% of them are unable to walk on admission to rehabilitation. This randomised controlled trial will investigate whether treadmill walking with partial weight support via an overhead harness is effective at establishing independent walking (i) more often, (ii) earlier and (iii) with a better quality of walking, than current treatment for stroke patients who cannot walk. We will measure (i) whether patients achieve independent walking and (ii) the time taken to achieve independent walking. We will also measure parameters of walking such as speed, step length and step width to evaluate the effect of treadmill training on the quality of walking. Furthermore, by measuring participation in the community at 6 months, we will evaluate the long-term effect of this innovative treatment. Given that independence in walking is a major factor in the decision to discharge patients from inpatient care, earlier independent walking should result in a reduction in length of hospital stay which will save about $800 per patient per day in a teaching hospital setting. Identifying rehabilitation strategies which enhance walking outcome will not only improve quality of life of both stroke patients and their carers by reducing disability and handicap but also reduce the cost of rehabilitation.Read moreRead less
Understanding And Addressing Socioeconomic Inequalities In Diet, Physical Activity And Obesity
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$714,745.00
Summary
Obesity is one of Australia's most significant public health problems, and is particularly prevalent amongst people experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage (e.g. with low education levels or low incomes). Currently the most effective means of addressing this increased risk is unknown. The proposed research will directly address this evidence gap by generating new knowledge on the causes of and effective strategies for reducing socioeconomic inequalities in diet, physical activity and obesity.