Sallie Anne Newell

• BSC(Hons) Psychology, PhD
• Analyst at NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation

This article reports on the Family Inclusion Project, which trialled a ‘Wraparound’ casework approach to working with young offenders in a regional town in New South Wales, Australia. The project focused on reducing re-offending by improving engagement with family and community support services and improving interagency collaboration. Although the...

Minding Me is one of six relationship and sexuality education programs delivered by Interrelate Family Centres. It involves two 90-minute class-based sessions and is designed to provide Year 5 students with information and strategies to help them navigate the physical, emotional, social, intellectual and relationship changes they may experience dur...

Moving Into The Teen Years (MITTY) is one of six relationship and sexuality education programs delivered by Interrelate Family Centres. It involves a series of four 90-minute class-based sessions (with a take-home workbook to encourage parental engagement). It is designed to enhance Year 6 students’ self-esteem, communication and decision-making sk...

The Childwatch International Research Network is a global, non-profit, non-governmental network of institutions that collaborate in child research for the purpose of promoting child rights and improving children’s wellbeing around the world. In April 2010, the Childwatch Board approved the establishment of a new Thematic Study Group to undertake an...

About Lismore Let's Read Lismore Let’s Read is part of the Lismore Communities for Children initiative, which is facilitated by YWCA NSW, with funding from the Australian government’s Stronger Families and Communities Strategy. It is administered and proactively promoted by Lismore and Goonellabah librarians and the Rotary Club of Lismore. The Lism...

In Aboriginal families our kinship is strong. We learn our parenting and social knowledge from each other; from stories that we get from our mothers and aunties. It is a new idea to learn these things from books. Raising children is not an easy job. No training manual comes with children so we all learn as we go. This book is a tool for families wh...

Welcome to this unique, local book featuring young children’s pictures and thoughts about their families. We were quite overwhelmed by the response to our invitation for pictures - with about 120 entries received. Unfortunately, we couldn’t fit them all into this book, but every contribution we received was exhibited throughout National Families We...

This report summarises the results from the baseline community-level surveys collected as part of the evaluation of the Murwillumbah Communities for Children initiative. The information from these surveys gives an impression of how families and early childhood workers were feeling in the early stages of the initiative – in relation to the main goal...

This study examined the effectiveness of giving medical oncologists immediate feedback about cancer patients' self-reported psychosocial well-being in reducing those patients' levels of anxiety, depression, perceived needs and physical symptoms. Cancer patients attending one cancer centre for their first visit were allocated to intervention (n = 42...

The conference theme reflects a key aim of Southern Cross University’s Centre for Children & Young People (CCYP). The CCYP aims to improve child and youth focused practice, particularly in regional areas, through interdisciplinary research, education and advocacy. The CCYP undertakes its work in close collaboration with relevant agencies and organi...

The Expect Respect project was a social marketing campaign to increase young people’s knowledge of the dynamics of healthy and unhealthy relationships. It represented the latest stage in an ongoing campaign by the Kids Really Count interagency committee (a collaboration between the Ballina Byron Family Centre, the NSW Strategy to Reduce Violence Ag...

The Tooty Fruity Vegie (TFV) project was a multi-strategic, school-based intervention aimed at preventing the large decline in fruit and vegetable intake that typically starts during primary school. During 1999 and 2000, TFV was implemented in 10 volunteer primary schools across the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. Surveys were conducted,...

Inadequate intakes of fruits and vegetables are consistently and strongly associated with increased incidences of many cancers, cardiovascular and coronary disease (Joshipura et al 1999, Ness 1997, Block et al 1992). Despite this, most Australian adults' diets fall well below recommended daily intakes (Stickney 1994, CSIRO 1993). Whereas intake lev...

Objective: To assess the accuracy of the lunchbox component of parent-completed food records for primary school children’s fruit and vegetable intakes. Design: We use a cross-sectional survey where parents completed 24 hour food records including a section about foods packed in their children’s lunchboxes for the next day. On the children’s arrival...

Many cancer patients use psychological therapies because they expect them to cure their cancer or to improve their recovery. Despite these high expectations, both patients and oncologists report being moderately to very satisfied with the results of psychological therapies. Previous reviews of the literature have concluded that psychological therap...

To compare the agreement between anxiety, depression and supportive care needs data obtained using a touchscreen computer survey with traditional pen-and-paper surveys. The sample consisted of 1,304 consecutive patients attending the medical or radiation oncology outpatient department in two public cancer treatment centres. Of the 357 eligible pati...

Despite the widespread use of written health education materials as interventions, relatively few studies have adequately evaluated the effectiveness of such materials on changing healthcare behaviors in the general population. The study consisted of ten matched pairs of small rural towns in New South Wales, Australia, with a total combined populat...

