An Australian-first trial will use mobile technology to help teenagers lose weight, boost their self esteem and lead healthier lives, reports the Herald Sun, February 29, 2012.
Associate Professor Joanne Williams a Researcher at the Centre for Adolescent Health and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute said of the research project; “They’ve all got phones, it’s how they communicate with their friends, it’s just a little message in the middle of the day to keep their mind on track” . During the project young people aged between 12 and 17 will be sent motivational messages during the 12-week online program.

Participants will have their height, waist circumference and blood pressure monitored when they join the study and after 3, 6 and 12 months. Associate Professor Williams said the program would use the traffic light labelling system to educate teenagers on healthy food choices.

Airbrushed images of celebrities will be shown to help banish body image battles. “We show them that even so-called famous people don’t look like that in real life, you shouldn’t be aspiring to an unrealistic image, everybody is different, focus on the positive pieces of their body.”

The programs’ approach, which is based on cognitive behaviour therapy, also has sections dealing with bullying and peer pressure. “It’s teaching them better coping skills and emotional support while they try to make healthier choices and increase their physical activity.”

A further article can be found in Australian Food News 

Researchers are recruiting 550 Victorian teenagers to take part in the trial. For more information call: 03 9345 6954 or email: stayingfit@mcri.edu.au

Melissa Whitelaw is the Clinical Specialist Dietitian for the RCH Specialist Eating Disorder Program that is managed by the Centre for Adolescent Health. She is currently undertaking a part-time PhD at the University of Melbourne (Department of Paediatrics) under the supervision of Prof Susan Sawyer, Dr Heather Gilbertson and Dr Katherine Lee and will be exploring a new eating disorder in adolescents.

Over the last 7 years, the clinicians in the RCH Eating Disorder Program have become increasingly aware of a new group of adolescents with eating disorders.  These patients have previously been above their expected body weight and in response to concerns about obesity have lost weight.

Such patients typically lose weight without medical review – and commonly lose a large amount of weight over a short time. Such weight loss frequently continues to spiral down and the adolescent loses perspective about what is an appropriate weight. Drive for ongoing weight loss can lead to an inappropriately restricted nutritional intake and in some cases excessive exercise regimes. In some adolescents, such weight loss has been observed to lead to the same physical sequelae as Anorexia Nervosa, such as a very low heart rate, a distorted body image and no periods in previously menstruating girls. In some cases hospital admission is required for medical stabilisation.

The confusion is that these patients are not underweight – despite presenting with serious medical complications and psychological distress usually observed in Anorexia
Nervosa. Without a low body weight, timely diagnosis and medical intervention is frequently delayed and may impact recovery.

Melissa will be assessing the change in the frequency of adolescents presenting with
premorbid overweight to the RCH. She will then determine the relative severity of their physical sequelae compared to underweight patients, and the prognosis of this form of eating disorder.

It is anticipated that this study will raise awareness about this new eating disorder
and the challenges for public health messaging in the context of appropriate concerns about overweight and obesity.

Having completed training in Paediatrics, Epidemiology and Adolescent Medicine, Dr Peter Azzopardi is embarking on a PhD to better understand the health status of young people. Peter will use the upcoming Global Burden of Disease study to estimate global patterns of morbidity and mortality for young people and estimate the potential health benefits through targeting specific risk factors.
The project will also apply the Burden of Disease methodology to Australian data to better understand the health status of Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people. Funded by the NHMRC and Sidney Myer Foundation, Peter will be physically sited at the Centre for Adolescent Health. He will be supervised by Professor George Patton and Professor Susan Sawyer from the Centre for Adolescent Health, Professor Alex Brown (Baker IDI Central Australia), Professor John Carlin (Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, RCH) and Professor Louisa Degenhardt (National Drug and Alcohol Research
Centre).

The Herald Sun today (Tuesday Feb 21 2012) published an article about research conducted by Dr Rony Duncan and her team at the Centre for Adolescent Health at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. They surveyed 86 parents about their views on confidentiality for young people and found many agreed with the need for confidentiality, but at the same time, thought they should be told why their teenagers were going to the doctor and, in many cases, what was discussed.

However, when kids are worried their parents will be told their private medical details, they simply don’t go to the doctor.

It has been well established that if teenagers think they can see a doctor in confidence, they are more likely to do so, more likely to go back for repeat visits, and more likely to disclose sensitive information, Therefore, unless it’s a life threatening situation, their need to get medical advice is more important than the parents need to know.

The full article can be found here: Teens_deserve_privacy

Congratulations to Dr. Margaret Heffernan OAM who recently graduated from The University of Melbourne with a Doctor of Philosophy. The title of Margaret’s thesis was ‘Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines: the attitudes and intentions of Australian health providers and parents from three
diverse cultural groups towards HPV vaccination of pre-adolescent children’.

Dr Heffernan’s thesis was supervised by Professor Suzanne Garland, Professor Susan Sawyer (Centre for Adolescent Health), Associate Professor Kirsten McCaffery and Professor Michael Quinn. It explored the attitudes of Australian doctors (General Practitioners in Melbourne, Victoria), and parents toward adolescent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, and in particular the influence of cultural values on parental attitudes. Parents from three different cultural groups were recruited for the study: Anglo: Melbourne, Victoria; Aboriginal: Central Australia and Victoria; and Chinese: Melbourne, Victoria.

In Australia girls in the first year of secondary school are offered 3 doses of the HPV vaccines which offer 80% protection against HPV infection and 90% protection against genital warts. There are over 40 different types of sexually transmitted HPV. These have no symptoms, are highly contagious, and a very common infection to both men and women, especially sexually active teenagers. Two of the high risk HPV types are a known cause of cervical cancer; to be most effective, the HPV vaccines which protect against these two types need to be administered before sexual activity commences.

Interviews with 111 parents revealed that, regardless of their background, they shared common values toward protecting their child’s health through vaccination. However, not all parents were found to support a HPV vaccine being given to their daughters at a young age. There were differences in parent attitudes toward teenage sexuality, and parents’ preferences for age of vaccination were influenced by their culturally derived sexual norms, and the lack of data on the vaccine’s safety and efficacy.

Parents had almost no awareness of important facts about genital HPV infection, and whilst most parents had heard of cervical cancer not all had heard of genital warts. The Government HPV vaccine information resources were regarded as lacking in sufficient detail to help parents understand HPV or the vaccine’s benefit for young girls.

Many women were surprised that their doctors had not previously shared HPV information with them during routine health checks. Whilst the 15 GPs agreed with the HPV vaccines in principle, many of them did not see their role as the main group to educate the public about HPV (unless a woman presented with an abnormal Pap screen result), or specific details of the new vaccines, and many GPs were found to lack sufficient information.

Parents’ reluctance toward vaccination of young adolescent girls highlights improvements that need to be made to the implementation strategies for new vaccines. The GPs’ knowledge levels indicate a review of their information training needs is required before public offerings of future controversial vaccines. In the initial roll-out of the HPV vaccine through schools and clinics, generalisations were made about the resources that would help parents give their consent and for GPs to make recommendations; important cultural, social and system factors were ignored.

Dr Heffernan’s study shows that a universal approach to the introduction of sexually-related vaccines does not satisfy a diverse population’s needs. Australia is now embarking on the next wave of its HPV vaccine program. This study suggests
that before further implementation of the HPV vaccine program in our diverse population, a socio-ecological approach may contribute to informed consent.