BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//pretalx//conferences.acspri.org.au//2026//speaker//XJ7EDX BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:AEST BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20000326T040000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=-1SU;BYMONTH=3;UNTIL=20050326T170000Z TZNAME:AEST TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20060402T040000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYMONTH=4;UNTIL=20060401T170000Z TZNAME:AEST TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20070325T040000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=4SU;BYMONTH=3;UNTIL=20070324T170000Z TZNAME:AEST TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20080406T040000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYMONTH=4 TZNAME:AEST TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20000827T030000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=4SU;BYMONTH=8;UNTIL=20000826T170000Z TZNAME:AEDT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20011028T030000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=-1SU;BYMONTH=10;UNTIL=20071027T170000Z TZNAME:AEDT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20081005T030000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYMONTH=10 TZNAME:AEDT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-2026-QBKEBA@conferences.acspri.org.au DTSTART;TZID=AEST:20261126T111500 DTEND;TZID=AEST:20261126T113000 DESCRIPTION:Social isolation is an established dementia risk factor\, linke d to 5% of dementia cases globally. Candidate risk mechanisms include dire ct cognitive benefits\, mental health benefits\, and social influence impr oving health behaviour. Health promotion messaging calls individuals to so cialise to reduce their dementia risk\, with heterogeneity among recommend ations. Our sequential mixed-methods study aimed to more effectively promo te social engagement to reduce dementia risk. Participants were older adul ts (aged 50+) engaged in the Island Study Linking Aging and Neurodegenerat ive Disease (ISLAND)\, a Tasmanian longitudinal cohort study that monitors \, and educates about\, dementia protective behaviour. \n\nTo investigate participants’ understanding and enactment of existing messages promotin g social engagement to reduce dementia risk\, semi-structured interviews w ere conducted with a purposively sampled ISLAND participant subset (n=27). Sampling aimed to achieve breadth of coverage across individual character istics (example: gender\, education\, age)\, social circumstances (example : living alone or cohabiting\, working or retired)\, and social preference s (extraversion). Interview transcripts were analysed using reflexive them atic analysis. \n\nInterview participants understood messages about socia lising for dementia risk reduction within broader knowledge frameworks. Th ese broader knowledge-frames included experiential knowledge of social eng agement’s impact on cognition\, preferred forms and previous experiences of social engagement\, and broader priorities and constraints. Specificit y\, perceived trustworthiness\, and individual relevance of health promoti on information impacted the weight placed on this within broader knowledge -frames. Participants described enjoyably enacting health promotion messag es when they perceived sufficient congruence between health promotion info rmation and their broader knowledge-frame\, with some individuals having g reater incongruence tolerance. When incongruence tolerance was exceeded\, participants described either disregarding or conflictedly enacting health promotion information. For some\, this caused anxiety. Participants discu ssed social resilience and adaptability as facilitating enjoyable enactmen t of social activity when facing changing social circumstances. \n\nTo im prove message specificity\, and potentially increase individual relevance\ , we examined the relationship between social engagement and cognition acr oss people with different social preferences (extraversion) using multiple mixed-effects linear regression models and a pooled cross-sectional desig n (980 observations\, 622 participants). All models were adjusted for age\ , gender\, and education level\, along with project timepoint\, repeated c ognitive assessments\, and multiple observations per-participant. Online t ools measured cognition (age-standardised Cambridge Neuropsychological Tes t Automated Battery (CANTAB) paired associate learning (episodic memory) a nd spatial working memory (executive function))\; extraversion (10item Big Five Inventory)\; and social engagement (Lubben Social Network Scale frie nds\, family\, and neighbours subscales\; two loneliness questions). Acros s the extraversion continuum\, episodic