Aims This report describes the results and implications of a comprehensive process and impact evaluation of the Tooty Fruity Vegie (TFV) project, a two year, multi-strategic health promotion program aimed at increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among primary school children in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. The project aimed t...

In 1999, the NRAHS committed funding to Aboriginal Health Promotion. The Health Promotion Unit employed an Aboriginal Health Promotion Officer to develop, pilot, implement, evaluate and coordinate, in partnership with other service providers, a Health Promotion Self-Determination project.Early on in the project it became evident that before future...

This study was undertaken in mid-1994 and assessed how accurately patients recall the recency and result of their most recent cholesterol and Papanicolaou (Pap) tests. A cross-sectional, door-to-door community survey was used to gather self-report and, subsequently, pathology laboratory data for 195 individuals. In regard to cholesterol screening,...

Clinical practice guidelines are playing an increasingly important role in defining quality care and consumers have a considerable interest in participating in the development of guidelines. The objective of this study was to explore consumer's perceptions of guideline items relating to psychosocial care of women with breast cancer, developed by Au...

To critically review the literature regarding the effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving cardiovascular patient compliance with nonpharmacologic treatments. We searched Medline, Healthplan, and Psychlit from 1985 to 1996; searched the bibliographies of located studies; contacted Australian government departments and nongovernment organiz...

To assess Australian radiation and medical oncologists' self-reported knowledge about and attitudes towards a range of non-traditional therapies used by people with cancer. Postal survey during May and June 1997 of all 265 radiation and medical oncologists practising in Australia. 161 oncologists returned surveys (61% response rate). Oncologists' o...

The aim of this study was to critically review the literature regarding interventions to improve cardiovascular patients' compliance with medication-taking, obtaining medication refills, or appointment keeping. The search for relevant randomized trials involved searching the Medline, Healthplan, and Psychlit databases from 1985 to 1996; searching t...

Breast cancer is the most common cancer type experienced by Australian women (1). The diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer can result in a range of psychological and emotional challenges for women, including coping with the shock of diagnosis; physical changes in body appearance and functioning; side effects, such as anticipatory nausea, vomiti...

To critically review the literature concerning the accuracy of self-reported health behaviors and risk factors relating to cancer and cardiovascular disease among the general population. A literature search was conducted on three major health research databases: MEDLINE, HealthPLAN, and PsychLit. The bibliographies of located articles were also che...

Objective: To critically review the literature concerning the accuracy of self-reported health behaviors and risk factors relating to cancer and cardiovascular disease among the general population.Method: A literature search was conducted on three major health research databases: MEDLINE, HealthPLAN, and PsychLit. The bibliographies of located arti...

The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and predictors of physical symptoms, anxiety, depression and perceived needs among patients receiving treatment at an outpatient medical oncology department using a cross-sectional survey. It was carried out at the outpatient clinic of an academic medical oncology department, which sees around 150-...

Modern cancer treatments can cure or prolong patients' lives. However, the associated physical and psychosocial problems can detrimentally affect patients' compliance with treatment and, ultimately, their outcomes. Therefore, oncologists need to recognize the problems experienced by their patients and, when possible, help resolve these problems. Th...

BACKGROUND Modern cancer treatments can cure or prolong patients' lives. However, the associated physical and psychosocial problems can detrimentally affect patients' compliance with treatment and, ultimately, their outcomes. Therefore, oncologists need to recognize the problems experienced by their patients and, when possible, help resolve these p...

The acceptability of a touchscreen computer survey to assess levels of physical side effects, anxiety, depression, and perceived needs among 229 cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and hormone therapy was assessed. Despite the fact that approximately 60% of the patients had no previous experience with computers, the survey was highly acceptable...

The effects of two distribution strategies on the recall of receipt, retention, utilisation and perceived acceptability of written health education materials were investigated in two semirural communities. We randomly selected 512 people, 212 from general practitioners' surgeries, who received the materials from their general practitioners at the e...

The Family Inclusion Project (FIP) was operational between November 2010 and June 2011. The origins of the project were a series of discussions between senior officers of Juvenile Justice and the Coffs Harbour Indigenous Coordination Centre (ICC) in early 2010. The venue for these discussions was the North Coast Justice and Human Services Regional...

Seasons for Growth (SfG) is a grief and loss education program which aims to promote the social and emotional wellbeing of children and young people (aged 6-18 years) who have experienced significant change in their lives, usually as a result of death, separation or divorce. The SfG program is unique in terms of a) its theoretical orientation in we...

Raising Awareness of Bullying (RAB) is one of six relationship and sexuality education programs delivered by Interrelate Family Centres. It involves a single 60-90 minute class-based session, designed to assist schools with concerns about harassment and/or physical abuse amongst pupils. Sessions are tailored for students in each of Years 3, 4, 5 an...

