Area socioeconomic status and childhood injury morbidity in New South Wales, Australia
- Authors: Poulos, Roslyn , Hayen, Andrew , Finch, Caroline , Zwi, Anthony
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Injury Prevention Vol. 13, no. 5 (Oct 2007), p. 322-327
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Objective: To explore the relationship between child injury morbidity and socioeconomic status. Design: A cross-sectional analysis of routinely collected hospital separation data for unintentional injury for the period 1999/2000-2004/2005. Setting: All statistical local areas of New South Wales (NSW), Australia Subjects: 110 549 unintentional injury-related hospital separations for NSW children aged 0-14 years. Main outcome measure: Adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for hospital separations for unintentional injury (for all injury and by individual injury mechanisms) by quintile of socioeconomic disadvantage for children aged 0-14 years. Results: There was no clear relationship between socioeconomic status and injury when all injury mechanisms were combined. However, children in the more disadvantaged quintiles were more likely to be hospitalized than children in the least disadvantaged quintile for the following injury mechanisms: motor cycle ( point estimates for IRRs across the socioeconomic status quintiles ranged from 2.95 to 4.02 relative to the least disadvantaged quintile), motor-vehicle occupant (IRR range 1.33-2.27), pedestrian (IRR range 1.43-2.54 for ages 0-4 years), pedal cyclist ( IRR range 1.30-1.50), fire and burns ( IRR range 1.37-2.00), and poisoning (IRR range 1.32-1.91). Similarly, hospital separation rates for foreign body, other transport, and pedestrian (aged 5-9 years) injuries were also greater, but the differences were not statistically significant across all quintiles. These injury mechanisms accounted for about 25% of the hospital separations. Conclusions: The relationship between relative socioeconomic disadvantage and injury risk in NSW children is strongest for transport-related injuries, fires and burns, and poisoning. Interventions that address these specific injury mechanisms may help to reduce the disparity between high and lower socioeconomic groups.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003005883
Do inadequacies in ICD-10-AM activity coded data lead to underestimates of the population frequency of sports/leisure injuries?
- Authors: Finch, Caroline , Boufous, Soufiane
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Injury Prevention Vol. 14, no. 3 (Jun 2008), p. 202-204
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Aims: To assess the use of the International Classification of Diseases Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM) activity sub-codes for identifying sports/leisure injury hospitalizations and the impact of missing codes on population incidence estimates. Methods: Injury-related hospital separations in New South Wales, Australia, for the period 2003-04 were examined with sports/leisure cases identified by the ICD-10-AM activity codes. Results: Over 30% of all injury hospitalizations had either a missing or unspecified activity code. Among cases with valid activity codes, 13.9% of all injury hospitalizations were associated with sports/leisure. When adjusted for underreporting associated with undefined or missing activity codes, sports/leisure injuries accounted for up to 20% of injury hospitalizations. Conclusion: Defining sports/leisure injury cases on the basis of activity codes is likely to lead to an underestimate of their contribution to the overall injury burden. Improvements need to be made to the completeness of activity coding of hospitalization data.
