Search
Youth sports programs provide an opportunity to embed mental health and wellbeing programs to reach young people with mental health support. The aims of this study were to (a) examine mental health outcomes from a youth sports program including a mental health program (Life-Fit-Learning) in adolescent boys and girls, and (b) among the larger cohort of adolescent boys, to examine whether partial or full completion of Life-Fit-Learning yielded different outcomes for boys within healthy and high-risk ranges for anxiety, depression and behavioral concerns.
High levels of sedentary behaviour are associated with poor child health outcomes such as obesity. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are a key intervention setting. Most ECEC policy-based interventions focus on children's nutrition and physical activity with few aimed at children's sedentary behaviour.
International guidelines recommend multidisciplinary intervention programs for addressing childhood obesity. In Western Australia, community-based healthy lifestyle programs for children and young people are insufficient for demand, especially for those over-represented in obesity statistics relating to prevalence. This protocol outlines the implementation and evaluation of an adapted, evidenced, community-based program in Perth, Western Australia.
Exercise for people with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is important for their health and wellbeing and can provide opportunities for community participation. However, they may find it difficult to participate in some contexts, such as community gyms because social and environmental barriers in these settings may compound difficulties caused by physical impairments or intellectual disability.
Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) experience difficulties performing fundamental movement skills, resulting in reduced physical activity (PA). Given low PA can impact mental and physical health, improving PA in DCD appears imperative. This study investigates the feasibility of a Facebook delivered, parent mediated, PA intervention for children with DCD.
While international evidence suggests seasonal variations may influence outcomes of interventions for pediatric obesity, data for Aotearoa New Zealand are limited. We examined seasonal variations in changes in body mass index standard deviation score (BMI SDS) in young people with obesity enrolled in an intervention programme.
Robust evaluation is critical for understanding and enhancing the impact of health promotion initiatives. However, many community-based organisations face challenges in planning and conducting evaluation due to limitations in knowledge, resources, and the applicability of existing evaluation frameworks. The Healthway Evaluation Framework, and its accompanying practical Measurement Toolkit, was designed to support evaluation planning, implementation, and reporting across diverse health promotion programs and settings.
Child poverty remains a major global concern and a child's experience of deprivation is heavily shaped by where they live and the stability of their local neighbourhood. This study examines frequencies and patterns of residential mobility in children and young people at a population level using novel geospatial techniques to assess how often their physical environment changes and to identify geographical variations in social mobility.
We know relatively little about the role the neighbourhood built environment plays in promoting young children's physical activity, particularly its longitudinal effect either through repeated exposure to the same environment or through change in exposure by moving from one neighbourhood to another.
Many young people are exposed to risk factors that increase their risk of mental illness. Physical activity provision is an increasingly popular approach to protect against mental illness in the face of these risk factors. We examined the effectiveness of physical activity interventions for the promotion of mental health outcomes in at-risk children and adolescents.