Media reports of heroin overdose spates: public health messages, moral panics or risk advertisements?

This article reports on an investigation of the public health utility of media messages concerning spates (temporal clusters) of heroin-related overdose (HOD) from the perspective of some injecting drug users (IDUs). In-depth qualitative interviews were carried out with a convenience sample of 60 IDUs, in the setting of two Needle and Syringe Programs in an Australian regional city (Geelong) between April and May 2000. Very few interviewees reported that they had personally experienced a spate of overdoses. None of the interviewees reported communicating the existence of a killer batch to other IDUs. No interviewees reported having changed either their injecting practices or the amount of heroin they used following such a media alert. Indeed, a substantial minority of the interviewees reported seeking out these stronger batches and participant narratives illustrate that, for a substantial group of interviewees, the media reporting of a hypothetical 'killer batch' of heroin may have implications for their drug-seeking and health-related behaviour. It was found that the accuracy of information available to IDUs is mixed and that the flow of information within this social network was slow. Findings demonstrate that media reporting of killer batches of heroin has little value as a public health strategy and provide an example of how some activities that are proposed as public health measures may in fact have the opposite effect.

Physical activity, dietary change and weight control : a public health perspective

This study examined weight-control behaviour among Victorian adults, focusing specifically on physical activity and dietary fat-related behaviour and beliefs. It also explored barriers to changing diet and physical activity, and used common theories of behaviour change to identify factors that influence weight-control behaviour, weight change and perceived weight-control success.

Analysis of outsourcing in the Victorian public health sector

The research has uncovered a major reason for outsourcing in this sector as a desire to improve middle management, specifically their skill levels and familiarity with new operating procedures. Outsourcing negative outcomes were the result of decision-makers not considering the length of relationships between parties and the lack of information available to monitor quality and other contractual terms. Outsourcing has been performed for various reasons, but rarely have decision-makers considered the full range of factors that may potentially affect the optimal nature of the decision, or the organisational characteristics of their workplaces.

Undertaking public health research in collaboration with disenfranchised groups

Examines a series of projects conducted by a university research centre in collaboration with a sex worker organisation. The aim was to establish guiding principles for a practical, ethical, and methodologically sound approach to conducting collaborative participatory health research with disenfranchised groups.

Climate change in the kitchen and on the public health agenda

Direct or indirect consequences of climate change on the vulnerable groups within communities are discussed. The health impacts of climate change will be felt in all facets of life and will be a significant challenge to public health systems and in health promotion fields.

Discursive recontextualization in a public health setting

The authors discuss discursive recontextualization as a process of discursive change in which stable referents may be recombined. As such, discursive recontextualization recognizes the interplay of both stability and instability without necessarily privileging the latter. Drawing on intertextual document analysis of a series of public reports published in the wake of a major health policy initiative in Victoria, Australia— Health to 2050—the authors identify a discursive pattern in which descriptions of a disaggregation from large Health Care Networks to smaller Metropolitan Health Services echo those of an earlier aggregation of individual hospitals into the Health Care Networks. The authors suggest that future research into discourse and organizational change will benefit from greater attention to stabilization and such recontextualization as well as to fluidity and instability. They examine implications for change agents and for researchers in the field.

Paving pathways : shaping the public health workforce through tertiary education

Public health educational pathways in Australia have traditionally been the province of Universities, with the Master of Public Health (MPH) recognised as the flagship professional entry program. Public health education also occurs within the fellowship training of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine, but within Australia this remains confined to medical graduates. In recent years, however, we have seen a proliferation of undergraduate degrees as well as an increasing public health presence in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. Following the 2007 Australian Federal election, the new Labour government brought with it a refreshing commitment to a more inclusive and strategic style of government. An important example of this was the 2020 visioning process that identified key issues of public health concern, including an acknowledgment that it was unacceptable to allocate less than 2% of the health budget towards disease prevention. This led to the recommendation for the establishment of a national preventive health agency (Australia: the healthiest country by 2020 National Preventative Health Strategy, Prepared by the Preventative Health Taskforce 2009). The focus on disease prevention places a spotlight on the workforce that will be required to deliver the new investment in health prevention, and also on the role of public health education in developing and upskilling the workforce. It is therefore timely to reflect on trends, challenges and opportunities from a tertiary sector perspective. Is it more desirable to focus education efforts on selected lead issues such as the “obesity epidemic”, climate change, Indigenous health and so on, or on the underlying theory and skills that build a flexible workforce capable of responding to a range of health challenges? Or should we aspire to both? This paper presents some of the key discussion points from 2008 - 2009 of the Public Health Educational Pathways workshops and working group of the Australian Network of Public Health Institutions. We highlight some of the competing tensions in public health tertiary education, their impact on public health training programs, and the educational pathways that are needed to grow, shape and prepare the public health workforce for future

New Zealanders' attitudes to milk : implications for public health

Objective: To identify consumer attitudes and beliefs about (liquid) milk that may be barriers to consumption.

Design: Two random-quota telephone surveys conducted in Auckland one year apart. Respondents were questioned about their usual milk intake and their attitudes to milk. The questionnaire included attitude items that reflected the main themes of consumer interest in milk.

Setting: New Zealand.

Subjects: Seven hundred and thirteen respondents in the baseline survey and a separate sample of 719 respondents in the follow-up survey.

Results: At least one-third of the respondents consumed less than a glass (250ml) of milk a day. Non-consumption was highest in young women (15%). People's concerns about milk related to what was important in their lives; what threatens them physically and emotionally. Women held more positive attitudes but they were concerned about the fat content of milk. Men were less aware of milk's nutritional benefits and as a result were less appreciative of its value.

Conclusions: There is an opportunity to develop public health initiatives to address the barriers to drinking milk. Industry–health alliances may be an effective means to provide positive nutrition messages about milk and to engage the support of health professionals.