Lynne Parkinson

Interactive voice response: Review of studies 1989–2000

A systematic review of the use of interactive voice response (IVR) was conducted. IVR is a telephone interviewing technique in which the human speaker is replaced by a high-quality recorded interactive script to which the respondent provides answers by pressing the keys of a touch telephone (touchphone). IVR has numerous advantages, including economy, autonomy, confidentiality, access to certain population groups, improved data quality, standardized interviewing, multilingual interfaces, and detailed longitudinal assessments. Despite this, there have been few applications of IVR. Previous studies have been in the areas of information services, reminder calls, monitoring, assessment, experimentation, interventions, and surveys. Areas that have received little attention have been the systematic evaluation of voice, multilingual interfaces, touchphone prevalence, survey response rates, use by the elderly, and acceptability.

A Drink to Healthy Aging: The Association Between Older Women's Use of Alcohol and Their Health‐Related Quality of Life

OBJECTIVES: To assess the relationship between alcohol intake and mortality in a cohort of women aged 70 and older and to explore the relationship between level of alcohol use and changes in physical and mental health‐related quality of life.

A comparison of four computer-based telephone interviewing methods: Getting answers to sensitive questions

Interactive voice response (IVR) technology presents a new and promising approach by which to collect accurate data on sensitive topics by telephone interviews. In a national survey of 2, 880 households of alcohol and drug consumption, we compared computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) and IVR with two hybrid methods that combine IVR with CATI. The principal hypothesis was that the self-report rates of sensitive behaviors would be higher for the hybrid and IVR methods owing to greater perceived confidentiality than with CATI. All the methods obtained similar sample demographic compositions. Response rates did not differ significantly between the CATI and the hybrid methods; however, the response rate with IVR was significantly lower. The hybrid and IVR methods obtained significantly higher self-report consumption rates for alcohol and marijuana and significantly higher hazardous drinking scores, as measured by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT).

Transforming Retirement: New Definitions of Life After Work

This quantitative research study uses survey data of women born between 1946 and 1951 in Australia. It follows earlier work that identified the importance of transitions from work for women of the baby boomer generation. We provide important insights into the lives of women who have partially or fully retired and the changing nature of womens work and retirement. For many women, retirement is characterized by newfound freedoms, opportunities, career change, and evolving identities, yet others view retirement as a continuation of previous occupational and gendered roles and commitments. This study has important implications for retirement policies for women.

Enhancing self-report of adolescent smoking the effects of bogus pipeline and anonymity /

Adolescent smoking prevalence is usually assessed via self-complete questionnaires. However, concern has been expressed about the validity of such self-report. One approach to increase validity involves the threat of biological validation, known as the bogus pipeline method (BPL).This study aimed to assess the effects of BPL, using an expired air carbon monoxide monitor, and of questionnaire anonymity on student smoking self-report data. High school students (n=801) were randomly allocated to one of four conditions: anonymous questionnaire+BPL, named questionnaire+BPL, anonymous questionnaire without BPL and named questionnaire without BPL. Overall, 37% of students agreed that questionnaires were a good way to obtain honest answers. In a logistic regression analysis, students in the BPL condition had significantly higher odds of reporting weekly smoking (OR=1.83 95% CI 1.27-2.65) and monthly smoking (OR=1.66 95% CI 1.21-2.28) but not of lifetime smoking compared with non-BPL students. Students in the named questionnaire condition had a significantly higher odds of reporting lifetime smoking (OR=1.49 95% CI 1.08-2.04) compared with anonymous students. Studies assessing current smoking patterns in adolescents should consider incorporating a BPL method.

