Abstract The role of regular physical activity for preventing ill health and chronic disease is well established. Despite the demonstrated role of physical activity for the prevention of ill health, population participation levels among adults remain at stable but unfavourably low levels. Evidence suggests that postnatal women (<12-months postpartum) living in disadvantaged communities are at particular risk of low physical activity participation, even though there are additional physical and mental health benefits of physical activity in the postpartum period. There is a need to develop effective physical activity interventions for postnatal women living in disadvantaged communities. Traditional physical activity interventions are often designed and implemented in ways that exclude disadvantaged groups. Unlike other methods of communication typically used to disseminate mass-reach interventions (e.g., internet, e-mail), mobile telephone short messaging service (SMS) is used equally by disadvantaged and advantaged groups. Few SMS-delivered health behaviour interventions have targeted preventive health behaviours, such as physical activity. The primary aim of this research was to evaluate the efficacy of an individually-tailored physical activity intervention delivered via SMS (“MobileMums”) for postnatal women living in a disadvantaged community. A secondary aim of this research was to explore the role of theory-derived mediators of physical activity behaviour change that were targeted in the intervention. A physical activity intervention was developed based on findings from formative focus groups conducted with postnatal women (n=48) and a pilot study of intervention procedures and content (n=12). This formative research highlighted the need for flexible delivery of a physical activity intervention for postnatal women and identified mobile telephone SMS as a highly used form of communication. Women indicated a willingness to receive health-related messages via their mobile telephones and reported a physical activity preference for walking. The 12-week intervention was delivered primarily via personally tailored SMS and aimed to increase health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) and more specifically Walking for Exercise. The SMS targeted constructs of the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) (self efficacy, outcome expectancy, goal setting skills, social support and perceived environmental opportunity for exercise). Overall, the intervention employed practical strategies to help participants develop skills in physical activity goal setting and social support negotiations, and promoted local opportunities for physical activity. The intervention was evaluated in a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) involving 88 postnatal women. Data were collected at baseline, 6-weeks and 13-weeks. At each data collection point, HEPA was assessed using ActiGraph accelerometers and self-report measures. Walking for Exercise was assessed in the self-report measure. Validated self-report measures of the targeted SCT constructs were also administered at each data collection point. Following the RCT, intervention group participants were invited to participate in a one-on-one qualitative interview to explore their perceptions of the intervention. The intention-to-treat analysis of HEPA outcomes revealed significant group x time interaction effects for change in HEPA frequency (days per week) using both MTI-recorded (F(2,44)=9.17, p<0.001) and self-reported outcomes (F(2,85)=7.15, p=0.001). Intervention group participants increased MTI-recorded HEPA frequency (mean change 1.46 days/wk, SD± 2.16) and self-reported HEPA frequency (mean change 1.67 days/wk, SD± 1.71) from baseline to 13-weeks. There was no significant effect on HEPA duration (minutes per week) as a result of the intervention for either MTI-recorded or self-reported outcomes. Self-reported Walking for Exercise frequency had a significant between-group effect (F(1,86)=5.02, p=0.03) and within-group effect (F(2,85)=8.60, p<0.001) but there was no significant group x time interaction. There were significantly more intervention group participants than control group participants meeting the HEPA guidelines at 6-weeks (86% vs. 37%, χ2=10.25, p=0.001) and at 13-weeks (54% vs. 19%, χ2=5.18, p=0.04). There were significant group x time interaction effects for change in self efficacy (F(2,85)=3.69, p=0.03) and goal setting skills (F(2,85)=4.28, p=0.01) from baseline to 13-weeks. Based on the Baron and Kenny criteria for mediation, changes in self efficacy and goal setting skills mediated the significant intervention effect on change in HEPA frequency over the first 6-weeks of the intervention. None of the SCT constructs mediated the significant intervention effect on change in HEPA frequency during the second 6-weeks of the intervention. There was a generally positive response to the intervention from participants. Results from qualitative interviews showed that intervention group participants believed the intervention helped them to initiate physical activity, and that it was motivating and ‘mother-centred’. At 13-weeks, more intervention group participants (51%) rated the intervention program as ‘extremely useful’ or ‘useful’ than at 6-weeks (44%). Overall, the intervention developed as part of this research resulted in increases in HEPA among postnatal women, which were mediated in the short-term by changes in targeted SCT constructs. This study is an innovative extension of previous research investigating strategies to promote physical activity among postnatal women. The findings provide evidence to support further inter-disciplinary collaborations between researchers in physical activity (and other areas of health behaviour change) and information technology. This research contributes foundation knowledge to the emerging research area of SMS-delivered health behaviour change interventions and the potential for systematic population-wide delivery via an existing low-cost technology.