memory scores were significantly b etter among participants who reported more engagement with family (p(main effect)=.004\, gradient[confidence interval]: .017[.005-.029]\; p(interact ion)=.11). There was a relationship between engagement with neighbours and episodic memory only when considering differences across the extraversion continuum (p(interaction)=.038)\; better episodic memory scores were asso ciated with more engagement with neighbours only among less extraverted pa rticipants (extraversion 25th percentile gradient[confidence interval]: .0 20 [.005-.035]\; extraversion 75th percentile gradient[confidence interval ]: .000[-.017-.018]). In gender stratified analyses\, an additional signif icant interaction showed a stronger relationship between family engagement and episodic memory scores among more extraverted men (interaction p(men) =.028\; extraversion 25th percentile gradient[confidence interval](men): . 012[-.002-.025]\; extraversion 75th percentile gradient[confidence interva l](men): .024 [.009-.039]). No significant associations were found for exe cutive function. \n\nWe identified requisites for enjoyable enactment of messages promoting socialising to reduce dementia risk and generated evide nce that indicates engagement with neighbours may be beneficial among less extraverted individuals\, while engagement with family may have benefit f or all\, particularly more extraverted men. Incorporating this evidence in to messages promoting socialising to reduce dementia risk may improve spec ificity and perceived message relevance\, promoting enjoyable enactment. DTSTAMP:20261013T070119Z LOCATION:Cullen Room SUMMARY:The “mental gymnastics” of socialising to protect an aging brai n: a mixed-methods study to improve health promotion messaging - Hannah Fa ir URL:https://conferences.acspri.org.au/2026/talk/QBKEBA/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-2026-RN87V9@conferences.acspri.org.au DTSTART;TZID=AEST:20261126T114500 DTEND;TZID=AEST:20261126T120000 DESCRIPTION:Social Network Analysis (SNA) has demonstrated contagion effect s across a wide range of behaviours. The Island Study Linking Aging and Ne urodegenerative Disease (ISLAND) is an ongoing longitudinal study with ove r 3000 actively engaged Tasmanians aged 50 and above\, who report annually on social engagement and other health behaviours. ISLAND participants who report more social engagement report healthier behaviour across alcohol c onsumption\, smoking\, physical activity\, cognitive activity\, diet\, blo od pressure\, body weight\, cholesterol\, blood sugar\, and diet\, with ev idence that social engagement is an upstream driver of many of these behav iours. In this study\, we aimed to understand participants’ experiences of the relationship between social engagement and other healthy behaviours .\n\nWe engaged a purposively sampled subset of ISLAND project participant s (n=27\, 90% of 30 invitees) in semi-structured interviews\, analysed thr ough reflexive thematic analysis. Purposive sampling ensured a wide range of individual characteristics (e.g. gender\, education\, age)\, social cir cumstances (e.g. living alone or cohabiting\, working or retired)\, and so cial preferences (introversion/extraversion).\nAt one extreme\, some parti cipants experienced health choices as independent agents\, with no known s ocial influences impacting their behaviour. At the other extreme\, some ex perienced health choices as highly socially driven or constrained\, with h ealth behaviour being dependant on the actions and opinions of others. Mos t participants located themselves at intermediate points in this continuum : experiencing some influence through knowledge\, motivation\, and/or beha viour co-participation\, while still experiencing autonomy in their final health decisions. Some participants positioned themselves differently when different health behaviours were discussed\; for example\, dietary choice s may be more socially influenced\, while choices to attend medical appoin tments may be more individually determined. Where influence was experience d\, a wide range of influential actors were reported\, including friends\, family members\, and animal companions. \n\nThis longitudinal cohort p rovides the opportunity to quantitatively study the role of social influen ce in prompting a range of healthy behaviours among older adults. The unde rstandings developed in this initial exploratory project may provide the f oundation for further exploration using social network analysis. DTSTAMP:20261013T070119Z LOCATION:MacCallum Room SUMMARY:Older adults’ experiences of social influences on health behaviou rs - Hannah Fair URL:https://conferences.acspri.org.au/2026/talk/RN87V9/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR