Objective: The Western Australian Health Department's Go for 2&5 R campaign aimed to increase adults' awareness of the need to eat more fruit and vegetables and encourage increased consumption of one serving over five years. Design: The multi-strategy fruit and vegetable social marketing campaign, conducted from 2002 to 2005, included mass media advertising (television, radio, press and point-of-sale), public relations events, publications, a website (www.gofor2and5.com), and school and community activities. Campaign development and the evaluation framework were designed using health promotion theory, and assessed values, beliefs, knowledge and behaviour.

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The Go for 2&5(R) campaign uses a prescriptive message to promote increased consumption of fruit and vegetables. Respondent's knowledge of the standard of serving sizes for fruit and vegetables suggests there is value in separating fruit and vegetable recommendations in messages to encourage increased consumption.

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here has been considerable academic and media interest in recent times in T the allegedly beneficial effects of specific varieties of alcoholic drinks. A study published in The Lancet in 1995' purported to demonstrate that wine drinkers lived longer than beer or spirit drinkers, even when potentially confounding sociodemographic factors were allowed for. Laboratory studies have indicated that red rather than white wine contains ingredients (clearly not alcohol) which are effective in reducing blood lipoprotein levels? Other studies have found that red grape juice is equally efficacious in this regard.3There are considerable demographic and behavioural differences between persons who consume different beverages that may also account for such findings. Wine drinkers are more likely to be older, female, educated, affluent, to drink socially at private homes, drink less frequently and less per occasion than beer or spirit drinker^.^,^ They are also more likely to be healthy6 and less likely to drink and drive.5 It is hard, therefore, to sustain the argument that the apparently beneficial effects of wine consumption are solely explicable by a biological mechanism. This is particularly so considering recent evidence that health benefits are more likely to be conferred on drinkers who space out their drinks over the week rather than binge.' The former pattern is more usual among wine drinkers and the latter among beer and spirit drinkers5 (It is unclear whether these drinking patterns apply to both consumers of bottled wine and cask wine, a central distinction for the present paper.) A recent review of ecological, case-control and cohort studies contrasting the different alcoholic beveragesu concluded that the beneficial effects of alcohol are not peculiar to, or more marked in, any particular beverage variety.The debate about whether wine should be regarded as, in essence, a health drink has taken on particular significance in Australia since early 1994 when a national inquiry was AbstractObjective: To determine whether population levels of consumption of some alcoholic beverages are more closely associated with levels of harm than others, particularly if consumption of cask wine is more strongly related to rates of acute alcohol problems than consumption of bottled wine as a consequence of the extremely low rates of federal tax levied on the former. Method: A database of alcohol consumption and related problems was established for 130 areas of Western Australia. Demographic and economic data for these areas were included from the 1991 census. Empirically derived assumptions regarding the mean wholesale price of cask and bottled wine were utilised. Regression analyses examined the extent to which the consumption of different alcoholic beverages predicted levels of major varieties of harm. Results: Only cask wine and high-strength beer consumption were significantly associated with rates of night-time assault; consumption of all beverage varieties except bottled wine was significantly associated with rates of acute alc...

Previous studies using clinic or convenience samples have indicated that not only patients with arthritis are at increased risk of depression, but there may also be a link between depression and disability in people with arthritis. We examined the prevalence of psychological distress in a population sample with and without arthritis and the association with health-related quality of life. The WANTS Health and Well-being Survey was a population household telephone interview survey of adults (age > or =18 years) in three states of Australia. Data obtained were weighted to provide population-representative estimates. The survey included questions regarding arthritis, SF-12, the Kessler 10 index of psychological distress and presence of mental health conditions. A total of 7,473 interviews providing information on arthritis were completed, with 1,364 (18.3%) reporting arthritis. Self-reported mental health conditions were more frequent in those with arthritis (14.9 vs 12.0%, p = 0.004), and a higher proportion were at a medium or high risk for anxiety or depression (39.0 vs 31.0%, p < 0.001). People with arthritis had significantly lower scores on the SF-12 physical component summaries compared to those without arthritis. Among those with arthritis, those with coexisting psychological distress had significantly lower scores on the SF-12 physical component summary than those without psychological distress. Psychological distress is common among people with arthritis in the community. In arthritis, psychological distress makes a significant additional negative impact on the physical well-being. Physicians need to recognize and address this additional impact on physical functioning in patients with arthritis.

Migrant workers may be more likely to be exposed to workplace psychosocial stressors (WPS) which have an affect on physical and mental health. Given the relative lack of research on this topic, the study objectives were to estimate and compare the prevalence of WPS in migrant and Australian workers and investigate associated mental health problems. Three cross-sectional surveys, two with migrant workers and one with Australian workers, were pooled to provide estimates of prevalence. Regressions were conducted to investigate associations between workers and WPS. All WPS, except unfair pay, were associated with higher probability of mental health problems. The association between WPS and mental health did differ between some migrant groups. Compared with Australian-born workers, all other migrant groups tended to have a lower risk of mental health outcomes. Interactions between WPS and migrants showed variable levels in the risk of having a mental health problem, some attenuated and some increased. The study showed that country of birth does play a part in how treatment in the workplace is perceived and responded to. Any interventions to improve workplace conditions for migrant workers need to be aware of the different experiences related to migrant ethnicity.