No description available.

There is an extensive range of problems and maladaptive behaviours for which people may seek counselling. One of these is problem gambling. The extent of gambling in the community and the incidence of gambling problems have become issues of great concern to many in the Australian community. Counselling in the face-to-face setting may not be available or appropriate for some individuals with gambling difficulties. Potential barriers to the provision of counselling services for problem gamblers means that innovative techniques for counselling service delivery must be developed and evaluated. Provision of counselling services using modern telecommunications technology is one such innovative strategy. (For complete abstract open document)

No description available.

Teen Triple P is a behavioural family intervention for parents of adolescents. It is a multi-level intervention package that allows the strength and format of the intervention to be tailored to the needs of the family. Teen Triple P is available in three modalities: individual; group; and self-directed programs. This research investigated whether a self-directed program, Self-directed Teen Triple P, which consists of a parent workbook and video is sufficient to reduce risk factors known to be associated with the development of serious emotional and behavioural problems in adolescents and enhance protective factors. The present research sought to: a) determine the impact of a self-directed behavioural family intervention program on parents’ perceptions of their adolescent’s behaviour; b) assess the efficacy and consumer acceptance of a self-directed parenting intervention; c) identify clinical implications arising from this research to assist practitioners in the appropriate use of self-directed behavioural family intervention programs; and d) examine the psychometric properties of treatment outcome measures for use with adolescents and their parents. A central tenet of this research is the principal of sufficiency that is, examining the ability of a behavioural family intervention to produce desirable outcomes for adolescents and their parents under lowest intervention and cost conditions. Fifty-one Queensland families with children in Year 7 or 8, aged 11-14 years, were recruited from the community by means of flyers distributed to schools, newspaper and radio advertisements. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: (1) Standard self-directed Teen Triple P, a 10 module workbook program supplemented by a video; (2) Enhanced Self-directed Teen Triple P, the same program as Standard self-directed Teen Triple P, but included 10, 15-minute weekly telephone consultations with a Triple P therapist to assist in tailoring the program to meet the individual family’s needs; or (3) Waitlist control, a comparison group who initially only completed the measures, but later went on to do a replication of the standard intervention. The program was implemented with average recruitment (61%), and moderate attrition rate (23.5%). At post-intervention, using parent report measures of adolescent behaviour and parenting practices, parents in the enhanced condition reported significantly fewer adolescent behaviour problems and less use of dysfunctional parenting strategies than parents in the waitlist condition. Parents in the standard condition reported improvements in some areas but not as large or wide-spread as the enhanced group. Improvements were maintained at 3-month follow-up. There was no significant difference among conditions at post-intervention or follow-up on parents’ self-report measures of depression, anxiety, stress or relationship quality. The psychometric properties of measures of adolescent functioning, parenting style, relationship satisfaction and parental adjustment previously reported on different samples were confirmed. An underlying factor structure for the Parent Problem Checklist was identified and implications for its use discussed. Modifications to the scoring of the Consumer Satisfaction Questionnaire are discussed in the light of its factor structure. This research provides important information regarding the efficacy of a self-directed behavioural family intervention as an early intervention for families of early adolescents experiencing some problematic behaviour. It also provides some clinical implications of using self-directed interventions with families.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, August, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Diss. ETH No. 14577. Eidgenöss. Techn. Hochsch., Diss.--Zürich, 2002.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, August, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Carleton University, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-99). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.