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Australian studies investigating parental factors often lack meaningful inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, limiting our understanding of current influences on positive developmental trajectories within communities. There is growing recognition of the need for culturally safe and responsive longitudinal research that is co-designed and co-led by the community for the community. An Indigenous-led birth cohort study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in Queensland, Australia, has therefore been developed to better understand health across generations.
The Strong Families Study is a co-designed prospective longitudinal birth cohort study that will follow 400 Indigenous families in Queensland from pregnancy until the child reaches 5 years of age. Eligible participants include pregnant individuals (
This study was approved by the Mater Misericordiae Ltd Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC/MML/105191) and ratified by the University of Queensland Human Research Ethics Committee (2025/HE001924). Endorsement letters were secured from partner services at each study site. Findings will be shared with partnering hospitals and funding bodies at conferences and through reports and peer-reviewed publications.
This study describes the prototype testing and clinical validation of the Fit-Frailty App, a fully guided, interactive mobile health (mHealth) app to assess frailty and sarcopenia. This multi-dimensional tool is freely available on the App Store and considers medical history, physical performance, cognition, nutrition, daily function and psychosocial domains. To guide management, a total frailty score and clinical summary of underlying "risk flags" are provided. Our objectives were to examine usability, feasibility, criterion and construct validity.
Cross-sectional
Outpatient geriatric medicine clinic
Community-dwelling older adults, age 65 years or older
The primary outcome of the clinical validation study was criterion validity. A research nurse administered the Fit-Frailty App during a routine clinic appointment. Clinicians simultaneously completed a paper-based frailty index (FI) tool with similar items from a comprehensive geriatric assessment (FI-CGA). Total scores for both assessments were computed using the cumulative deficits frailty index scoring method. Intraclass and Pearson correlation coefficients and 95% CIs were calculated to examine criterion validity. Secondary outcomes were construct validity, feasibility (eg, completion rates, safety occurrences, resources) and usability (eg, ratings on ease of use, time to complete the app).
In the clinical validation study (n=75, mean age 79.2, SD=7.0, 53% female), the mean total Fit-Frailty App score was 0.33 (SD=0.13) with 73% of our sample considered frail or severely frail. The app presented comparable results to FI-CGA (moderate to good validity; ICC=0.65, 95%CI=0.50–0.76) with a strong association between the measures (r=0.74, 95%CI=0.62–0.83). In our prototype and clinical cohorts, the app had a 100% completion rate with no safety occurrences and had high usability ratings.
The Fit-Frailty App is a feasible and valid tool that can be used in research and clinical settings to comprehensively assess frailty and sarcopenia by non-geriatricians and could assist with developing targeted interventions.
To demonstrate and reflect upon the methodological lessons by which healthcare organizations can address questions of environmental sustainability related to single-use healthcare materials.
A cross-sectional multi-centre study in hospitals was performed, followed by an exploratory analysis of the sustainability of commonly used healthcare materials.
A hospital survey was conducted to collect the procurement data for single-use medical materials. Based on consumption and cost, five single-use medical materials with sustainable alternatives were selected using different reuse strategies. Single-use and reusable materials were assessed through an exploratory literature review and document study based on four parameters: environmental sustainability, safety, cost and efficiency.
A pragmatic method emerged from this study, providing healthcare facilities with tools to select environmentally sustainable alternatives to replace single-use options. First, an inventory of single-use medical materials consumed was collected. Next, single-use materials were prioritized for further study based on criteria such as cost, volume of the material, feasibility and input of stakeholders. We then analysed the prioritized single-use materials and their alternatives based on life cycle assessments or available information on their different life stages. Finally, we assessed safety, costs and efficiency related to the process following the use of the medical material.
This pragmatic method can guide healthcare institutions in making the most sustainable choices of medical materials and achieving sustainability goals within their institutions and nationwide.
Patient care involves a large consumption of single-use medical materials with considerable environmental impact. A pragmatic method was developed to guide healthcare institutions in making the most sustainable choices regarding the use of single-use healthcare materials. Healthcare institutions, ideally represented by a green team including nurses and other relevant professionals, can use this method to reduce the use of single-use medical materials, thereby yielding positive outcomes for the entire population.
