The influence of leisure preference, life priority and making time on regular participation in leisure time physical activity

Using an attitude-behaviour theory approach this study examined the direct and indirect influence of preference, life priority and time allocation on regular participation in leisure-time physical activity (LTPA). The crosssectional study used self-report questionnaires to collect data from a random sample of 250 people aged 19 to 87 years living in an Australian city. The findings suggest that people’s regular participation in LTPA is not directly influenced by their preference for it. Rather, making LTPA a high life priority and allocating time for LTPA are intervening factors that explain the relationship. The outcomes emphasise the importance of encouraging the formation of a preference for physical activity in young children. They suggest all levels of government and the leisure profession emphasise work/life balance by prioritising LTPA, educating people about time management and helping them to develop time management skills.

The moral imperative of designating patient safety and quality care as a national nursing research priority

Since the early 1990s, research studies conducted respectively in the USA, UK and Australia have found that between 4 and 16.6 per cent of patients suffer from some kind of harm (including permanent disability and death) as a result of human errors and adverse events while in hospital. It has been further estimated that approximately 50 per cent of these human errors/adverse events resulting in harm could have been prevented. In response to the significant financial, social, and political implications of these figures, a range of processes have been put in place in an attempt to improve patient safety and quality care in Australia. Nonetheless, it is evident that more can be done to improve the status quo. One process that warrants consideration is that of peak health professional groups and organisations providing active leadership in the promotion of patient safety, such as by making a visible and recognisable commitment to patient safety as a strategic research priority area. In this paper it is contended that, given the moral importance of patient safety and quality care in nursing and related health care domains, the inseparable link between nursing practice and patient safety, and the central role that research has to play in driving safety improvements in these domains, it is morally imperative that the nursing profession gives sustained and focussed public attention to patient safety and quality care as a national research priority.

ACE-Obesity : priority setting for obesity prevention

The ACE-Obesity study uses an evidence-based approach to evaluate interventions aimed at reducing the prevalence of obesity in Australian youth. It informs decision-makers about the benefits of individual interventions and the packaging of a coherent strategy for obesity prevention and management. To avoid methodological confounding, the approach employs standardised methods including a two stage concept of benefit; a common comparator, setting and decision context; Australian data; and extensive probabilistic uncertainty testing. The technical cost-effectiveness results (cost per DALY) for each of the selected interventions will be reported. Modelling is undertaken to convert changes in behaviour to BMI outcomes and then to DALYs, and issues of the attribution of costs across multiple objectives arise. Due process is achieved by involving stakeholders on a Working Group, and by consideration of second stage filters (such as equity, acceptability and feasibility). The results are brought together in a 'league table' in which all the interventions are ranked in order of economic merit without the usual methodological concerns about results drawn from studies lacking in comparability. In packaging interventions to meet particular budget allocations, the divisibility, mutual exclusivity and returns to scale of individual interventions are considered, as well as issues of program logic, target group coverage and a range of settings.

Selection of priority groups for obesity prevention current approaches and development of an evidence-informed framework

Resources for obesity prevention interventions are inevitably limited, necessitating the selection of priority groups to ensure effective and equitable use of funds. This paper aims to review published approaches to selection of priority groups ('target populations') for obesity prevention, and to present the development of a new systematic framework for organizing and assessing evidence for selecting priority groups. A review was conducted of the process and justification described for selecting priority groups in a sample of obesity prevention publications. Using the results of this review and adaptation of theory and frameworks in both the obesity prevention and health promotion priority-setting literature, a framework was developed for assessment of potential priority groups for obesity prevention. The published literature lacks discussion of and explicit processes for selection of priority groups for obesity prevention intervention. The new framework describes specific types of evidence that should be considered in the assessment of a potential priority group for obesity prevention and has applications for funding and implementing community-based or settings-level obesity prevention interventions and research. Application of this framework has the potential to enhance the effective use of limited obesity prevention resources and to identify areas in need of additional research evidence.

Research capacity implications for government, universities and disciplines from research into Australian PhD theses and their graduates’ scholarly, professional and community impacts

The authors (with colleagues) have conducted research into Australian doctoral education for over a decade. Two recent projects have produced as part of their outcomes: a database coded by discipline of all Australian PhD theses (dissertations) from 1987–2006. This paper commences with an overview of this work in terms of its purposes, research methods and outcomes. It is contextualized in terms of the current Australian and international debates about the nature, substance and impact of doctoral education on nations, societies, communities and economies. The paper presents some analyses of trends in the 1987–2006 Australian PhD theses. The period 1987-2006 covers several major changes in university education in Australia from the impact of the establishment of the Unified National System in the early 1990s, through the implementation of the Research Training Scheme (RTS) from 2001, the deliberations and demise of the Research Quality Framework (RQF), the rise of Excellence in Research Australia (ERA), through to the review of research training and the research workforce in Australian universities by the House of Representatives. The paper presents and tabulates a variety of trends from the bibliometric and bibliographic data, in particular those relating to the ebb and flow of PhDs in particular disciplines. The implications for national, institutional and disciplinary planners and policymakers with interests in the development and sustainability of research capacity are discussed.

Australian PhD theses in selected professional and academic disciplines 1987–2006 and the implications for future research capacity

This commences with an overview the research methods and outcomes. It is contextualised in terms of the current Australian and international debates about the nature, substance and impact of doctoral education on nations, societies, communities and economies. Four professional disciplines (architecture and building, education, librarianship and nursing) and four academic disciplines (astronomy, chemistry, cultural studies and demography) are selected for analysis of their 1987–2006 PhD thesis records. These selections were made to reflect a range of professional and academic disciplines in Australia and to illustrate the changes that have occurred over the past two decades. The period 1987-2006 covers several major changes in Australian university education and PhD education in particular.