The presentation of alcohol use in Australian newspapers became more disapproving over time, which may suggest that harmful alcohol use has become less acceptable among the broader Australian community.

Aims: While recent evidence suggests that higher alcohol outlet density is associated with greater alcohol use among adolescents, influence of the four main outlet types on youth drinking within urban and regional communities is unknown. This study provides the first investigation of this relationship. Design:Repeated cross-sectional surveys with random samples of secondary students clustered by school. Mixed effects logistic regression analyses examined the association between each outlet type and the drinking outcomes, with interaction terms used to test urban/regional differences. Measurements:The key outcome measures were past month alcohol use, risky drinking amongst all students and risky drinking amongst past week drinkers. For each survey year, students were assigned a postcode-level outlet density (number of licenses per 1,000 population) for each outlet type (general, on-premise, off-premise, clubs). Findings:Interaction terms revealed a significant association between off-premises outlet density and risky drinking among all adolescents in urban [OR=1.36, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.05-1.75, p<.05) but not regional areas. Similarly, club density was associated with the drinking outcomes in urban communities only. General and on-premises density was associated with alcohol use and risky drinking among all adolescents.

BackgroundYoung women are at high risk for developing depression and participation in physical activity may prevent or treat the disorder. However, the influences on physical activity behaviors of young women with depression are not well understood. The aim of this study was to gather in-depth information about the correlates of physical activity among young women with and without depressive symptoms.MethodsA sample of 40 young women (aged 18-30 years), 20 with depressive symptoms (assessed using the CES-D 10) and 20 without depressive symptoms participated in one-on-one semi-structured interviews. A social-ecological framework was used, focusing on the individual, social and physical environmental influences on physical activity. Thematic analyses were performed on transcribed interview data.ResultsThe results indicated several key themes that were unique to women with depressive symptoms. These women more often described negative physical activity experiences during their youth, more barriers to physical activity, participating in more spontaneous than planned activity, lower self-efficacy for physical activity and being influenced by their friends' and family's inactivity.ConclusionsInterventions designed to promote physical activity in this important target group should consider strategies to reduce/overcome early life negative experiences, engage support from family and friends and plan for activity in advance.

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Issue addressed: Population cancer screening rates are around 50% for the general population and even lower in rural areas. This study aimed to explore knowledge, attitudes, behaviours, motivators and barriers to breast, bowel and cervical screening participation in under-screened men and women. Methods:We used a qualitative research design. Focus groups were segmented by age, sex and screening participation. Participants were under-screened in at least one of the cancer screening programs, with separate groups for each of the programs.The discussion guides were designed around the Health Belief Model and group discussions were coded using a thematic content analysis approach.Results: Fourteen focus groups were held with 80 participants. Key themes were that the concept of cancer screening was not well understood, a low priority for preventive health behaviours, issues relating to local general practitioners (GP) and screening was unpleasant, embarrassing and/or inconvenient. A key determinant of participation in cancer screening was exposure to prompts to action, and it was evident that participants often required multiple prompts before they took action. Conclusions:Opportunities that develop attitudes to health that place disease prevention as a high priority; improve understanding of the benefit of screening in terms of early detection and treatment; improve GP availability and the patient-practitioner relationship; and the development of messages for each of the screening programs should be further explored as factors that may influence rural population screening rates.So what?: Addressing health attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, health practitioner and test-related barriers and improving messaging may increase cancer screening participation in under-screened rural populations.