Overweight and obesity are excessive fat accumulations linked with many health problems, including heart diseases, type 2 diabetes and cancer. Multiple studies have demonstrated that beliefs about overweight, obesity and self-efficacy play essential roles in the success of interventions for obesity management.

This study aimed to identify the perceptions of university students of overweight and obesity using the health belief model (HBM) and to analyse their association with the body mass index (BMI) categories of the students.

A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study and a multistage sampling technique were used to ensure the recruitment of students from selected colleges of Jazan University—Saudi Arabia.

Six colleges of Jazan University were randomly selected to ensure equal representation of health sciences, sciences and humanities colleges.

A total of 579 students completed an online survey between January and April 2023.

The primary outcome measures were demographic characteristics and HBM constructs. Secondary outcome measures were behavioural intentions relating to obesity management.

This study demonstrated that gender and self-reported family history of obesity were significantly correlated with the BMI categories of the students (p

This study underscores the need for tailored health promotion strategies that consider the perceptions and beliefs of people about the management of obesity.

A prototype lateral flow device detecting cytokine biomarkers interleukin (IL)-1α and IL-1β has been developed as a point-of-care test—called the Genital InFlammation Test (GIFT)—for detecting genital inflammation associated with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and/or bacterial vaginosis (BV) in women. In this paper, we describe the rationale and design for studies that will be conducted in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Madagascar to evaluate the performance of GIFT and how it could be integrated into routine care.

We will conduct a prospective, multidisciplinary, multicentre, cross-sectional and observational clinical study comprising two distinct components: a biomedical (‘diagnostic study’) and a qualitative, modelling and economic (‘an integration into care study’) part. The diagnostic study aims to evaluate GIFT’s performance in identifying asymptomatic women with discharge-causing STIs (Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG), Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) and Mycoplasma genitalium (MG)) and BV. Study participants will be recruited from women attending research sites and family planning services. Several vaginal swabs will be collected for the evaluation of cytokine concentrations (ELISA), STIs (nucleic acid amplification tests), BV (Nugent score) and vaginal microbiome characteristics (16S rRNA gene sequencing). The first collected vaginal swab will be used for the GIFT assay which will be performed in parallel by a healthcare worker in the clinic near the participant, and by a technician in the laboratory. The integration into care study aims to explore how GIFT could be integrated into routine care. Four activities will be conducted: user experiences and/or perceptions of the GIFT device involving qualitative focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders; discrete choice experiments; development of a decision tree classification algorithm; and economic evaluation of defined management algorithms.

Findings will be reported to participants, collaborators and local government for the three sites, presented at national and international conferences, and disseminated in peer-reviewed publications.

The protocol and all study documents such as informed consent forms were reviewed and approved by the University of Cape Town Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC reference 366/2022), Medical Research Council of Zimbabwe (MRCZ/A/2966), Comité d’Ethique pour la Recherche Biomédicale de Madagascar (N° 143 MNSAP/SG/AMM/CERBM) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine ethics committee (LSHTM reference 28046).

Before the start, this study was submitted to the Clinicaltrials.gov public registry (NCT05723484).

NCT05723484.

This study aims to evaluate the prevalence and associated factors of lower back pain (LBP) among farmers, rickshaw pullers and office workers in Bangladesh, while also investigating potential contributors within these occupational groups.

This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the prevalence of LBP, associated factors and management procedures among farmers, rickshaw pullers and office workers in Bangladesh through face-to-face interviews.

The study was conducted in different parts of the Bogura district in Bangladesh.

A total of 396 participants were included in the final analysis, all the participants were men and adult in age.

Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire based on previous research. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to identify significant associations.

The prevalence of LBP was found to be 42.7% among the participants. Farmers and rickshaw pullers had approximately four-times and three-times higher odds of experiencing LBP compared with office workers. Other significant factors associated with LBP included living in a nuclear family, having a normal body weight, lacking professional training, having a chronic disease, having a family history of LBP and experiencing numbness in the legs or feet. The majority of respondents sought medical attention and took medication for their LBP.

The study underscores occupational differences in LBP prevalence, emphasising the necessity for tailored interventions and occupational health policies. Identifying specific risk factors and management practices in these professions can aid in developing effective prevention strategies and enhancing healthcare services.

