Older Australians and the Internet

In late 2009, Sandra Haukka secured funding from the auDA Foundation to explore what older Australians who never or rarely use the Internet (referred to as ‘non-users’) know about the types of online products and services available to them, and how they might use these products and services to improve their daily life. This project aims to support current and future strategies and initiatives by: 1) exploring the extent to which non-users are aware of the types and benefits of online products and services, (such as e-shopping, e-banking, e-health, social networking, and general browsing and research) as well as their interest in them b) identifying how the Internet can improve the daily life of older Australians c) reviewing the effectiveness of support and services designed to educate and encourage older people to engage with the Internet d) recommending strategies that aim to raise non-user awareness of current and emerging online products and services, and provide non-users with the skills and knowledge needed to use those products and services that they believe can improve their daily life. The Productive Ageing Centre at National Seniors Australia, and Professor Trevor Barr from Swinburne University provided the project with in-kind support

Falls in older Aboriginal people: risk factors, burden, and development of a culturally appropriate fall prevention intervention

Abstracts – oral conference presentations Lukaszyk, C., Harvey, L., Sherrington, C., Close, J., Coombes, J., Mitchell, R., Moore, R., Ivers, R. Fallrelated injury hospitalisations for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 50+ in New South Wales, Australia, 15th World Congress on Public Health, April 2017, Melbourne, Australia Lukaszyk, C., Harvey, L., Sherrington, C., Close, J., Coombes, J., Ivers, R. Investigating hospitalisations due to fall-related injury for older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in New South Wales, Australia, 7th Biennial Australia and New Zealand Falls Prevention Conference, November 2016, Melbourne, Australia Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Sherrington, C., Keay, L., Tiedemann, A., Cumming, R., Broe, T., Ivers, R. Preventing falls amongst older Aboriginal people: development and pilot evaluation of the Ironbark Program, 15th National Conference of Emerging Researchers in Ageing, October 2016, Canberra, Australia Lukaszyk, C., Approaches to preventing falls amongst older Aboriginal people, Travelling Rural Fall Prevention Network Forum, September 2016, Broken Hill, Dubbo, Australia, invited speaker Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Sherrington, C., Keay, L., Tiedemann, A., Cumming, R., Broe, T., Ivers, R. Developing and trialling a culturally appropriate fall prevention program for older Aboriginal people, Australian Health Promotion Association, June 2016, Perth, Australia Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Sherrington, C., Keay, L., Tiedemann, A., Cumming, R., Broe, T., Ivers, R. Approaches to developing a falls prevention program for older Aboriginal people, Australian Injury Prevention Network, November 2015, Sydney, Australia Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Falls Prevention in Older Aboriginal People: Approaches to Program Development, Championing Falls in April Forum, April 2015, Sydney, Australia, invited speaker Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Sherrington, C., Keay, L., Tiedemann, A., Cumming, R., Broe, T., Ivers, R. Falls prevention in older Aboriginal people: service audit and yarning circle discussions, Australian Injury Prevention Network, November 2014, Sydney, Australia Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Sherrington, C., Keay, L., Tiedemann, A., Cumming, R., Broe, T., Mack, H., Ivers, R. The Ironbark Project: Fall Prevention in Older Aboriginal People in NSW, Australian and New Zealand Falls Prevention Conference, November 2014, Sydney, Australia Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Sherrington, C., Keay, L., Tiedemann, A., Cumming, R., Broe, T., Ivers, R. Ironbark Project Service Audit on Fall Prevention in Aboriginal People, Emerging Health Policy Research Conference, October 2014, Sydney, Australia Abstracts – poster conference presentations Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Keay, L., Sherrington, C., Tiedemann, A., Turner, NJ., Cumming, R., Broe, T., Hillmann, E., Ivers, R. Working together to develop and trial a culturally appropriate fall prevention program for older Aboriginal people. Lowitja Institute International Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference, November 2016, Melbourne, Australia Lukaszyk, C., Harvey, L., Close, J., Ivers, R. Investigating fall-related injury hospitalisations for older Indigenous people in Australia, 12th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, September 2016, Tampere, Finland Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Sherrington, C., Keay, L., Tiedemann, A., Cumming, R., Broe, T., Ivers, R. Developing and trialling a culturally appropriate fall prevention program for older Aboriginal people, RICH forum, March 2015, Multiple locations, Australia Workshops “Fall prevention for older Aboriginal people: lessons from the Ironbark Aboriginal Fall Prevention Project”, pre-conference workshop for the 7th Biennial Australia and New Zealand Falls Prevention Conference, Melbourne, November 2016 Awards Cross Cultural Public Health Research Award. May 2017. University of Sydney and University of Western Sydney. Postgraduate Research Support Scheme Travel Grant. October 2017. University of Sydney, School of Public Health. Postgraduate Research Support Scheme Travel Grant. October 2016. University of Sydney, School of Public Health

