Award Winner for Volume 10
From Theory to Practice: Development of Health Promotion Policy for Mothers’ Exercise
This article bridges a conceptual approach for understanding the sense of wellbeing, liberation, and relaxation mothers say they commonly achieve from engaging in the exercise experience, to proposing appropriate health promotion policy for practical program implementation. Mothers who engage in exercise classes may gain mental wellbeing and easing of stress levels. As it is the gaining of the actual time-out from motherhood that helps provide the means for stress reduction, it is important that the activity is offered at a convenient time and location. Supportive environments and policies that consider childminding and the busy lifestyles of mothers will ensure that individual action toward leisure is facilitated. Health policies and programs, including strategies related to settings, realistic targets, media, specificity, use of social networks, marketing, gentle exercise modes, advice and support, will do much to facilitate access and success.
With a background spanning the university, school, community health promotion and health policy areas, Janet Currie is Associate Professor of Health and Physical Education at the University of Technology Sydney. Janet holds qualifications in Education, Health Promotion and Fitness, and has designed numerous educational materials including books, videos, teacher and community resources. She has been a practising group exercise class leader for 36 years and created the highly successful “Strollers” pramwalking program, authoring "Stroll Your Way to Well-Being" for new mothers. Janet has also published the books, "Managing Motherhood" and "Radical Leisure" (with CG Research Networks). She is also the original author of “Dream, Believe, Achieve," a teaching resource developed for the National Rugby League of Australia as a tool to deliver effective health education messages especially for young males in the school classroom setting, using sport as the key focus. Janet won the Teacher Educator of the Year Award in 2018. She is a past National President, Vice-President and State representative of the Australian Health Promotion Association, and past Director of Health Education and Promotion International. She was awarded the Outstanding Community Engagement Award (Australian Catholic University) in 2003, and is a Member of the Advisory Board for the Health, Wellness Society Research Network