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Biomedical subjects

Chris Rissel

Publications and source records attributed to Chris Rissel.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Mass community cycling events: who participates and is their behaviour influenced by participation?

BACKGROUND: Participation in mass physical activity events may be a novel approach for encouraging inactive or low active adults to trial an active behaviour. The public health applicability of this strategy has not been investigated thoroughly. The purpose of this study to was describe participants in a mass cycling event and examine the subsequent effect on cycling behaviour. METHODS: A sample of men and women aged 16 years and older (n = 918) who registered online for a mass cycling event reported cycling ability and number of times they rode a bicycle during the month before the event. One month after the event participants completed an online follow-up questionnaire and reported cycling ability, lifestyle physical activity, and number of times they rode a bicycle during the month after the event. McNemar's test was used to examine changes in self-rated cycling ability, and repeated measures mixed linear modeling was used to determine whether average number of monthly bicycle rides changed between pre-event and post-event assessment. RESULTS: Participants in the cycling event were predominantly male (72%), 83% rated themselves as competent or regular cyclists, and 68% rated themselves as more active than others of the same sex and age. Half of the survey respondents that rated their cycling ability as low before the event subsequently rated themselves as high one month after the event. Respondents with low pre-event self-rated cycling ability reported an average 4 sessions of bicycle riding the month before the event and an average 6.8 sessions of bicycle riding a month after the event. This increase in average sessions of bicycle riding was significant (p < .0001). Similarly, first-time participants in this particular cycling event significantly increased average sessions of cycling from 7.2 pre-event to 8.9 sessions one month after the event. CONCLUSION: Participants who were novice riders or first time participants significantly increased their number of bicycle rides in the month after the event. Further knowledge about the public health applicability of mass events is needed, and methods for attracting less active and novice individuals to participate remain to be developed.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Active commuting to school among NSW primary school children: implications for public health.

Regular active commuting by walking/cycling can help maintain an active lifestyle. The frequency, duration and correlates of school active commuting were examined for primary school children in NSW, Australia. Walking/cycling-only and in combination with bus/car were of short duration (median 7 or 4 min, respectively) and their frequency dropped within a short distance (>0.75 km) from school. Apart from distance, child's age, school affiliation and perceived safety, regular walking/cycling (10 trips, 22%) was associated with parents' travel mode to work and with father taking the child to school. Frequent walking/cycling (5 trips, 37%) was associated with child's level of independence and the perceived benefits of active commuting. Behaviour change in this setting requires multi-level strategies.

Bicycling↗
PubMed2005

Promoting active transport in a workplace setting: evaluation of a pilot study in Australia.

Promoting active transport is an increasingly important focus of recent health promotion initiatives addressing the major public health concerns of car dependence, decreased levels of physical activity and environmental health. Using active transport that relies less on the use of private cars and more on alternatives such as walking, cycling and public transport has the potential to increase population levels of physical activity and to improve the environment. Over 12 months, a combined social and individualized marketing campaign was delivered to a cohort of randomly selected health service employees (n = 68) working at a health care facility in inner-city Sydney, Australia. Pre- and post-intervention surveys measured changes in mode of transport, awareness of active transport and attitudes towards mode of transport. Following the intervention, we found there was a reduction in the proportion of participants who drove to work 5 days per week and a decrease in trips travelled by car on weekends. In addition, there was high awareness of the intervention amongst participants and their understanding of the concept of active transport improved from 17.6% at baseline to 94.1% at the follow-up survey (p < 0.01). There was also a significant shift in attitudes, which suggested increased positive regard for active transport. Our findings suggest that a combined social and individualized marketing campaign in the workplace setting can increase the use of active transport for the journey to work and trips on weekends. However, before these findings are widely applied, the intervention needs to be tested in a controlled study with a larger sample size.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Process evaluation of the New South Wales Walk Safely to School Day.