Voter ID

The question of whether voters should be required to present an acceptable form of identification (ID) when casting a ballot at a federal election has persisted. Executive summary The question of whether voters should be required to present an acceptable form of identification (ID) when casting a ballot at a federal election has persisted, notwithstanding quite exhaustive debate and deliberation in numerous forums. Arguments advanced in favour of requiring voter ID included the need to: protect the integrity of the information contained on the roll deter attempts by voters to impersonate another voter discourage attempts by a voter to vote more than once. In 2001, in its report User friendly, not abuser friendly: Report of the inquiry into the integrity of the electoral roll, the Joint Standing Committee of Electoral Matters (JSCEM) concluded that that the introduction of voter identification was not warranted as a measure to deter fraud But while some consider that the level of alleged electoral fraud is minuscule, others have a much more pessimistic view. The report of the JSCEM Inquiry into the conduct of the 2001 Federal election addressed proof-of-identity requirements, but focussed on initial enrolment or re-enrolment, not the requirement to produce ID in the normal course of casting a ballot at a polling booth. The Committee recommended ‘that people making a first-time enrolment, those seeking re-enrolment, and those transferring their enrolment details, first be required to provide proof of identity and address, via a driver’s licence or similar. But evidence to that same JSCEM inquiry highlighted problems with the ready availability of ID among people who are extremely disadvantaged or living in Indigenous communities. Others argued that the alleged difficulties of producing ID are over stated, citing the numbers that attend large sports clubs or present ID to access video stores. Australians have a history of resistance to the adoption of any kind of universal ID card that can be legally required to be shown in order to access government services or to confirm one’s identity. The arguments against such a card are broadly couched in terms of personal privacy and an aversion to a ‘surveillance state’

Characteristics of innovators adopting a national personal health record in Portugal : cross-sectional study

©Liliana Laranjo, Inês Rodolfo, Ana Marta Pereira, Armando Brito de Sá. Originally published in JMIR Medical Informatics (http://medinform.jmir.org), 11.10.2017. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Medical Informatics, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://medinform.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.Background: Personal health records (PHRs) are increasingly being deployed worldwide, but their rates of adoption by patients vary widely across countries and health systems. Five main categories of adopters are usually considered when evaluating the diffusion of innovations: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. Objective: We aimed to evaluate adoption of the Portuguese PHR 3 months after its release, as well as characterize the individuals who registered and used the system during that period (the innovators). Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study. Users and nonusers were defined based on their input, or not, of health-related information into the PHR. Users of the PHR were compared with nonusers regarding demographic and clinical variables. Users were further characterized according to their intensity of information input: single input (one single piece of health-related information recorded) and multiple inputs. Multivariate logistic regression was used to model the probability of being in the multiple inputs group. ArcGis (ESRI, Redlands, CA, USA) was used to create maps of the proportion of PHR registrations by region and district. Results: The number of registered individuals was 109,619 (66,408/109,619, 60.58% women; mean age: 44.7 years, standard deviation [SD] 18.1 years). The highest proportion of registrations was observed for those aged between 30 and 39 years (25,810/109,619, 23.55%). Furthermore, 16.88% (18,504/109,619) of registered individuals were considered users and 83.12% (91,115/109,619) nonusers. Among PHR users, 32.18% (5955/18,504) engaged in single input and 67.82% (12,549/18,504) in multiple inputs. Younger individuals and male users had higher odds of engaging in multiple inputs (odds ratio for male individuals 1.32, CI 1.19-1.48). Geographic analysis revealed higher proportions of PHR adoption in urban centers when compared with rural noncoastal districts. Conclusions: Approximately 1% of the country’s population registered during the first 3 months of the Portuguese PHR. Registered individuals were more frequently female aged between 30 and 39 years. There is evidence of a geographic gap in the adoption of the Portuguese PHR, with higher proportions of adopters in urban centers than in rural noncoastal districts.This work was supported by a Junior Clinical Research award from the Harvard Medical School—Portugal program (HMSP-ICJ/0005/2010; Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) attributed to the first author.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Advancing Australia as a digital economy: an update to the national digital economy strategy