- Description: C1
Knowledge, beliefs and attitudes of squash venue operators relating to use of protective eyewear
- Authors: Eime, Rochelle , Finch, Caroline , Owen, Neville , Gifford, Sandra , Vear, Paul
- Date: 2004
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion Vol. 11, no. 1 (2004), p. 47-53
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Sports venues are in a position to potentially influence the safety practices of their patrons. This study examined the knowledge, beliefs and attitudes of venue operators that could influence the use of protective eyewear by squash players. A 50% random sample of all private and public squash venues affiliated with the Victorian Squash Federation in metropolitan Melbourne was selected. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 15 squash venue operators during August 2001. Interviews were transcribed and content and thematic analyses were performed. The content of the interviews covered five topics: (1) overall injury risk perception, (2) eye injury occurrence, (3) knowledge, behaviors, attitudes and beliefs associated with protective eyewear, (4) compulsory protective eyewear and (5) availability of protective eyewear at venues. Venue operators were mainly concerned with the severe nature of eye injuries, rather than the relatively low incidence of these injuries. Some venue operators believed that players should wear any eyewear, rather than none at all, and believed that more players should use protective eyewear. Generally, they did not believe that players with higher levels of experience and expertise needed to wear protective eyewear when playing. Only six venues had at least one type of eyewear available for players to hire or borrow or to purchase. Operators expressed a desire to be informed about correct protective eyewear. Appropriate protective eyewear is not readily available at squash venues. Better-informed venue operators may be more likely to provide suitable protective eyewear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Injury Control & Safety Promotion is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
- Description: 2003001113
Safe design in construction
- Authors: Behm, Michael , Culvenor, John
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Health & Safety, Research & Practice Vol. 3, no. 1 (2011), p. 9-32
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: n 2008, WorkSafe Western Australia and the Western Australia Commission for Occupational Safety and Health developed and implemented a Code of Practice for the Safe Design of Buildings and Structures to provide guidance for construction designers in meeting safe design regulations. Design engineers were surveyed and participated in focus groups to evaluate the Western Australia construction industry’s perspective on the new code of practice and to understand the effects of construction safety in design. The research concluded that engineers generally believe the regulations and code of practice are sensible and almost all believe construction worker safety and health is being positively impacted. Furthermore the research indicates that the regulations and code of practice have made a positive impact on the design engineers’ duty of care, thinking, and actions towards affecting the safety and health of construction workers. The work was carried out to understand the effects in Western Australia and also to inform the current National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Prevention through Design approach and a long-term strategy to adoption in the United States.
- Description: 2003009255
Online news media reporting of football-related fatalities in Australia : A matter of life and death
- Authors: Fortington, Lauren , Bekker, Sheree , Finch, Caroline
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport Vol. 21, no. 3 (2017), p. 245-249
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Objectives: While deaths in sports settings are rare, they do occur. To develop an understanding of the sports and people most at risk, and to identify opportunities for prevention, routine and systematic data detailing the occurrence of these fatalities is required. There is currently no routine reporting of data of this nature in Australia. As there is often strong community interest in these incidents, the media offers an opportunity for surveillance. However before this can occur, understanding of the terminology used by the media is required. The aim of this study was to identify the terminology most frequently used in online Australian news media coverage of football-related deaths. Design: Retrospective review of online news media. Methods: Three databases were searched for online news media reports of people who died while participating in football (all football codes) in Australia. A descriptive analysis of terminology was undertaken to identify the common language applied. Results: Thirty-four football-related fatalities in Australia were identified between 2010-2016, via 149 separate articles. The most frequent terms identified in the media items were: Family; Club; Rugby; Football; Player; League; Died; Game; Death; Life; Loved; Hospital; Match; Young; Community; Playing; Friends; Sport; Heart; AFL [Australian Football League]. Conclusions: This study identified terminology used in reporting football-related fatalities in Australia, identifying common reference to terms relating to 'death' as metaphors and the frequent celebration of 'life.' The findings suggest that a reliance on researcher-generated terminology will be insufficient to reflect media discourse in prospective monitoring of sports deaths for surveillance.
