Left: Dr Lucy Bell presents as ISBNPA

Right: Hong Kong

 

During 3-6 June, Dr Lucinda Bell attended the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA) in Hong Kong. ISBNPA advances behaviour change science on physical activity, nutrition, sedentary behaviour and weight control for the betterment of human health worldwide.

Lucy presented work led by her Honours student Morgan Pankhurst (now a Nutrition and Dietetics PhD Student) and co-supervised by Associate Professor Kaye Mehta, titled “Treats are a tool of the trade: A qualitative exploration of the meaning and role of treats among grandparents who provide informal care for their grandchildren aged 1-5 years”.  Other contributors to this work from Nutrition and Dietetics were Dr Carly Moores and Ms Louisa Matwiejczyk. Lucy’s presentation was well-received with several audience members asking questions and approaching Lucy afterwards to discuss further. Lucy also presented as part of a symposium, on behalf of Dr Dorota Zarnowiecki who was unable to attend, on “Improving the measurement of young children’s food intake using cognitive interviewing”. This was a qualitative study with parents of Australian children aged 3 – 7 years that investigated their understanding and thought processes when completing questions about their child’s food intake. The findings will help us to design more reliable and valid short food questionnaires to measure children’s intake.

Lucy also attended a fabulous pre-conference workshop on ‘Planning Interventions for Implementation in Practice: What to Think About, Why to Think About it and How to Do it’ where she was introduced to practical guides for planning research that can be translated into practice. The workshop was extremely relevant for the work she will be conducting in near future and will help to strengthen the team’s work on early prevention of childhood obesity.