Objective: To examine the awareness and perceptions of local government staff about the social determinants of health (SDoH) and health inequity and use of these ideas to shape policy and practice.Methods: 96 staff at 17 councils in South Australia or New South Wales responded to questions in a pilot online survey concerning: sources of knowledge about, familiarity with the evidence on, attitudes towards, and uses of ideas about the social determinants of health. Eight of 68 SA councils and 16 of 152 NSW councils were randomly selected stratified by state and metropolitan status. Differences between states and metropolitan/non-metropolitan status were explored. Results:The majority of respondents (88.4%) reported some familiarity with ideas about the broad determinants of health and 90% agreed that the impact of policy action on health determinants should be considered in all major government policy and planning initiatives. Research articles, government/professional reports, and professional contacts were rated as important sources of knowledge about the social determinants of health. Conclusion:Resources need to be dedicated to systematic research on practical implementation of interventions on social determinants of health inequities and towards providing staff with more practical information about interventions and tools to evaluate those interventions. Implications:The findings suggest there is support for action addressing the social determinants of health in local government. The findings extend similar research regarding SDoH and government in NZ and Canada to Australian local government.

Background: Long-term protective associations proposed between previous complex occupational tasks and cognitive functioning in later life point to work roles contributing to cognitive reserve. Objective: To examine occupational complexity involving data, people, and things in relation to the level of, and rate of change in, cognitive functioning. Methods: Participants were 1,290 members of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing and initially aged 65-102 years (mean = 79). Information about main lifetime occupation was collected retrospectively. Cognition was assessed 4 times over a 13-year interval. Results: In multilevel models adjusted for demographics, medical conditions, and depressive symptoms, higher complexity involving data was associated with faster speed (β = 0.73, p < 0.001), better memory (β = 0.32, p < 0.05), and mental status (β = 0.40, p < 0.001) at baseline. These associations remained statistically reliable after adjusting for complexity with people and things, sedentary and heavy physical work, retirement age, and leisure activity. Complexity with things was associated with slower speed (β = -0.50, p < 0.001) and poorer mental status (β = -0.26, p < 0.01) and was not explained by other variables. There were no associations of occupational complexity with rates of cognitive decline over time. Conclusion: Older individuals retired from occupations characterized by higher complexity with data maintain their cognitive advantage over those with lower complexity into older adulthood, although without additional moderation of this advantage in terms of less postretirement cognitive decline. Complexity of work with things confers a negative relation to cognition whilst also not affecting postretirement cognitive change. Although the relative contributions of occupation or other early life influences for cognition remain to be established, it nevertheless may be beneficial to promote workplace design strategies and interventions that incorporate complex activities, particularly tasks involving data.

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Objective: To examine how neighborhood-based cognitive and structural social capital are associated with individual quality of life among a sample of community-dwelling older adults in Singapore. Method: Using survey data from 981 older adults (aged 55 years and above) in nine residential neighborhoods, multilevel models simultaneously estimated the effects of independent variables at the individual and neighborhood levels on quality of life (CASP-12). Results: Social cohesion (β = 1.39, p < .01) and associational membership (β = 19.16, p < .01) were associated with higher quality of life in models adjusted for neighborhood facilities and individual sociodemographics, social networks, functional limitations, global cognitive status, and medical conditions. Discussion: The results suggest that place-based or neighborhood social capital may be important for older person’s well-being. It identifies the contribution of structural (associational membership) and cognitive (social cohesion) social capital to the well-being of community-dwelling older adults in Singapore.

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