Outdoor recreational spaces have the potential to increase physical activity. This study used a quasi-experimental evaluation design to determine how a playground renovation impacts usage and physical activity of children and whether the visitations correlate with children’s physical activity levels and parental impressions of the playground. Observational data and intercept interviews were collected simultaneously on park use and park-based activity among playground visitors at pre- and postrenovation at an intervention and a comparison park during three 2-hour periods each day over two weeks. No detectable difference in use between parks was observed at followup. In the intervention park, attendance increased among boys, but decreased among girls although this (nonsignificant) decline was less marked than in the comparison park. Following renovation, there was no detectable difference between parks in the number of children engaged in MVPA (interaction between park and time:P=0.73). At the intervention park, there was a significant decline in girls engaging in MVPA at followup (P=0.04). Usage was correlated with parental/carer perceptions of playground features but not with physical activity levels. Renovations have limited the potential to increase physical activity until factors influencing usage and physical activity behavior are better understood.

Workplace health programs (WHPs) may improve adult health but very little evidence exists on multi-level WHPs implemented at-scale and so the relationship between program implementation factors and outcomes of WHPs are poorly understood. This study evaluated Get Healthy at Work (GHaW), a state-wide government-funded WHP in Australia. A mixed-method design included a longitudinal quasi-experimental survey of businesses registered with GHaW and a comparison group of businesses surveyed over a 12-month period. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups with key contacts and employees of selected intervention group businesses and the service providers of the program were conducted to assess program adoption and adaptation. Positive business-level changes in workplace culture were observed over time among GHaW businesses compared with the control group. Multilevel regression modelling revealed perceptions that employees were generally healthy (p = 0.045 timeXgroup effect) and that the workplace promoted healthy behaviours (p = 0.004 timeXgroup effect) improved significantly while the control group reported no change in work culture perceptions. Changes in perceptions about work productivity were not observed; however only one third of businesses registered for the program had adopted GHaW during the evaluation period. Qualitative results revealed a number of factors contributing to program adoption: which depended on program delivery (e.g., logistics, technology and communication channels), design features of the program, and organisational factors (primarily business size and previous experience of WHPs). Evaluation of program factors is important to improve program delivery and uptake and to ensure greater scalability. GHaW has the potential to improve workplace health culture, which may lead to better health promoting work environments. These results imply that government can play a central role in enabling prioritisation and incentivising health promotion in the workplace.

Background: Cross-sector collaborative partnerships are a vital strategy in efforts to strengthen research-informed policy and practice and may be particularly effective at addressing the complex problems associated with chronic disease prevention. However, there is still a limited understanding of how such partnerships are implemented in practice and how their implementation contributes to outcomes. This paper explores the operationalisation and outcomes of knowledge mobilisation strategies within the Australian Prevention Partnership Centre — a research collaboration between policy-makers, practitioners and researchers. Methods: The Centre’s programme model identifies six knowledge mobilisation strategies that are hypothesised to be essential for achieving its objectives. Using a mixed methods approach combining stakeholder interviews, surveys, participant feedback forms and routine process data over a 5-year period, we describe the structures, resources and activities used to operationalise these strategies and explore if and how they have contributed to proximal outcomes. Results: Results showed that Centre-produced research, resources, tools and methods were impacting policy formation and funding. Policy-makers reported using new practical methodologies that were helping them to design, implement, evaluate and obtain funding for scaled-up policies and programmes, and co-creating compelling prevention narratives. Some strategies were better implemented and more impactful than others in supporting these outcomes, with variation in who they worked for. The activities used to effect engagement, capacity-building and partnership formation were mostly generating positive results, but co-production could be enhanced by greater shared decision-making. Considerably more work is needed to successfully operationalise knowledge integration and adaptive learning. Conclusions: Describing how collaborative cross-sector research partnerships are operationalised in practice, and with what effects, can provide important insights into practical strategies for establishing and growing such partnerships and for maximising their contributions to policy. Findings suggest that the Centre has many strengths but could benefit from more inclusive and transparent governance and internal processes that facilitate dialogue about roles, expectations and co-production practices.

Whether the vaccine adjuvant potential of acute exercise is uniform among different populations, e.g., inactive persons, is unknown. This meta-analysis examines influenza vaccine antibody responses and the effect of physical activity, acute exercise, and their interaction. Inclusion criteria comprised randomized controlled trials with acute exercise intervention and influenza vaccination antibody measurements at baseline and 4–6 weeks, and participant baseline physical activity measurement; there were no exclusion criteria. Searching via six databases (Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, and Physiotherapy Evidence) and two clinical registries (WHO and NIH), nine studies were identified and assessed with the Cochrane revised risk-of-bias tool. Data analysis comprised one-stage random-effects generalized linear mixed-effects models with random intercept. Seven of nine identified studies, all of high risk of bias, provided data for 550 included participants. Clinical measures of antibody response tended to be higher in the acute-exercised participants compared to rested controls and physically active compared to inactive. Physical activity significantly increased H1 strain seroconversion (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.69, 95%CI: 1.02–2.82) among all participants and titer response (aOR 1.20, 95%CI: 1.03–1.39) among the acute exercise group. Increasing age frequently reduced immunogenic responses whereas body mass index and sex had little-to-no effect. Adjuvant effects were more pronounced with interventions exercising the same arm in which the vaccination was administered. H1 response was increased by both physical activity and the acute exercise-physical activity interaction. Given the observed modifications by age and the subset analysis suggesting the benefit is more pronounced in older populations, future attention is due for acute exercise-PA interactions to impact vaccination response in the at-risk population of older adults. Further, we identify localized exercise as the likely most-effective protocol and encourage its use to augment the available evidence.

Although valuable and effective in decreasing disease burden, influenza vaccination has low rates of efficacy, especially in those at most risk. Studies have shown that acute exercise can improve vaccine responses, most consistently with weaker antigens. Here we examined the effect of resistance exercise on the acute and longer-term responses to influenza vaccination among healthy older adults. Forty-six participants (47.8% male, mean 73.4 ± 6.6 years) were randomised to perform one 45-min moderate-intensity resistance exercise session or sit quietly prior to the receipt of influenza vaccination.

Reduction of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) could improve vaccine uptake. Evidence suggests sex and age affect AEFI rates but, with limited understanding of their interaction, groups ...