Volunteering and older women: psychosocial and health predictors of participation

Objectives: As populations age, there will be a need for more volunteers in social welfare, and consequently a need to better understand potential effects of volunteering for older people. Whilst there is a body of international literature exploring health benefits of volunteering in later life, there are currently no longitudinal studies of Australian populations. Internationally, there is a lack of studies focusing on older women, who comprise the majority of the ageing population. The aim of this article was to explore the relationship between volunteering and psychosocial and health factors for a cohort of older Australian women over time. Method: Data for this study were from the oldest cohort of Australian Longitudinal Study on Womens Health, a 20-year longitudinal survey of Australian women aged 70–75 years in 1996. Volunteering status was the factor of interest and study factors included a broad range of demographic, health and social factors. A longitudinal model was developed for mediators of volunteering over time. Results: Of 7088 women in 2005, 24.5% reported actively volunteering, 15.5% were continuing, 7.5% were new, 15.3% were intermittent and 34.7% had never been volunteers. Volunteering was associated with increased quality of life and social support. Women were more likely to continue volunteering over time if they lived in a rural area, had higher socioeconomic indicators, and better levels of physical and mental health. Conclusions: This study contributes to the literature on the relationship between volunteering and health for older women. Understanding the potential health implications of volunteering is a critical issue in current policy debates.

Memory Complaint Questionnaire performed poorly as screening tool: validation against psychometric tests and affective measures

OBJECTIVE This study examined the internal and external validity of the Memory Complaint Questionnaire (MAC-Q), a brief measure of subjective memory complaint in people with normal cognitive function. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING The Study of Health Outcomes in Aircraft Maintenance Personnel was a retrospective cohort study investigating the association between aircraft fuel tank deseal/reseal activities and health status in Royal Australian Air Force personnel. Cross-sectional comparison tests included measures of executive functioning, psychomotor speed, attention/working memory, new learning/memory, depression, and anxiety. An adjusted regression analysis accounted for confounders including age, dates of posting, rank, education, alcohol use, tobacco use, and affective status. RESULTS Eight hundred seventy-nine participants completed the MAC-Q. Although the MAC-Q tested as highly reliable and internally valid, it was highly associated with affective status and was only associated with Digit Symbol Coding after adjustment for depression/anxiety. CONCLUSION The MAC-Q is greatly influenced by affective status but not memory performance. It is probably not useful as a specific screen of memory complaint for general population research.

Cancer patients’ attitudes towards euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide: The influence of question wording and patients’ own definitions on responses

Objectives: The aims of this study were to: (1) investigate patients’ views on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS), and (2) examine the impact of question wording and patients’ own definitions on their responses. Design: Cross-sectional survey of consecutive patients with cancer. Setting: Newcastle (Australia) Mater Hospital Outpatients Clinic. Participants: Patients over 18 years of age, attending the clinic for follow-up consultation or treatment by a medical oncologist, radiation oncologist or haematologist. Main Outcome Measures: Face-to-face patient interviews were conducted examining attitudes to euthanasia and PAS. Results: 236 patients with cancer (24% participation rate; 87% consent rate) were interviewed. Though the majority of participants supported the idea of euthanasia, patient views varied significantly according to question wording and their own understanding of the definition of euthanasia. Conclusions: Researchers need to be circumspect about framing and interpreting questions about support of ‘euthanasia’, as the term can mean different things to different people, and response may depend upon the specifics of the question asked.

Thirty years and counting

The idea for this Special 30-Year Anniversary Issue of Australasian Journal on Ageing (AJA) arose from discussions with Anna Howe. Anna has contributed to the AJA as a member of the Editorial Board from its foundation in 1982– 1987 and again from 1993 to 2005, as a Guest Editor and as a continuing reviewer; she is also a Presidential Life Member of the Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG), one of the AJA partners. First ideas for the issue were discussed in May 2012 in a meeting between Anna, Tony Coles (CEO AAG) and me, and planning for the issue was started in the June 2012 AJA Management Committee meeting. The 30-year anniversary in 2012 seemed to be a timely opportunity to appreciate the legacy AJA has generated and to consider our aspirations for the future of AJA.

Older women and arthritis: Tracking impact over time

Aim:  To explore the ongoing impact of arthritis on older community‐dwelling women over 9 years of Australian Longitudinal Study on Womens Health data.