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The effect of upgrades to childcare outdoor spaces on preschoolers’ physical activity: Findings from a natural experiment

This natural experiment investigated the influence of early childhood education and care outdoor physical environment upgrade on preschoolers' physical activity

Not just "A walking the dog": Dog walking and pet play and their association with recommended physical activity among adolescents

To examine the role of pet play and dog walking in children's and adolescents' leisure time, and the relationship between these activities and physical activity

Healthway supports innovative mental health, physical activity research at The Kids

The Kids Research Institute Australia and The University of Western Australia researchers have been awarded more than $1 million in funding from Healthway, for projects to improve the mental health of LGBTQA+ young people, encourage early physical activity in childcare centres and create healthier local environme

The impact of a dog-facilitated mobile physical activity intervention on children’s social–emotional development: a randomized controlled trial

Dog ownership has been suggested to be positively associated with children's physical, social, and emotional development. This study investigated the effect of a mobile health dog-facilitated physical activity intervention on young children's social-emotional development and attachment to the family dog.

Restricting outdoor advertising of unhealthy food: can Australia's food category-based classification system be applied consistently?

Most outdoor food advertising (e.g. billboards and bus stops) features foods that are considered unhealthy. The most important technical challenge when designing policies to restrict unhealthy outdoor food advertising is defining 'unhealthy food'. To date, most restriction policies have used nutrient profiling models (i.e. foods are classified according to their nutritional composition) to determine which foods and beverages may be advertised. In Australia, state governments have endorsed a food category-based classification system, with no prescribed nutrient limits, which may create ambiguity when multiple users are identifying food advertisements to be restricted. 

Exploring preferences for interventions to increase active school transportation among children and adolescents in Australia

The observed decline in children's active school transport (AST) across numerous countries over recent decades necessitates targeted, multi-level interventions to reverse this trend. However, data on young people's preferred AST interventions is lacking. This study aimed to explore children's preferences for AST interventions and assess differences between AST users and non-users among primary and secondary school students.

Dog ownership, dog walking, and physical function in mid-older adults: Findings from the HABITAT cohort study

To examine the longitudinal effects of dog ownership and dog walking on self-reported and objective measures of physical function in mid- to older-aged adults.

Living closer to the beach is associated with better socioemotional development in young boys

Natural outdoor environments such as green and blue spaces have increasingly been seen as key health and wellbeing determinants for adults. However, it is unclear if these effects are seen in young children. We examined the associations between access to natural green and blue space and young children's socioemotional development.