No patient or public contribution.
Systematic reviews (SRs) on the management of temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) have predominantly focused on evaluating the effectiveness of various treatments, identifying those that provide the greatest benefits. However, the economic evaluation of these treatments has not been systematically explored. This SR aims to address this gap by evaluating the economic outcomes of the most common treatment modalities for TMDs, including cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, cost-benefit, cost-minimisation and the burden of illness.
This SR will be conducted using the following electronic databases Business Source Complete, CINAHL, EconLit (ProQuest), Embase (Ovid), MEDLINE (PubMed), MEDLINE (Ovid) and Scopus to identify studies evaluating the economic outcomes of treatments for TMDs. The eligibility criteria are as follows: (1) studies examining the costs and/or impact of treatments for TMDs and (2) articles published between 2000 and 2025. The primary outcomes of interest are the economic findings outlined earlier. Data extraction will include the following: author(s), year of publication, country, study objectives, study design, eligibility criteria, TMD diagnosis and screening, study groups, randomisation, blinding, sample size, number of participants invited, enrolled and completed, duration of treatment, follow-up, study duration, settings, assessment instruments, study outcomes, statistical analyses, results, limitations, strengths and funding sources. The quality of studies will be evaluated using the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards 2022 checklist, with risk of bias assessed using the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organization of Care’s risk-of-bias tool; where applicable, the Outcome Reporting Bias in Trials will be used to detect reporting biases. A narrative synthesis and summary tables will outline study characteristics, economic outcomes and the overall quality of evidence. We will conduct qualitative secondary and sensitivity analyses.
This SR does not require an ethics approval. The results will be disseminated through international and national conferences and peer-reviewed journals.
CRD42024613553.
Introducción: en el mundo contemporáneo donde cada vez se dan más oleadas de migraciones de un país a otro, se hace más necesaria una enfermería competente culturalmente. La mujer en su embarazo, en su maternidad y en la lactancia materna necesita ser apoyada con sensibilidad cultural por parte del profesional sanitario. Objetivo: revisar y reflexionar sobre la importancia y justificación que tiene la competencia cultural para enfermería en lactancia materna a través de estudios de metodología cualitativa. Material y método: se plantea una revisión narrativa en castellano e inglés en los recursos bibliográficos Pubmed, Scopus, Dialnet y Scielo teniendo en cuenta el objetivo de la revisión y los objetivos de inclusión. Los trabajos han de ser de metodología cualitativa y tener como temática de estudio la maternidad y/o la lactancia materna teniendo en cuenta la competencia cultural. Resultados: finalmente son seleccionados 6 artículos por cumplir los criterios de inclusión. En síntesis, en todos los estudios seleccionados se muestra la justificación e importancia que tiene la competencia cultural en todo lo concerniente a la maternidad y a la lactancia materna a nivel internacional entre grupos de mujeres diversamente culturales. Conclusiones y reflexiones finales: continúan existiendo márgenes de mejora en cuanto a la formación enfermera en competencia cultural en el cuidado de la mujer en el embarazo, en el puerperio y en lo que respecta a la lactancia materna internacionalmente.
Este relato biográfico narra la experiencia vivida por un hombre de 53 años que perdió la visión de un ojo durante una excursión en quad a la isla tunecina de Djerba. El objetivo del estudio es poner de manifiesto las dificultades prácticas que surgen en la vida diaria a corto y medio-largo plazo por la pérdida del ojo, así como los aspectos emocionales que han surgido, como miedos e incertidumbres. El estudio se llevó a cabo realizando una entrevista en profundidad y procediendo a un análisis cualitativo. Surgieron reflexiones alentadoras que ponen de relieve el potencial de los recursos internos del ser humano; éstos se ven reforzados cuando se define un diagnóstico claro y se descartan las incertidumbres del tratamiento. Se relaciona la condición de vida con el uso de un solo ojo y la proximidad de la tercera edad, el informante afirma que no se considera deficitario en comparación con el resto de la población que envejece normalmente.
FreshRSS 