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The growing proportion of older people in the United Kingdom requires policies that are cost‐effective and responsive to their needs. Both these factors have led to growing emphasis on policies which enable older people to remain in homes of their own. Older people are becoming more vociferous in expressing their views and are being encouraged to do this. This article reports on three pieces of research funded by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) which have attempted to draw on the views of older people about assistive technology and its role in staying at home policies.

The research reported here focuses on how far, and at what cost, the housing stock can be modified to accommodate the assistive technology (AT) to enable older people to remain in their own homes. The conclusion is that the adaptability of the housing depends on a range of factors and costs. Older people welcome AT when it addresses a felt need. This article answers some of the frequently asked questions about the project.

Over the past eight years, the MELVYL catalog has become one of the largest public access catalogs in the world, and now plays a central role in providing access to the library resources of the University of California. Currently, under heavy load, the MELVYL catalog supports many hundreds of simultaneous terminal connections, servicing over a quarter of a million queries a week and displaying more than two million records a week to its user community. This article discusses the history of the network that has supported the MELVYL catalog from the early days of its prototype to the present. It also describes both the current technical and policy issues that must be addressed as the network moves into the 1990s, and the roles that the network is coming to play in integrating local automation, the union catalog, access to resource databases, and other initiatives. Sidebars discuss the TCP/IP protocol suite, internet protocol gateways, and Telenet and related inter‐operability problems.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a seven stage community engagement process to develop and disseminate community uptake strategies which encouraged cybersafety as part of a positive transition from primary to secondary school among Australian young people.

The combined principles from socio-ecological models, community development models and student participation models formed the foundation for the strategies. Resources were developed for all members of the community – students, parents, teachers and the broader community. The methods included: the formation of a steering committee and a Youth Advisory Board; review of the current literature; development of online resources; a youth resource development activity; development of youth resources; translation of resources into health promotion initiatives; and the dissemination of resources at community events and facilities such as schools, libraries and recreation centres and through print and social media.

Community engagement strategies – in particular a partnership between a Western Australian university and local government body, the steering committee consisting of local organisations, and the student advisory board – were used to successfully design and promote resources developed by young people for young people.

This study utilises a community-level approach to develop resources to encourage cybersafety and a positive transition from primary to secondary school.

While parents’ influence on their children’s smoking behaviour is widely recognised, little is known about parents of four to eight year olds’ attitudes and beliefs around smoking cessation and how they communicate with their children about smoking. The purpose of this paper is to explore parents’ perceptions of quitting smoking and their beliefs and actions related to the use of parenting practices to discourage smoking by their children.

Four focus groups and 17 interviews were conducted with parents (n=46) of four to eight year old children in Perth, Western Australia.

Many parents indicated their children strongly influenced their quitting behaviours, however, some resented being made to feel guilty about their smoking because of their children. Parents were divided in their beliefs about the amount of influence they had on their children’s future smoking. Feelings of hypocrisy appear to influence the extent to which parents who smoked talked with their child about smoking. Parents recommended a variety of resource options to support quitting and talking with their child about smoking.

Interventions aimed at parents who smoke and have young children should: reinforce parents’ importance as role models; highlight the importance of talking to children about smoking when they are young and provide strategies for maintaining ongoing communication; be supportive and avoid making parents feel guilty; and emphasise that quitting smoking is the best option for their child’s health (and their own), while also providing effective harm minimisation options for parents who have not yet quit.

Parents of children of lower primary school age can be highly influential on their children’s later smoking behaviours, thus, effective interventions that address the current beliefs and practices of these parents may be particularly advantageous.

The purpose of this paper is to examine risk factors associated with Western Australian secondary school students’ involvement in violence-related behaviours.

This cross-sectional study examined data collected using an anonymous self-completion questionnaire from 542 school students aged 13-17 years. The questionnaire measured risk factors associated with being a perpetrator and/or victim of violence-related behaviours.

Gender was significantly associated with being a victim and perpetrator of violence-related behaviours. Males were significantly more likely than females to be a victim of threatening and physical violence at school, and to be a perpetrator of physical violence at school and in the community. Males were significantly more likely than females to watch violent media, with exposure to violent media associated with physically hurting someone at school. Students involved in greater acts of animal cruelty had increased odds of being involved in all forms of the violence measured.

Limitations such as the cross-sectional nature of the study and the small sample size are noted, along with suggestions for future research.

Implications of the research for practitioners working with adolescents, with a particular focus on the school setting, are discussed.

Most previously published research on adolescent involvement in violence has been conducted outside Australia, and as such, may not be directly applicable to the experiences of young people in Western Australia.

The aim of this paper is to distinguish pedagogies supporting critical health literacy development in adolescent populations. Specifically, for sun safety education in schools.

The paper draws on an exploratory intrinsic case study design to qualitatively examine the learning conditions that Pre-Service Teachers' (PsTs) mobilise to advance Health Literary (HL) in learning activities.

This paper presents data that shows the different ways thirty Pre-Service Teachers (PsTs) in Western Australia conceptualise HL in sun safety education for Year 7 students (12–13 years old). Examination of three consecutive lesson plans categorised learning activities (n = 444) according to HL competencies. Data shows that the PsTs pedagogically advance HL but are constrained when conceptualising learning to support critical HL. Further examination of the lesson plans of the 11 PsTs who pedagogically advanced learning to support a critical level of health literacy, distinguished the learning conditions and pedagogies supporting critically health literate adolescents.

By distinguishing pedagogies to situate individual and social health within broader societal goals, the paper identifies teacher education institutions as key players enabling young people to socially advocate healthier living, particularly, regarding melanoma and non-melanoma incidence.