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This paper draws on focus groups with young Australian males across a range of social demographics and ages in primary school years (5-12 years). It investigates the role of physical activity and dietary behaviours in the lives of young males. The paper will articulate the way in which young males come to perceive physical activity and dietary behaviours, including broader constructions of health, within the context of their lives. Understanding the decision making of young males' around physical activity and dietary behaviours will play a significant role in the health outcomes of adult men by through improved targeted health education and health promotion programs for this cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understandings of culture and multiculture are broad and deeply embedded in every day talk and practices. In an increasingly globalised world, how we understand and work with these terms affects how parents and their families experience health care services and the support intended by health care professionals. This is particularly important for parents who are new to Australia. In this paper we report on findings from an ethnographic study undertaken across two community child and family health nursing sites in South Australia. Using examples, we explore how child and family health nurses appear to understand and use constructs of culture and multiculture during everyday, intercultural communication with parents who are new to Australia and Australian health services. By analysing these understandings through postcolonial and feminist theories we found pervading evidence that neo-colonial constructs of a white western monoculture shaped intercultural communication practice. We conclude by reflecting on how these constructs might be addressed to improve intercultural communication in child and family health settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food security is an evolving concept with various definitions and associated meanings. The way food security is understood by policy-makers impacts on how it gets addressed in public policy. This research uses an interpretive approach to uncover how food security is represented by stakeholders. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 stakeholders in South Australia between June and September 2010. The findings reveal four dominant representations for food security that locate responsibility for the issue across different stakeholders, namely individuals, governments, communities and private enterprise. These representations hold different underlying assumptions about the role of government in addressing the issue; the neo-liberal perspective supports a reduced role for government whereas the social determinants of health perspective calls for greater government intervention. Food security activists may need a greater awareness of how they represent the issue in order to change public policy action in this area. The approach taken in this research is relevant to other public policy problems and contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health literacy, which relates to the acquisition, understanding and application of health information, has become an increasingly important public health issue, particularly where parents and children are concerned. Given that the home setting comprises a strong influence on children's diets, this qualitative study explored the concept of health literacy using parents' experiences with health information seeking and food related parenting practices. Semi-structured focus groups and in-depth interviews were conducted with parents, with children aged from birth to 12 years, in a low socio-economic region of South Australia. The results of this study indicated that there were a number of perceived barriers to accessing, understanding and utilising health information related to children's nutrition. These findings contribute to a broader understanding of how parents obtain and process dietary information and the channels through which they appear to be accessible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]