A multifactorial evaluation of illness risk factors in athletes preparing for the Summer Olympic Games
- Authors: Drew, Michael , Vlahovich, Nicole , Hughes, David , Appaneal, Renee , Peterson, Kirsten , Burke, Louise , Lundy, Bronwen , Toomey, Mary , Watts, David , Lovell, Gregory , Praet, Stephan , Halson, Shona , Colbey, Candice , Manzanero, Silvia , Welvaert, Marijke , West, Nic , Pyne, David , Waddington, Gordon
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport Vol. 20, no. 8 (2017), p. 745-750
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Objectives Illness can disrupt training and competition performance of athletes. Few studies have quantified the relative contribution of the known medical, behavioural and lifestyle risk factors. Design Cross-sectional. Methods Olympic athletes from 11 sports (n = 221) were invited to complete questionnaires administered nine months before the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. These included the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Questionnaire (DASS-21), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Dispositional Resilience Scale (DRS), Recovery-Stress Questionnaire (REST-Q-52 item), Low Energy in Females Questionnaire (LEAF-Q), a modified Personal and Household Hygiene questionnaire, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and custom-made questionnaires on probiotic usage and travel. An illness (case) was defined as an event which limited training or competition for greater hours in the prior month. Odds ratios and attributable fractions in the population (AFP) were utilised for categorical variables with independent t-tests or Wilcoxon rank-sum for continuous variables. Results Eighty-one athletes responded (male, n = 26; female, n = 55). There were 16 illness cases and 65 controls. Female athletes were at higher odds of illness (OR = 9.4, 95%CI 1.3–410, p = 0.01, AFP = 0.84). Low energy availability (LEAF-Q score ≥8: OR = 7.4, 95%CI 0.78–352, p = 0.04, AFP = 0.76), depression symptoms (DASS-21: depression score >4, OR = 8.4, 95%CI 1.1–59, p < 0.01; AFP = 0.39) and higher perceived stress (PSS: 10-item, p = 0.04) were significantly associated with illness. Conclusions Female sex, low energy availability, and mental health are associated with sports incapacity (time loss) due to illness. Low energy availability had high attributable fractions in the population and stands out as a primary association with illness. © 2017
Biomechanical epidemiology : A novel approach for fitness activity injury prevention
- Authors: Gray, Shannon , Finch, Caroline
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australasian Epidemiologist Vol. 22, no. 1 (2015), p. 26-28
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1058737
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: There have been limited epidemiological studies that delve into injuries sustained during fitness activities, and fewer that have explored injury prevention strategies and evaluated their success. Popular individual and team sports such as athletics, swimming, basketball and various codes of football have enjoyed extensive epidemiological attention for years, and due to the sports' popularity and public profile, will continue to be highly researched areas. Other epidemiological research has focused on sports injuries more generally, or on specific injury types such as concussion, anterior cruciate ligament injury and hamstring injury. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Exercise Recreation and Sport Survey (ERASS), fitness/gym is the second most popular recreation or sport activity participated in by Australians aged 15+ years. Considering the number of people who participate in fitness activities, and the devastating impact that injuries can have on the individual, their family and friends, and society, it is necessary to devote some research to preventing these.
Behind every active and sporting population, there is an Epidemiologist
- Authors: Finch, Caroline
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australasian Epidemiologist Vol. 22, no. 1 (2015), p. 3-4
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This Round Table on The Epidemiology of Fitness, Sport and Physical Recreation makes for compelling reading. Australia has long been regarded as a sports-mad nation and one that has achieved major international sporting achievements because of its long-term investment in sports medicine and sports science research. Sports spectatorship is also a major pastime in Australia, underpinning the value of using sport to promote a range of health promotion messages (e.g. in relation to tobacco, alcohol, social tolerance and most recently violence prevention). People of all ages now enjoy participating in a wide range of activities from general physical activity to fitness training to cycling to team ball sports such as Australian football to combat sports. All of these feature in papers in this issue.
The kids are alright : outcome of a safety programme for addressing childhood injury in Australia
- Authors: Peck, Blake , Terry, Daniel
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: European Journal of Investigation in Health Psychology and Education Vol. 11, no. 2 (Jun 2021), p. 546-556
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Globally, injuries are the leading cause of death and represent the highest burden of ongoing disease amongst children 1–16 years of age. Increasingly, prevention programmes are recognising a growing need for intervention strategies that target children. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of the SeeMore Safety Programme, designed to teach children (4–6 years of age) how to make conscious decisions about their own capabilities related to safety and how to manage risk. This retrospective study examined de-identified pre- and post-programme data from a sample of 1027 4 to 6-year-old pre-school children over the four-year period who participated in the SeeMore Safety Programme. Results show a significant improvement in each of the post-test scores and when compared to the pre-test scores (p < 0.001). Children from rural areas, as well as those from areas of greater disadvantage, also showed significant improvement in their pre- and post-test scores (p < 0.001). Overall, the findings highlight that the SeeMore Safety Programme over the four-year period demonstrates an increase in the children’s capacity to recognise and identify danger and safety amongst all children, offering great promise for reducing the burden of injury on children, their families and society.