The Government’s 2011 National Digital Economy Strategy (the 2011 NDES) set the goal of Australia becoming a leading digital economy by 2020. In doing so, it nominated eight goals to position Australia as a world leader in broadband connectivity and the use of digital technologies, and set out a bold vision for Australia to be a vibrant, trusted hub in the global digital economy. Advancing Australia as a Digital Economy is an update of the 2011 NDES, building on the 2011 NDES, and laying out the next steps towards delivering the government\u27s 2020 vision. Executive Summary In 2013, the use of online services by Australians covers almost every aspect of daily life, from checking tomorrow’s weather forecast to preparing a meal, paying bills, arranging a holiday or accessing education or health services from remote locations. Almost every aspect of life can be enhanced through some form of online service delivery. New ideas that apply digital technology to everyday situations emerge almost daily. Amid the relentless digital transformation of the global economy, more and more services are becoming available online. But there is much more to do before Australia is a leading digital economy. This strategic update provides an overview of the dozens of individual initiatives, and outlines a number of new initiatives, that represent the progress being made by the Australian Government to embrace our digital future. To advance Australia as a leading digital economy in the networked world, there are many small steps needed to achieve genuine transformation. The headline initiative is a Digital First commitment for government to offer its services digitally. As part of Digital First, priority government transactions will be end-to-end digital by 2017. Some alternative channels of service will remain so that agencies can provide assistance to those individuals who cannot easily access online services. As the economy moves to a greater reliance on online transactions there will be a corresponding need to improve performance and acceptance of online identity arrangements. The Government will contribute to developments in this critical area by significantly enhancing the existing government Document Verification Service and making this more widely available to the private sector. Businesses will be able to reliably identify customers by matching details from customers’ identity documents with records held by the documents’ issuing authorities. Recognising the role secure digital mailboxes can play in secure online communication, the Government will expand the use of digital mail by myGov and conduct proof-of-concept trials for other digital mailboxes. The trials are expected to demonstrate how digital mailboxes can better and more securely connect Australians with essential government services. The Government will seek to ensure that Australians have the skills required as the digital future unfolds by promoting a more cohesive approach to ICT skills development. In particular, it will develop a lifecycle approach to ICT skills, beginning with completing the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority’s development of the Australian Curriculum: Technologies and the development of stronger links between industry and tertiary education institutions. For Australia to become a leading digital economy, our ICT companies must also be working at the cutting edge of digital and technical innovation. Recognising the need to encourage the development of such companies, the Government will enhance the regulatory environment for innovative ICT start-up companies. For example, the Government will examine possible changes to improve employee share scheme arrangements for start-ups by the end of 2013. Looking even further ahead, the Government will also conduct a review of regulations governing crowd-sourced equity funding. In parallel to this document, the Government has released Australia’s first National Cloud Computing Strategy, which aims to address barriers to adoption while maximising the benefits of cloud computing for the whole Australian economy. It includes a series of actions such as changes to procurement policy to ensure that government agencies consider cloud services for ICT procurements. There will be help for digital economy beginners too. Individuals, businesses and not-for-profit organisations yet to engage meaningfully in the digital economy will be given a helping hand to do so. Digital Business Kits containing online skills tutorials that have been specifically tailored for different industries will be developed. Additionally, the Digital Enterprise and Digital Local Government programs will be extended to enhance household and business understanding of and engagement in the digital economy. High-speed broadband will be used to deliver services to older Australians with chronic disease. The Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record will be strongly promoted, as will Medicare- funded telehealth services. These services have opened up a new avenue for the delivery of health services that will particularly benefit people living in regional and remote Australia as well as those with limited mobility. The Government will also support the increased use of digital platforms to provide aged care services. Through annual National Telework Weeks the Government will continue to promote the uptake of telework, which is a key tool by which organisations will benefit from the digital economy. These initiatives are supported by a suite of actions outlined in the next section of this paper, which collectively form an integrated strategy to support our ambition to become a leading digital economy. This document has been fashioned as a strategic update to the 2011 National Digital Economy Strategy—the first of what is intended to be a regular series— to reflect the fast-moving, rapidly changing environment that is our digital future

Integrated care: What can be done at the micro level to influence integration in primary health care?

Consumers require health services that meet their needs, are connected and well-integrated. They want to experience ‘one health system’ regardless of service structure, funding or governance. The provider-patient interface is the critical environment in which the needs and expectations of both providers and patients are considered

Practice nurses as case managers in a collaborative care model for managing depression among patients with heart disease or diabetes : The D_TECT and TrueBlue studies in primary care

A successful feasibility study called D_TECT (Depression Treatment Evaluation Care Team) used a collaborative approach to detect, monitor and treat depression among patients with existing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) or coronary heart disease (CHD) in primary care. It was developed by the Greater Green Triangle Department of Rural Health and conducted in general practices in rural areas. The model mobilised existing resources and funding paths available in general practice, including general practitioners, practice nurses and existing Medicare-funded enhanced primary care items