To identify the ultrasound methods used in the literature to measure traumatic scar thickness, and map gaps in the translation of these methods using evidence across the research-to-practice pipeline.

Scoping review.

Electronic database searches of Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature and Web of Science. Grey literature searches were conducted in Google. Searches were conducted from inception (date last searched 27 May 2022).

Records using brightness mode (B-mode) ultrasound to measure scar and skin thickness across the research-to-practice pipeline of evidence were included. Data were extracted from included records pertaining to: methods used; reliability and measurement error; clinical, health service, implementation and feasibility outcomes; factors influencing measurement methods; strengths and limitations; and use of measurement guidelines and/or frameworks.

Of the 9309 records identified, 118 were analysed (n=82 articles, n=36 abstracts) encompassing 5213 participants. Reporting of methods used was poor. B-mode, including high-frequency (ie, >20 MHz) ultrasound was the most common type of ultrasound used (n=72 records; 61% of records), and measurement of the combined epidermal and dermal thickness (n=28; 24%) was more commonly measured than the epidermis or dermis alone (n=7, 6%). Reliability of ultrasound measurement was poorly reported (n=14; 12%). The scar characteristics most commonly reported to be measured were epidermal oedema, dermal fibrosis and hair follicle density. Most records analysed (n=115; 97%) pertained to the early stages of the research-to-practice pipeline, as part of research initiatives.

The lack of evaluation of measurement initiatives in routine clinical practice was identified as an evidence gap. Diverse methods used in the literature identified the need for greater standardisation of ultrasound thickness measurements. Findings have been used to develop nine methodological considerations for practitioners to guide methods and reporting.

Personalised Exercise-Rehabilitation FOR people with Multiple long-term conditions (PERFORM) is a research programme that seeks to develop and evaluate a comprehensive exercise-based rehabilitation intervention designed for people with multimorbidity, the presence of multiple long-term conditions (MLTCs). This paper describes the protocol for a randomised trial to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the PERFORM intervention, study design and processes.

A multicentre, parallel two-group randomised trial with individual 2:1 allocation to the PERFORM exercise-based intervention plus usual care (intervention) or usual care alone (control). The primary outcome of this feasibility trial will be to assess whether prespecified progression criteria (recruitment, retention, intervention adherence) are met to progress to the full randomised trial. The trial will be conducted across three UK sites and 60 people with MLTCs, defined as two or more LTCs, with at least one having evidence of the beneficial effect of exercise. The PERFORM intervention comprises an 8-week (twice a week for 6 weeks and once a week for 2 weeks) supervised rehabilitation programme of personalised exercise training and self-management education delivered by trained healthcare professionals followed by two maintenance sessions. Trial participants will be recruited over a 4.5-month period, and outcomes assessed at baseline (prerandomisation) and 3 months postrandomisation and include health-related quality of life, psychological well-being, symptom burden, frailty, exercise capacity, physical activity, sleep, cognition and serious adverse events. A mixed-methods process evaluation will assess acceptability, feasibility and fidelity of intervention delivery and feasibility of trial processes. An economic evaluation will assess the feasibility of data collection and estimate the costs of the PERFORM intervention.

The trial has been given favourable opinion by the West Midlands, Edgbaston Research Ethics Service (Ref: 23/WM/0057). Participants will be asked to give full, written consent to take part by trained researchers. Findings will be disseminated via journals, presentations and targeted communications to clinicians, commissioners, service users and patients and the public.

ISRCTN68786622.

2.0 (16 May 2023).

Providing comprehensible information is essential to the process of valid informed consent. Recruitment materials designed by sponsoring institutions in English-speaking, high-income countries are commonly translated for use in global health studies in other countries; however, key concepts are often missed, misunderstood or ‘lost in translation’. The aim of this study was to explore the language barriers to informed consent, focusing on the challenges of translating recruitment materials for maternal health studies into Zambian languages.

We used a qualitative approach, which incorporated a multistakeholder workshop (11 participants), in-depth interviews with researchers and translators (8 participants) and two community-based focus groups with volunteers from community advisory boards (20 participants). Content analysis was used to identify terms commonly occurring in recruitment materials prior to the workshop. The framework analysis approach was used to analyse interview data, and a simple inductive thematic analysis approach was used to analyse focus group data.

