No abstract

Children in care (CiC) experience poorer health outcomes than their sameaged peers without an experience of care. Despite growing recognition of the importance of listening to the voices of children and young people (YP), to date, the voices of CiC are not well represented in research examining their health. This study aimed to explore the experiences and perceptions of health among YP who have previously lived in care. A co-design approach was used to inform the research methodology by engaging YP with a lived experience in cooperative discussions. Ten YP participated in one-on-one semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The current findings highlight that YP consistently felt their health needs were not adequately met while in care, nor did they feel listened to, understood, or educated about health-related matters. This unique insight into the challenges they experienced in care offers realistic guidance for change.

Weight stigma is an important issue colliding with obesity-related policies; both have population health and social impacts. Our aim was to conduct a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature that combined the concepts of stigma, obesity, and policy. We searched PsycINFO, Medline, Scopus, and Google Scholar for peer-reviewed articles amalgamating terms relevant to stigma, obesity, and policy. Of 3219 records identified, 47 were included in the narrative synthesis. Two key types of studies emerged: studies investigating factors associated with support for obesity-related policies and those exploring policy implementation and evaluation. We found that support for nonstigmatizing obesity-related policies was higher when obesity was attributed as an environmental rather than individual problem. An undercurrent theme suggested that views that blame individuals for their obesity were associated with support for punitive policies for people living in larger bodies. Real-world policies often implicitly condoned stigma through poor language choice and conflicting discourse. Our findings inform recommendations for policy makers that broader socioecological stigma-reduction approaches are needed to fully address the issue of weight stigma in obesity-related policies. Efforts are needed in the research and policy sectors to understand how to improve the design and support of nonstigmatizing obesity-related policies.

No abstract

No abstract

Young women of reproductive age (18–25 years) often seek and engage with health-related information via social media. However, the extent to which this population group seek preconception and pregnancy-related information has not been explored. Therefore, this study aimed to: (1) examine the proportion, type, and frequency of social media use to seek general health, preconception, and pregnancy-related information or advice among young women; and (2) explore the relationship between age, education status, relationship status, and planning a pregnancy on social media use for preconception and pregnancy-related health information. Ninety-one Australian women aged 18–25 years completed an online survey about their patterns and preferences of social media use for this information. Forty percent of women used social media for general health information (most often daily), 32% for preconception health advice (most commonly weekly), and 20% for pregnancy-related information (most often weekly), with Facebook the most frequently used platform. Planning a pregnancy within the next 5 years and younger age were associated with greater likelihood of using social media for such information. It is necessary that social media platforms are leveraged to disseminate preconception and pregnancy planning health advice, support, and education to provide better health promotion and preventive care to young women.

Background and objectivesOlder adults with cognitive impairment are vulnerable to frequent hospital admissions and emergency department presentations. The aim of this study was to use a codesign approach to develop MyCare Ageing, a programme that will train volunteers to provide psychosocial support to older people with dementia and/or delirium in hospital and at home when discharged from hospital.SettingMelbourne, Victoria, Australia.Research designThis study adopts an action research methodology. We report on two co-design workshops with keystakeholders: Workshop 1: identification of components from three existing programmes to inform the development of the MyCare Ageing program logic and, Workshop 2: identification of implementation strategies.ParticipantsThe key stakeholders and workshop participants included clinicians (geriatricians, nurses and allied health), hospital staff (volunteer coordinators and hospital executives), Baptcare staff, a consumer, researchers and implementation experts and project staff.ResultsWorkshop 1 identified the components from three existing programmes—the Volunteer Dementia and Delirium Care programme, Home-Start and MyCare for inclusion in MyCare Ageing. In workshop 2, the p implementation plan was developed taking into consideration hospital-specific processes, training and support needs of volunteers and safety and risk management processes.Discussion and conclusionThe codesign process was successfully applied to develop the MyCare Ageing programme to provide volunteer support to patients with dementia and/or delirium in hospital and their transition home. MyCare Ageing is an innovative programme that meets an identified need from hospitals and consumers to support patients with dementia and/or delirium to improve psychosocial outcomes on discharge from hospital.

No abstract