http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/services/Feed ${session.getAttribute("locale")} 5 http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2882 ISSUE ADDRESSED: A series of focus groups was conducted to explore older people's attitudes to, practices, and perceptions of physical activity, in order to inform the development of appropriate strategies to encourage participation among this population group. METHODS: Thirty five men and 46 women aged over 60, recruited through the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, seniors' organizations and personal contacts in urban and rural areas of the Hunter Valley, participated in 11 focus groups. A semi-structured group interview explored relevant issues including current patterns of activity and understanding of the terms used in activity promotion, motivations and barriers, and appropriateness of current promotion strategies, including the 'Active Australia' campaign. RESULTS: The participants described a wide range of current activities. The most common were walking, gardening and housework. Participants were unsure what constituted 'adequate' activity but showed good understanding of the terms vigorous, moderate and light activity. Health, social support, doing something useful, environmental factors and avoiding the negative stereotypes of ageing were the main motivations for activity. Barriers included poor health; no-one to exercise with; inappropriate or unsafe environments and facilities; and lack of interest. Participants found existing media messages confusing, but supported the idea of campaigns encouraging older people to be active. CONCLUSIONS: These older people were interested in a wide range of physical activities, but suggested that lack of social support, poor facilities and concerns about safety were the major barriers to participation. SO WHAT?: This project identified factors which are pertinent to the promotion of physical activity among older people. The issues identified - the desire to maintain good health, a sense of social connectedness, and an ability to contribute, as well as the need for safe environments and appropriately trained exercise leaders - suggest strategies for the development of physical activity promotion campaigns for this group. 2013-02-21T04:35:16.585Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:10327 Creating databases that will support longitudinal cohort studies over extended periods of time is a challenge. The need to record and archive all current and historical activities for each participant can result in large databases. Effectively managing these databases is a key component of achieving successful outcomes for longitudinal studies. This paper describes the methods that have been employed by one longitudinal cohort study to develop functional and flexible databases that will stand the test of time. While not exhaustive these principles provide guidelines that will assist in the creation and maintenance of databases to support a longitudinal cohort study. 2012-03-07T05:10:06.371Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2838 2010-04-27T06:33:12.623Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2837 Objective: To assess the effectiveness of the National Death Index (NDI) in identifying participants in the oldest cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH) who had died between 1996 and 1998. Methods: identifying information for each woman was matched with the NDI using a probabilistic algorithm and clerical review. Differences in full name, date of birth, State of residence and date of last contact were used to assess the probability of a true match. Results: NDI identified 410 matches of death records for 409 women; 386 were categorised as true matches and 23 were doubtful matches. Responses to the follow-up survey confirmed that for six of the doubtful matches the women had died, 16 were alive and the vital status of one woman remained unconfirmed at 30 June 1998. Twelve deaths, known to have occurred before July 1998, were not identified through NDI. The sensitivity of the NDI for identifying known deaths was 95%. Detailed identifying information, particularly the middle name, was important for accurate identification of the vital status. Conclusions: Using surname, all given names, gender, date of birth, State of residence and age at last contact as matching variables, the NDI was an effective tool for identifying women who had died. Implications: Routinely collected mortality data in the NDI are useful for the practice of epidemiology. 2010-04-27T06:33:10.678Z ]]>