Natalia Jones
Environmental determinants of physical activity in children and adults
- School of Environmental Sciences
- University of East Anglia
- Norwich
- NR4 7TJ
Email: n.jones“at“uea.ac.uk
The environmental determinants of health
I am currently a Senior Research Associate in the School of Environmental Sciences. My interests lie in the links between the social and natural environment and health and I am currently investigating the associations between water quality and human health.
I have worked on various projects examining the links between the both the social and natural environment and health, including examining the environmental determinates of physical activity in both adults and children, TB patients access to hospitals, and the impact of rurality on mortality. I have been involved in a number of studies including SPEEDY, EPIC-Norfolk, the Commuting and Health in Cambridge study and Healthy Water. My work has been funded by The Centre for Diet and Activity Research (a UK Centre of Excellence in Public Health Research), the MRC and the EU amongst others.
Examples of my work include completing an environmental audit of Norfolk schools, using GIS to determine environmental variables (such as land use, measures of urban form, characteristics of homes and demographic and socio-economic measures) within people’s neighbourhoods, calculating road distances to hospitals and distance to water treatment works. These environmental variables have been linked to health and physical activity data in order to determine associations between people’s environment and their physical activity and health.
Formerly I worked on the DfES/DoH funded National Evaluation of Children’s Trusts. This study used semi-structured interviews with various professionals, questionnaire surveys and the statistical analysis of government performance indicators to determine changes in children’s services arrangements, in particular how health, education and social services work together to improve services for children and young people.
My ESRC funded PhD research examined young people’s knowledge and perceptions of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and their subsequent behaviour. It used a mixed methods approach, consisting of two questionnaire surveys, a series of focus groups and a Q-methodology study to examine the factors influencing the STD problem in young people.
Publications
Lake, I. R., Jones N.R., Bradshaw, L., and Abubakar, I. Effects of distance to treatment and case load upon tuberculosis treatment completion (2011) European Respiratory Journal, In Press
Van Sluijs E.M., Jones N.R., Jones A.P., Sharp S.J., Harrison F. and Griffin S.J.. (2011) School-level correlates of physical activity intensity in 10-year old children. International Journal of Pediatric Obesity. 6, 2–2, e574-e581
Ogilvie, D., Griffin, S., Jones, A. P., Mackett, R., Guell, C., Panter, J., Jones, N.R., Cohn, S., Yang, L., Chapman, C. (2010). Commuting and health in Cambridge: a study of a ‘natural experiment’ in the provision of new transport infrastructure. BMC Public Health, 10:703.
Jones N.R., Jones A.P., Van Sluijs E.M., Panter J., Harrison F. and Griffin S.J. (2010). The association between school environments and children’s physical activity: the development and testing of an audit tool. Health & Place, 16, 5, 776–783.
O’Brien M., Bachmann M.O., Jones N.R., Reading R., Thoburn J., Husbands C., Shreeve A. and Watson J. (2009) Do Integrated Children’s Services Improve Children’s Outcomes?: Evidence From England’s Children’s Trust Pathfinders. Children & Society. 23, 320–335.
Bachmann, M.O., O’Brien, M., Husbands, C., Shreeve, A., Jones, N.R., Watson, J., Reading, R., Thoburn, J., Mugford, M., Brandon, M., Franklin, A., Harvey, I., Haynes, R., Lanyon, C., Lorgelly, P., Lu, Y., Norris, N., Sinclair, R., Sykes, I., Walker, R. (2009). Integrating children’s services in England: National evaluation of children’s trusts. Child: Care, Health and Development, 35, 2, 257–265
Husbands C., Shreeve A., Jones N.R. (2008) Accountability and children’s outcomes in high-performing education systems: analytical maps of approaches to measuring children’s education, health and well-being outcomes in high-performing education systems. In: Research Evidence in Education Library. London: EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London
NECTP (2007). Children’s Trust Pathfinders: innovative partnerships for improving the well-being of children and young people. DfES
Jones N.R. and Haynes R. (2006) The association between young people’s knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases and their behaviour: A mixed methods study. Health, Risk & Society, 8, 3, 293 – 303
O’Brien M., Bachmann M.O., Husbands C., Shreeve A., Jones N.R., Watson J. and Shemilt I. (2006). Integrating children’s services to promote children’s welfare: early findings from the implementation of children’s trusts in England. Child Abuse Review, 15, 6, 377–395.
Bachmann M.O., Reading R., Husbands C., O’Brien M., Thoburn J., Shemilt I., Watson J., Jones N.R., Haynes R., Mugford M. and the NECT team (2006). What are children’s trusts? Early findings from a national survey. Child: Care, Health & Development, 32, 2, 137–146
NECTP (2006). Child, Youth and Parent Participation in Children’s Trust Settings. DfES
NECTP (2006). Joint Planning Joint Commissioning and Budget Pooling in Children’s Trust Settings. DfES
NECTP (2006). Managing Change for Children through Children’s Trusts. DfES
NECTP (2005). Realising Children’s Trust Arrangements. National Evaluation of Children’s Trusts, Phase 1 Report. DfES
NECTP (2004). Children’s Trusts: Developing Integrated Services for Children in England, National Evaluation of Children’s Trusts, Phase 1 Interim Report. DfES
Jones N.R., Lake I.R. and Bentham C.G. (2000) Cryptosporidium and human health. Working paper no. 8, Jackson Environmental Institute, University of East Anglia, Norwich.