Avigdor Zask

• PhD
• Program Coordinator Research & Evaluation at Northern NSW Local Health District

Background StandingTall uses eHealth to deliver evidence-based balance and functional strength exercises. Clinical trials have demonstrated improved balance, reduced falls and fall-related injuries and high adherence. This study aimed to evaluate the implementation of StandingTall into health services in Australia and the UK. Methods Two hundred a...

Issue addressed: Approximately 77% of NSW children aged 5 to 15 years do not meet physical activity guidelines and many spend a considerable amount of time sitting (1). Active breaks at primary school are feasible, may increase daily moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and decrease off-task behaviour without adversely affecting cognitive...

Introduction One in three people aged 65 years and over fall each year. The health, economic and personal impact of falls will grow substantially in the coming years due to population ageing. Developing and implementing cost-effective strategies to prevent falls and mobility problems among older people is therefore an urgent public health challenge...

This study aimed to assess the accuracy and factors influencing blood alcohol concentration self-estimation during voluntary breath testing. It also aimed to assess whether intended drinking behaviour changed after reviewing blood alcohol concentration and factors influencing this. A total of 462 Australian music festival patrons aged 18–40 years c...

Background Gross motor competence confers health benefits, but levels in children and adolescents are low. While interventions can improve gross motor competence, it remains unclear which correlates should be targeted to ensure interventions are most effective, and for whom targeted and tailored interventions should be developed. Objective The aim...

There is evidence of a correlation between adoption of the Ottawa Charter's framework of five action areas and health promotion programme effectiveness, but the Charter's framework has not been as fully implemented as hoped, nor is generally used by formal programme design models. In response, we aimed to translate the Charter's framework into a me...

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) using an Australian adolescent sample (n = 135). The MLQ is made up of two, five-item subscales – Presence (how meaningful one considers his/her life to be) and Search (a desire to discover more or new meaning in one’s life). A convenience sample of 135 high...

We examine the perspectives of health promotion practitioners on their approaches to determining health promotion practice, in particular on the role of research and relationships in this process. Using Grounded Theory methods, we analysed 58 semi-structured interviews with 54 health promotion practitioners in New South Wales, Australia. Practition...

Fundamental movement skills are a correlate of physical activity and weight status. Children who participated in a preschool intervention had greater movement skill proficiency and improved anthropometric measures (waist circumference and BMI z scores) post intervention. Three years later, intervention girls had retained their object control skill...

To determine reliability and face validity of an instrument to assess young children's perceived fundamental movement skill competence. Validation and reliability study. A pictorial instrument based on the Test Gross Motor Development-2 assessed perceived locomotor (six skills) and object control (six skills) competence using the format and item st...

Issue addressed: Australians' use of cannabis has been increasing. Over a third of Australians (35.4%) have used cannabis at some time in their lives and 10.3% are recent users. Almost two-thirds of cannabis users combine cannabis with tobacco. The aim of this study was to understand the process of mulling - smoking tobacco and cannabis together -...

Background Movement skill competence (e.g. the ability to throw, run and kick) is a potentially important physical activity determinant. However, little is known about the long-term impact of interventions to improve movement skills in early childhood. This study aimed to determine whether intervention preschool children were still more skill profi...

To describe the demographic and health-related characteristics of school-aged children with low competency in fundamental movement skills (FMS). Cross-sectional representative school-based survey of Australian elementary and high school students (n = 6917) conducted in 2010. Trained field staff measured students' height, weight, and assessed FMS an...

This paper presents the findings from a cluster randomised controlled evaluation of a preschool-based intervention (children aged 3-6 years), on the North Coast of NSW, which aimed to decrease overweight and obesity prevalence among children by improving fundamental movement skills (FMS), increasing fruit and vegetable intake and decreasing unhealt...

Health promotion addresses issues from the simple (with well-known cause/effect links) to the highly complex (webs and loops of cause/effect with unpredictable, emergent properties). Yet there is no conceptual framework within its theory base to help identify approaches appropriate to the level of complexity. The default approach favours reductioni...

