The Health News Australia July 26 2017
Overview
- The UK’s viral This Girl Can campaign that encouraged women to become more active and told them “I jiggle therefore I am” is about to launch an Australian spin-off. The original 2015 video attracted more than 16 million views on YouTube and Facebook and featured women of all ages and sizes jogging, jumping, sweating and playing sport.
- The idea that social media has negative impacts on our mental health is nothing new. Interestingly, science has found a very weak link between the rise in the use of social media and mental health problems.
- Female general practitioners outnumbered their male colleagues for the first time in Australia. Medical Board of Australia data confirmed women now outflanked men in general practice, with 973 more registered female GPs than males as of March 2017.
News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 26th of July 2017. Read by Tabetha Moreto. Health New
The UK’s viral This Girl Can campaign that encouraged women to become more active and told them “I jiggle therefore I am” is about to launch an Australian spin-off. The original two thousand and fifteen video attracted more than sixteen million views on YouTube and Facebook and featured women of all ages and sizes jogging, jumping, sweating and playing sport.
The organiser, Sport England, estimates the campaign inspired two point eight million British women to get more active and hopes a partnership with VicHealth in Australia can produce similar results. Sport England CEO Jennie Price told News Breakfast that when we started to evaluate it, that was when it got very exciting and we discovered women were really recognising themselves in the ad and as a result were thinking, ‘maybe I can get out there and get fit’.
Sport England released a follow-up video earlier this year that continued the theme and focussed on women in particular stages of their life, such as motherhood and older age, as well as those with a disability. It will be the first time the campaign has been replicated outside the UK and follows a VicHealth survey that found a worrying gender gap in sport participation and attitudes towards exercise in Australia.
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Miss Price also said she was excited to show UK women the message had gone global.
“This is our first international partnership and to be able to go home and say to British women, ‘there are Australian women who feel the same, who are experiencing the same’, that’s very powerful.”
The idea that social media has negative impacts on our mental health is nothing new, but what if this accepted ‘fact’ wasn’t entirely true? Since the rise of online platforms like Facebook, there has been an increasing concern about the possible effects using such sites can have on mental health. Interestingly, science has found a very weak link between the rise in the use of social media and mental health problems. Bridianne O’Dea, Research Fellow at the Black Dog Institute, put into perspective the function of social media in our daily lives.
“A lot of people think that social media has a negative impact on your well being and that social media makes you feel worse about yourself and that it makes you feel more anxious, more worried and more sad and this is true for some people,” she told HuffPost Australia.
“It is probably true for quite a number of people, but when we take big scientific studies and put it up to the rigour of science, those relationships [between social media and mental health] don’t ring true. “Even though we do have these new ways of communicating and staying connected, at the end of the day a very traditional psychological construct, like family support, comes out on top.
O’Dea also said that our online lives are an extension of the offline and that while “unfriending” someone can affect a friendship, losing touch with people and ending romantic relationships is a normal part of life.” The researchers have done some studies looking at particular social media behaviours. ‘Defriending’ and ‘unfriending’ and not accepting friend requests is one particular area which they have looked at in particular detail and they have found… it is likely that finding out that someone has unfriended you is likely to put further strain on that friendship,” she said.
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It is because of the interplay of these factors that just one can’t be blamed for mental illness — it’s for this reason that social media cannot be the sole cause of mental illness problems.
Female General Practitioners outnumber their male colleagues for the first time in Australia.
“We’ve come a long way since the organisation began at a men’s club,” said Royal Australian College of General Practitioners CEO Doctor Zena Burgess.
“It’s the year of the superhero, first Wonder Woman, then the first female doctor, and now our female GPs, who really are very impressive.” Women accounted for fifty point two per cent of members at the RACGP in two thousand and sixteen to two thousand and seventeen, up from forty seven per cent in two thousand and twelve to two thousand and thirteen.
Medical Board of Australia data confirmed women now outflanked men in general practice, with nine hundred seventy three more registered female GPs than males as of March two thousand and seventeen.
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General practice offered her more flexibility, and the opportunity to pursue her passion for treating patients without giving up her passions outside the clinic, said Doctor Sarah Newman, an aspiring children’s author, illustrator and advocate for doctors in training. Being a GP meant she could have a meaningful impact on patients’ health. “General practice might not be ‘sexy’, but prevention saves lives,” she said.General Practice has continued to attract an increasing number of female medical graduates in as allegations of sexual harassment and bullying have plagued male-dominated medical professions like surgery and intensive care. Recent reports that female doctors were asked about their plans to have children during job interviews prompted calls from the Australian Medical Association for tougher penalties against workplaces that discriminated against female candidates.
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