School-aged children frequently experience psychological distress due to academic pressures, a challenge that is often more severe for those from underserved and minority communities. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of mental health interventions implemented in school and community settings for children aged 5 to 19. It also seeks to compare the outcomes between children from minority and underserved populations and their peers.

This systematic review will follow Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to identify relevant studies. Major databases will be searched using a structured search strategy developed by the research team. The review will include randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that assess the impact of interventions conducted in school or community settings to prevent psychological distress—specifically depression, anxiety and stress. To minimise bias, two reviewers will independently select studies and extract data at various stages. The quality of included studies will be assessed. A meta-analysis will be conducted to compare intervention outcomes between children from underserved/minority communities and other children. Pooled prevalence rates and subgroup analyses will be used to explore differences in effectiveness. Heterogeneity among studies and publication bias will also be assessed. Meta-analyses of proportions, ORs and relative risks will be conducted using a random-effects model to estimate effect sizes from multivariate analyses.

Ethical approval was not required, as this study involved secondary analysis of published literature and did not involve human participants. To date, no systematic review has comprehensively compared school-based and community-based interventions in terms of their effectiveness in addressing anxiety, depression and stress among school-aged children. This review aims to fill that gap by providing clinical insights into the comparative effectiveness of various intervention types and settings.

CRD42023479389.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic neurodegenerative condition that affects approximately 10 million people worldwide. As the second most common neurodegenerative disease, its prevalence is expected to double in the next 30 years. PD is characterised by both motor and non-motor symptoms that significantly impact patients’ quality of life. The disease leads to physical disabilities and can strain the social and emotional well-being of patients and caregivers. While pharmacological and surgical treatments are essential, non-pharmacological approaches, including self-care strategies, play a critical role in managing the disease. This study protocol aims to describe methodological steps required to explore the self-care behaviours of patients with PD and their caregivers, with a particular focus on the dimensions of self-care maintenance, monitoring and management.

This mixed-method study will involve dyads of patients with PD and their caregivers. Participants will be recruited from the PD and Movement Disorders Centre of the "Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale (ASST) Gaetano Pini-Centro Traumatologico Ortopedico (CTO)". Validated questionnaires, such as the WHOQOL-Bref, the version 2 Self-Care of Chronic Illness Inventory, and the Caregiver Self-Efficacy in Contributing to Self-Care Scale, will be administered. The study will also include semistructured interviews to collect qualitative data on patients’ and caregivers’ perceptions of self-care. A non-probabilistic convenience sampling method will be employed, encompassing both patients at any stage of disease and their primary caregivers. The estimated sample size is 311 dyads, calculated to provide a 5% margin of error.

The study has been approved by the Lombardia 3 ethics committee (identification (ID) study 5732 12.03.2025 P bis). All participants will sign a written informed consent document. Ethical considerations include ensuring participant confidentiality, voluntary participation and the right to withdraw at any time without consequence. The study results will be disseminated through national and international conferences and published in clinical research journals to contribute to the broader understanding of self-care in the management of PD.

NCT06953050 (clinicaltrials.gov).