Kids ConneXions (KC) is one of six relationship and sexuality education programs delivered by Interrelate Family Centres. It involves two 90-minute class-based sessions, designed to improveYear 5 and 6 students' understanding about and development of healthy relationships and to support them to make healthy choices and build resilience in their rel...

Where Did I Come From? (WDICF) and Preparing For Puberty (PFP) are two of the six relationship and sexuality education programs delivered by Interrelate Family Centres. They are usually run consecutively, with each involving a 60-minute evening group session for students and their families. WDICF is designed to inform Year 3-6 students and facilita...

In working towards their vision of being a ‘lighthouse’ organisation for recognising children, Interrelate offers a suite of six relationship and sexuality education programs for children, families and teachers across New South Wales. Each program is facilitated by specially trained Educators and has a clearly articulated structure, content and obj...

The pilot Child-Led Research Program was developed with the overall aim of ‘building children and young people’s skills and capacity to undertake research, reflect and present their ideas in ways that are meaningful to them’. In brief, the program consisted of 19 sessions, where three adult facilitators (from mixed disciplinary backgrounds) trained...

The Reconnecting Families Program (RFP) was developed in response to demand from local Aboriginal organisations to improve the health of their communities. Family function was a stated priority and specific requests were made for training around parenting skills and relationships. The literature reinforced this by highlighting the importance of qua...

Over recent years, government funding for communitybased support programs has increasingly been directed through non-government organisations (NGOs) – with an obligation on them to evaluate and report on the effectiveness of funded programs, rather than just planning and implementing them. While this allows for more locally-relevant and responsive...

Written health education materials (WHEMs), such as pamphlets, are widely used in the field of health education in terms of both the wide variety of topics they cover and the large number produced. The New South Wales Cancer Council distributes more than one million print items annually, a large proportion of which are pamphlets1. The development a...

This report consists of two sections. Section 1 provides an overview of the Box Ridge Transition to School Program. Section 2 highlights the results of interviews conducted with: 􀂃 parents/carers whose children attended the program between 1999 and 2003, and 􀂃 staff of both the Box Ridge Transition to School Program and Coraki Primary School.The Bo...

The interest in health inequity crosses over many disciplines. Subsequently, there is a great deal of literature published on the topic. This paper aims to draw together the literature and provide a comprehensive overview of the topic.

The conference is being organized by the Family Support Network Lismore, funded via the ‘Bonding with Baby – A Helping Hand’ program. ‘Bonding with Baby – A Helping Hand’ is funded by the Australian Government through the Communities for Children initiative of the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy. The Communities for Children Initiative i...

The Communities for Children (CfC) initiative was a major component of the Australian government's 2004-09 Stronger Families and Communities Strategy (SFCS), which aimed to: help families and communities build better futures for children; build family and community capacity; support relationships between families and the communities they live in; a...

The Communities for Children (CfC) initiative was a major component of the Australian government's 2004-09 Stronger Families and Communities Strategy (SFCS), which aimed to: help families and communities build better futures for children; build family and community capacity; support relationships between families and the communities they live in; a...

This report presents the results from a survey developed and conducted by the Childwatch International Research Network’s Children and the Law Study Group. The survey explored how children’s participation rights are respected in post-separation decision-making in international family law contexts, including a focus on the legislative mechanisms and...

Opportunities often arise for School of Education academics to develop research links with local schools, usually through requests for help with program evaluations (eg: 'we need to find out whether program X works so we can seek more funding'). It is likely these requests will increase over coming years, as at least 85 schools in the SCU footprint...

This study describes volunteer participation in a multi-strategic fruit and vegetable promotion in primary schools in Northern NSW. Methods Parents and volunteers at 10 intervention and six control schools, and principals from the intervention schools, were surveyed after a two–year intervention. We investigated the strategies implemented by parent...

ABOUT THE MENTAL WELLBEING PROJECT The Catholic Education Office, Lismore Diocese, established the Mental Wellbeing Project with the aim of helping their school communities to better respond to and support the emotional and social wellbeing needs of their students and families. In 2006, almost $850,000 were distributed between the 44 schools in the...

Objective: To investigate the impact of two distribution strategies (mailout and generalpractitioner(GP)) on the recall of receipt, retention, utilisation and perceived acceptability ofwritten health education materials.Design: Structured interviews were conducted with randomly selected individuals who hadreceived written health education materials...

Project Overview & Aims: The GTP is an early learning program for children needing additional support with transitioning from home/preschool settings into Kindergarten. It is strengths-based, family-friendly and culturally-sensitive and uses a developmental, health, linguistic and social framework. It works with families to identify health and educ...