Background Sarcopenia is an age-associated skeletal muscle condition characterized by low muscle mass, strength, and physical performance. There is no international consensus on a sarcopenia definition and no contemporaneous clinical and research guidelines specific to Australia and New Zealand. The Australian and New Zealand Society for Sarcopenia and Frailty Research (ANZSSFR) Sarcopenia Diagnosis and Management Task Force aimed to develop consensus guidelines for sarcopenia prevention, assessment, management and research, informed by evidence, consumer opinion, and expert consensus, for use by health professionals and researchers in Australia and New Zealand. Methods A four-phase modified Delphi process involving topic experts and informed by consumers, was undertaken between July 2020 and August 2021. Phase 1 involved a structured meeting of 29 Task Force members and a systematic literature search from which the Phase 2 online survey was developed (Qualtrics). Topic experts responded to 18 statements, using 11-point Likert scales with agreement threshold set a priori at >80%, and five multiple-choice questions. Statements with moderate agreement (70%-80%) were revised and re-introduced in Phase 3, and statements with low
The outcomes will include a rich understanding of psychosocial drivers and behaviours associated with healthy eating and will provide insight into the use of SM to reach and influence the health and eating behaviours of YAs.
Systems thinking is increasingly applied to understand and address systemic drivers of complex health problems. In Australia, group model building, a participatory method from systems science, has been applied in various locations to engage communities in systems-based health promotion projects. To date there is limited evidence regarding GMB use with Australian Aboriginal communities. This study aimed to determine the value and acceptability of group model building (GMB) as a methodological approach in research with Aboriginal communities and identify any adaptations required to optimise its utility. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 18 Aboriginal health and university staff who had prior experience with a GMB research project. Interview transcripts were inductively analysed using thematic analysis and key themes were organised using an Indigenous research framework. Participants reported that GMB methods generally aligned well with Aboriginal ways of knowing, being, and doing. Participants valued the holistic, visual and collaborative nature of the method and its emphasis on sharing stories and collective decision-making. Group model building was viewed as a useful tool for identifying Aboriginal-led actions to address priority issues and advancing self-determination. Our findings suggest that by bringing together Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal knowledge, GMB is a promising tool, which Aboriginal communities could utilise to explore and address complex problems in a manner that is consistent with their worldviews. In adapting group model building methods, non-Aboriginal researchers should aspire to move beyond co-design processes and enable Aboriginal health research to be entirely led by Aboriginal people.
IntroductionIndigenous Peoples worldwide endure unacceptable health disparities with undernutrition and food insecurity often coexisting with obesity and chronic diseases. Policy-level actions are required to eliminate malnutrition in all its forms. However, there has been no systematic synthesis of the evidence of effectiveness of food and nutrition policies for Indigenous Peoples around the world. This review fills that gap.MethodsEight databases were searched for peer-reviewed literature, published between 2000 and 2019. Relevant websites were searched for grey literature. Articles were included if they were original studies, published in English and included data from Indigenous Peoples from Western colonised countries, evaluated a food or nutrition policy (or intervention), and provided quantitative impact/outcome data. Study screening, data extraction and quality assessment were undertaken independently by two authors, at least one of whom was Indigenous. A narrative synthesis was undertaken with studies grouped according to the NOURISHING food policy framework.ResultsWe identified 78 studies from Canada, Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand and the USA. Most studies evaluated targeted interventions, focused on rural or remote Indigenous communities. The most effective interventions combined educational strategies with policies targeting food price, composition and/or availability, particularly in retail and school environments. Interventions to reduce exposure to unhealthy food advertising was the only area of the NOURISHING framework not represented in the literature. Few studies examined the impact of universal food policies on Indigenous Peoples’ diets, health or well-being.ConclusionBoth targeted and universal policy action can be effective for Indigenous Peoples. Actions that modify the structures and systems governing food supply through improved availability, access and affordability of healthy foods should be prioritised. More high-quality evidence on the impact of universal food and nutrition policy actions for Indigenous Peoples is required, particularly in urban areas and in the area of food marketing.
Rural Australians experience a higher burden of diet-related chronic disease than their metropolitan counterparts. Dietary intake data is needed to understand priorities for nutrition initiatives that reduce disparities in the health of rural Australians. A systematic literature review aimed to synthesize the evidence on dietary intakes in adult populations residing in rural and remote Australia, to identify areas for intervention, and make recommendations for future research. A comprehensive search of five electronic databases was conducted and 22 articles were identified for inclusion. Half of the included studies (50%) collected dietary data using non-validated questionnaires and nearly half (41%) did not benchmark dietary intakes against public health guidelines. Most studies (95%) showed that rural populations have suboptimal dietary intakes. Despite the high level of preventable diet-related disease in rural and remote Australia, this review identified that there is insufficient high-quality dietary data available and a lack of consistency between dietary outcomes collected in research to inform priority areas for intervention. Further cross-sectional or longitudinal data should be collected across all remoteness areas, using robust, validated dietary assessment tools to adequately inform nutrition priorities and policies that reduce rural health disparities.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Indigenous health outcomes are sought after by governments and communities as a priority. 1,2 In Australia, existing evidence suggests strategies to improve the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter referred to as Indigenous) people must address underlying determinants of health. 3 This includes conceptualising health as biopsychosocial, spiritual and cultural wellbeing, being culturally safe 4 and being led by -or in partnership with and providing back to -the community. 4,5 Yet, a gap remains in the evidence of effective strategies for Indigenous communities.Young Indigenous people, aged 17-24 are an important subgroup of the Indigenous community. Early adulthood has been described as a critical period of development where lifelong habitual behaviours are solidified and opportunities for engagement in society are optimal 6 yet the evidence base for what is effective for health behaviour change for young Indigenous Australians,particularly involving social media sites like Facebook, -is limited. 7 With the increasing use of Web 2.0 (websites that facilitate a more
Background Social media may have a significant role in influencing the present and future health implications among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, yet there has been no review of the role of social media in improving health. Objective This study aims to examine the extent of health initiatives using social media that aimed to improve the health of Australian Aboriginal communities. Methods A scoping review was conducted by systematically searching databases CINAHL Plus; PubMed; Scopus; Web of Science, and Ovid MEDLINE in June 2017 using the terms and their synonyms “Aboriginal” and “Social media.” In addition, reference lists of included studies and the Indigenous HealthInfonet gray literature were searched. Key information about the social media intervention and its impacts on health were extracted and data synthesized using narrative summaries. Results Five papers met inclusion criteria. All included studies were published in the past 5 years and involved urban, rural, and remote Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people aged 12-60 years. No studies reported objective impacts on health. Three papers found that social media provided greater space for sharing health messages in a 2-way exchange. The negative portrayal of Aboriginal people and negative health impacts of social media were described in 2 papers. Conclusions Social media may be a useful strategy to provide health messages and sharing of content among Aboriginal people, but objective impacts on health remain unknown. More research is necessary on social media as a way to connect, communicate, and improve Aboriginal health with particular emphasis on community control, self-empowerment, and decolonization.
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