ISSUES ADDRESSED: Concerns about the contribution of lower physical activity by children on levels of childhood obesity have driven the search for interventions that encourage lifestyle physical activity by school-aged children. METHOD: This paper describes the evaluation of the New South Wales (NSW) Walk Safely To School Day (WSTSD), an event repeated annually on the first Friday in April from 2001 to 2004. Paid media advertising before the event promoted WSTSD. All primary schools in NSW were invited to participate. The evaluation included monitoring of schools registering to participate over four years, and in 2002 evaluation feedback from schools as well as a population-based telephone survey of randomly selected parents of primary school-aged children. RESULTS: By 2004, 53% of all primary schools in NSW had participated at least once in WSTSD and 15% had participated for at least three years. Participating schools linked WSTSD to road safety curricula, and 59% of schools also talked about WSTSD at school assemblies, but few (7%) organised walking-related activities. Parents reported that one-quarter (24%) of NSW primary school-aged students participated in WSTSD activities, including an additional 31% more children walking to school on WSTSD than would normally walk on a Friday. CONCLUSION: Walk Safely To School Day resulted in a moderate short-term change in walking behaviour. High levels of in-principle support from parents indicate that greater participation in walking to school is possible, but will require stronger interventions to overcome the barriers identified by parents and to maintain changes.

Awareness↗
PubMed2004

A survey of workplace bullying in a health sector organisation.

The purpose of this study was to explore the frequency, nature and extent of workplace bullying in a health care organisation in New South Wales. The survey methodology achieved a 79% response rate (n = 311). Overall, 155 respondents (50%) reported that they had experienced one or more forms of bullying behaviour in the past 12 months. The largest reported source of workplace bullying was peers or fellow workers (49%), followed by clients (42%) and managers or supervisors (38%). Only 36% of respondents who had been bullied had formally reported the episode. The level of bullying reported was unexpectedly high and will require development of strategies to address the issue.

Bullying↗
PubMed2003

Knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of caregivers regarding children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke among Arabic and Vietnamese-speaking communities in Sydney, Australia.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to inform the design of a culturally appropriate health communication campaign addressing exposure of young children to Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) in homes and cars, targeted at caregivers of children aged 0-6 years in the Arabic and Vietnamese-speaking communities in Sydney, Australia. DESIGN: Nine focus groups (five Arabic and four Vietnamese) were conducted by qualified bilingual facilitators, recorded, transcribed, then translated and analysed qualitatively. RESULTS: Results revealed concerning levels of knowledge, attitudes and behaviours regarding children's exposure to ETS. A poor understanding existed regarding what constituted passive smoking and the severity and extent of harm that ETS has on children. Smoking attitudes and behaviours described were not always consistent with the concern expressed about children's vulnerability to smoke. Initial changes in smoking patterns at home since the arrival of children were not always sustained. Despite awareness of the harm caused by smoking in the presence of their children, some caregivers continued to smoke in closed environments. Others felt it was sufficient protection to smoke in another room, with doors and/or windows open or by ensuring that visible smoke did not reach the child directly, whilst some smoked in the home or car only when children were not present. Smoking attitudes and behaviours in the presence of children were influenced by cultural and social norms associated with smoking. The desire to be sociable and hospitable often superseded concerns for children's health. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that an effective communication campaign focusing on ETS and children in the Arabic and Vietnamese-speaking communities in Sydney should attempt to address knowledge deficits regarding ETS, as well as tackling entrenched culturally related attitudes and behaviours associated with smoking which are strongly linked to sociability and hospitality.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

An evaluation of a smoke free environment policy in two Sydney hospitals.

The Central Sydney Area Health Service introduced an Area-wide Smoke Free Environment Policy in May 2000, prohibiting smoking (except in designated areas) and requiring nursing and medical staff to manage nicotine withdrawal in their patients. This study assessed one aspect of the policy implementation process, by following up 68 hospitalised smokers after discharge, who were recruited through pre-admission clinics from two hospitals. Thirty-five percent of smokers recalled being told about the policy, 22% recalled being told information about designated smoking areas and 19% smoked whilst hospitalised. More than a third of inpatient smokers had problems with not smoking, or smoked while in hospital.

Catchment Area, Health↗