We propose a new approach to guide health promotion practice. Health promotion should draw on 2 related systems of reasoning: an evidential system and an ethical system. Further, there are concepts, values, and procedures inherent in both health promotion evidence and ethics, and these should be made explicit. We illustrate our approach with the ex...

To evaluate changes in staff smoking rates following the implementation of Smoke Free Health Care, an innovative, change-management process that introduced a smoke-free workplace policy in the North Coast Area Health Service of NSW. Survey questionnaires were sent to all staff before and after the introduction of the policy. Return rates were 17.3%...

The research aimed to explore associations between participation in 2 education programs for school-based learner drivers and subsequent road traffic offenses and crashes among a large cohort of newly licensed drivers. DRIVE is a prospective cohort study of 20822 first-year drivers aged 17 to 24 in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Participants com...

Issue addressed: This paper outlines the implementation strategies and evaluation methods of the Tooty Fruity Vegie (TFV) in Preschools program in NSW Australia which addressed diet, movement skills and overweight indicators. Methods: The TFV program was a one-year intervention conducted during 2006 and 2007 in 18 preschools (matched with 13 con...

The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the long-term impact of a childhood motor skill intervention on adolescent motor skills and physical activity. In 2006, we undertook a follow-up of motor skill proficiency (catch, kick, throw, vertical jump, side gallop) and physical activity in adolescents who had participated in a one-year primary school...

Men aged 25-34 years, in North Coast NSW, have higher documented smoking rates than elsewhere in the state. The present paper explores potential causes of elevated smoking rates in this population and proposes that tobacco dependence resulting from 'mulling' (mixing) cannabis with tobacco may be contributing.

To identify a model for a process that will support schools to implement environmental modifications in playgrounds aimed at increasing physical activity. Kidsafe NSW (Playground Advisory Unit) was commissioned by the former Illawarra Health Promotion Unit (IHPU) to develop playground concept designs, safety audits and detailed reports for three pr...

This study evaluates the effectiveness of an intervention targeting adolescent risk-taking associated with drug and alcohol use, driving, and celebrating. Pre- and post written surveys were administered in 21 intervention and 19 comparison schools in Northern New South Wales during March 2003 and 2004. The instrument covered knowledge and attitudes...

Effectiveness of strategies to counter injurious risk-taking in adolescents depends on the degree to which behaviors are modifiable or intrinsic to a sensation-seeking personality. Alcohol consumption is often targeted because it is seen as a modifiable determinant. This study sought to clarify the relative importance of engagement in heavy episodi...

Physical education (PE) lessons are an ideal setting to improve child fundamental movement skills (FMSs) and increase physical activity (PA) for optimal health. Despite this, few studies have assessed the potential to do both simultaneously. The "Move It Groove It" primary school intervention in New South Wales, Australia, had this opportunity. A w...

Child Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) underpin active lifestyles yet little is known of their distribution and mastery. ‘Move it Groove it’ project rated proficiency of primary school children (n=1045, 18 schools) in skills of balance, throw, catch, sprint, hop, kick, side gallop and jump. Rating categories were ‘mastery’, ‘near mastery’ or ‘poo...

Physical education lessons offer a venue for children to accrue valuable and health-conferring time being physically active. The first Australian direct observational data are presented on activity of year 3 and 4 children during physical education. Analysis accounts for the nested nature of the data through multi level logistic regression using 13...

School playgrounds during break times provide potential opportunities for children to be active during the school day. However, there is limited research on how active children really are during these breaks. The CAST (Children's Activity Scanning Tool) instrument was developed, validated, and used to assess the percentages of children engaged in m...

Thesis aim: This thesis aims to analyse and critically evaluate the Children Activity Scanning Tool (CAST), which measures children’s physical activity (PA) engagement levels in school playgrounds and similar environments, focusing on CAST reliability and validity using data from four health promotion projects in the Northern Rivers (Move it Groove...