UNSW UPDATE

(Email sent by Professor Joan Cooper Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Students) and Registrar)

Next week is Mental Health Awareness Week at UNSW, 4 – 7 October.  As you are aware UNSW offers a number of services (free and confidential) that you can access if you have concerns about yourself or others.  These services include:

• Counselling and Psychological Services (CAPS) - 9385 5418
• Student Participation Advisors - 9385 9635
• Health Service - 9385 5425
• Disability Officers - 9385 4734

Mental Health Awareness Week aims to promote social and emotional wellbeing by encouraging students to maximise their health and increase mental health literacy. There will be a number of events run by UNSW and Arc Student Representative Council (SRC) at UNSW Kensington to promote this important cause.

Tuesday 4 October 1.00pm – 2.00pm       
Outside the hairdressers (On Kampus Hairdressing) at lower campus (near the Arc Office)
Terry Davies, Corporate Manager of Australian Rotary Health will address students and talk about the importance of mental health research.
Free BBQ:  Sausages and vegetarian burgers.

Wednesday 5 October 10.30am
Free Morning Tea in the Hub, LG, Morven Brown Building, aimed at promoting awareness for students to take some time out of their daily routine to unwind and relax from the stresses of uni life.

12.15pm-1.30pm
CAPs counsellors in conjunction with ARC will be on hand to talk with students about mental health issues and stress reduction. CAPS and Arc will have stalls set up in the Quadrangle with brochures on mental health issues and freebies including free fruit.

Thursday 6 October 1.00-2.00pm
Free Yoga Session, Morven Brown lawn, to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining health and well being as you progress with your students.

1.00pm – 2.00pm
Walk for wellness - Meet outside the Blockhouse, lower campus and join the SRC and Arc for a walk around the campus to promote relaxation and fitness.

For further information on Arc activities please contact:
Kathy Martin at k.martin@arc.unsw.edu.auor phone 0409 665 777; or
Mat Rodney at m.rodney@arc.unsw.edu.auor phone 9385 7634.

News story about keeping teenage girls active

Week 8 Blog Post - Cash bonus lifts the rate of sexual health tests

By: Melissa Davey. Published on the Sydney Morning Herald website (Health). On the 25^th September 2011.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/cash-bonus-lifts-the-rate-of-sexual-health-tests-20110924-1kqh3.html

This article discussed how much money it takes to persuade young people to get tested for sexually transmitted infections (STI).  The study explored indicates that a $10 cash incentive is enough for people aged 16 – 30 years of age to get tested.   I enjoyed the angle of this article.  Instead of the author concentrating only on the prevalence and health risks relating to STI, the article focused on the cash bonus incentive of participating in sexual health testing.  In this way the story is appropriate and relates nicely to the concern of the current economic and financial situations of the country, in light of the GFC and the desire to obtain money in any which way possible.  The article displays proximal news vales as the research is conducted locally, and applies to Australian youth.  The article did not detail whether the cash bonus would continue to be a part of the STI testing process, I believe this would have rounded off the story quite well and given a clean conclusion.  The article is very timely as STI cases in Australia are on the increase.  According to the Governmental STI health website (http://www.sti.health.gov.au) there were around 70, 000 reported cases of STI’s in Australia in 2008, an increase of 13% from 2007. 

The article also links with the Governmental campaign launched by the Australian Government in 2007-08 of a national prevention program to raise awareness of STI’s and encourage behavioural changes that will help reduce the spread of STI’s.  This very topical issue was articulated well throughout the article, and included appropriate facts and statistics.   However there was only one professional quoted; Rhian Parker, ANU Associate Professor of Medicine and one of the researchers.  I think the article could have been enhanced by including the opinions of other sexual health professionals, and also a person who partook in the study to learn more about what they thought of the idea of a bonus.

For further information about the research, including detailed descriptions of methodology, results and conclusions regarding the National Prevention Program, download the research reports using the following links:

Formative Research for the National Sexually Transmitted Infections(including HIV / AIDS) Prevention Program (PDF 235 KB)

Quantitative Research Report: Measuring awareness and attitudes among young Australians towards STIs,including HIV/AIDS (PDF 2019 KB)