Health promotion journal of Australia : official journal of Australian Association of Health Promotion Professionals
-
Health Promot J Austr · Dec 2014
Developing a research and practice tool to measure walkability: a demonstration project.
Growing evidence shows that higher-density, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods encourage active transport, including transport-related walking. Despite widespread recognition of the benefits of creating more walkable neighbourhoods, there remains a gap between the rhetoric of the need for walkability and the creation of walkable neighbourhoods. Moreover, there is little objective data to benchmark the walkability of neighbourhoods within and between Australian cities in order to monitor planning and design intervention progress and to assess built environment and urban policy interventions required to achieve increased walkability. This paper describes a demonstration project that aimed to develop, trial and validate a 'Walkability Index Tool' that could be used by policy makers and practitioners to assess the walkability of local areas; or by researchers to access geospatial data assessing walkability. The overall aim of the project was to develop an automated geospatial tool capable of creating walkability indices for neighbourhoods at user-specified scales. ⋯ AURIN's open-source Walkability Index Tool is a first step in demonstrating the potential benefit of a tool that could measure walkability across Australia. It also demonstrates the value of making accurate spatial data available for research purposes. SO WHAT?: There remains a gap between urban policy and practice, in terms of creating walkable neighbourhoods. When fully implemented, AURIN's walkability tool could be used to benchmark Australian cities against which planning and urban design decisions could be assessed to monitor progress towards achieving policy goals. Making cleaned data readily available for research purposes through a common portal could also save time and financial resources.
-
Health Promot J Austr · Dec 2014
Building partnerships for healthy environments: research, leadership and education.
As populations across the globe face an increasing health burden from rising rates of obesity, diabetes and other lifestyle-related diseases, health professionals are collaborating with urban planners to influence city design that supports healthy ways of living. This paper details the establishment and operation of an innovative, interdisciplinary collaboration that brings together urban planning and health. Situated in a built environment faculty at one of Australia's most prestigious universities, the Healthy Built Environments Program (HBEP) partners planning academics, a health non-government organisation, local councils and private planning consultants in a state government health department funded consortium. ⋯ The third area involves working with government and non-government agencies, and the private sector and the community, to advocate closer links between health and the built environment. Our paper presents an overview of the HBEP's major achievements. We conclude with a critical review of the challenges, revealing lessons in bringing health and planning closer together to create health-supportive cities for the 21st century.
-
Health Promot J Austr · Aug 2014
Self-reported participation and beliefs about bowel cancer screening in New South Wales, Australia.
To describe self-reported bowel cancer screening participation, beliefs and attitudes in a sample of New South Wales (NSW) adults, and to identify beliefs and demographic factors associated with self-reported bowel cancer screening participation. ⋯ Community education about bowel cancer screening is needed to correct misperceptions regarding screening in the absence of symptoms. Tailored strategies for older, migrant and urban communities may be beneficial. SO WHAT? Education strategies that promote the need for screening in the absence of symptoms and correct misconceptions about bowel cancer screening amongst subgroups of the NSW population may improve screening rates and decrease the burden of bowel cancer in NSW.
-
Health Promot J Austr · Aug 2014
Twitter tweets and twaddle: twittering at AHPA. National Health Promotion Conference.
ISSUE ADDRESSED This paper explored the first-time use of Twitter by the Australian Health Promotion Association (AHPA) at its 2013 National Health Promotion Conference. ⋯ Twitter could potentially be useful for promoting conference content and activities, but what it adds in value to a health promotion conference cannot be determined by this study. SO WHAT? This paper highlights the engagement of tweeters with conference content and activities and suggests that tweeting benefited from the engagement of a professional health blogger.
-
Over the last 15 years, a growing body of Australian and international evidence has demonstrated that urban design attributes are associated with a range of health outcomes. For example, the location of employment, shops and services, provision of public and active transport infrastructure and access to open space and recreational opportunities are associated with chronic disease risk factors such as physical activity levels, access to healthy food, social connectedness, and air quality. Despite the growing knowledge base, this evidence is not being consistently translated into urban planning policy and practice in Australia. ⋯ It argues that health promotion practitioners and researchers need to more closely engage with urban planning practitioners, policymakers and researchers to encourage the creation of healthy urban environments through integrated transport, land use and infrastructure planning. There is also a need for innovative research to evaluate the effectiveness of policy options. This would help evidence to be more effectively translated into policy and practice, making Australia a leader in planning healthy communities.