The study was based in Lusaka, Zambia.

The workshop highlighted difficulties in translating research terms and pregnancy-specific terms, as well as widespread concern that current templates are too long, use overly formal language and are designed with little input from local teams. Framework analysis of in-depth interviews identified barriers to participant understanding relating to design and development of recruitment materials, language, local context and communication styles. Focus group participants confirmed these findings and suggested potential solutions to ensure the language and content of recruitment materials can be better understood.

Our findings demonstrate that the way in which recruitment materials are currently designed, translated and disseminated may not enable potential trial participants to fully understand the information provided. Instead of using overly complex institutional templates, recruitment materials should be created through an iterative and interactive process that provides truly comprehensible information in a format appropriate for its intended participants.

Paramedics are often first providers of care to patients experiencing non-traumatic low back pain (LBP), though their perspectives and experiences with managing these cases remain unclear.

This study explored paramedic views of the management of non-traumatic LBP including their role and experience with LBP management, barriers to referral and awareness of ambulance service guidelines.

Qualitative study using semistructured interviews conducted between January and April 2023.

New South Wales Ambulance service.

A purposive sample of 30 paramedics of different specialities employed by New South Wales Ambulance were recruited.

Paramedic accounts demonstrated the complexity, challenge, frustration and reward associated with managing non-traumatic LBP. Paramedics perceived that their primary role focused on the assessment of LBP, and that calls to ambulance services were often driven by misconceptions surrounding the management of LBP, and a person’s pain severity. Access to health services, patient factors, defensive medicine, paramedic training and education and knowledge of guidelines influenced paramedic management of LBP.

Paramedics often provide care to non-traumatic LBP cases yet depending on the type of paramedic speciality find these cases to be frustrating, challenging or rewarding to manage due to barriers to referral including access to health services, location, patient factors and uncertainty relating to litigation. Future research should explore patient perspectives towards ambulance service use for the management of their LBP.

It has been shown that mental health education can support positive attitudes of health profession students towards people with mental health challenges, which supports them to provide optimal healthcare to this group. There are many different approaches to designing and delivering mental health education to health profession students. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages, and often mental health education programmes incorporate a multimodal approach in order to reap the benefits of a variety of teaching and learning approaches. The aim of this study is to understand the current landscape of teaching and learning approaches to mental health education for undergraduate health profession students. We will examine the features of successful outcomes for health profession students for:

For this, a realist synthesis has been chosen in order to review the literature. Realist synthesis lends itself to the review of complex interventions such as mental health education for undergraduate health profession curricula because it seeks to uncover the range of different mechanisms and context configurations that produce different outcomes. Health profession education and education practice, in general, is complex. A patient and public involvement (PPI) group is involved throughout this study and includes undergraduate health profession students, and members of the St John of Gods Hospital Consumers and Carers Council who are involved at every stage of the research. This study will engage with a stakeholder group who will support the refining of the programme theory.

Ethical approval has been sought and approved by Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland Ethical Committee (REC number: 212622783). We will aim to write up and publish the full synthesis as a journal article. We will also discuss ways of dissemination outside of academia with our PPI group.

In Canada, Métis people are one of three distinct Indigenous peoples whose rights are recognised and affirmed in Section 35 of the federal Constitution Act, 1982. In line with Métis people having a unique culture, history, language and way of life, a distinctions-based approach is critical to understand the current landscape of Métis-specific health. In this paper, we present a scoping review protocol to describe this research landscape in Canada led by the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO).

This scoping review protocol is reported in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews reporting guidelines and follows Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review methodology. We will search electronic databases (Scopus, MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, APA PsycINFO, Anthropology Plus, Bibliography of Indigenous Peoples of North America, Canadian Business and Current Affairs, Indigenous Studies Portal, Informit Indigenous Collection, Collaborative Indigenous Garden, PubMed, ProQuest), grey literature sources and reference lists from selected papers. Two reviewers (HMB and SK) will double-blind screen all titles/abstracts and full-text studies for inclusion. Any health-related study or health report that includes a Métis-specific health, well-being or Métis social determinant of health outcome will be included. Relevant variables will be extracted following an iterative process whereby the data charting will be reviewed and updated.

Findings from this scoping review will be shared back through the MNO’s existing community-based communication channels. Traditional academic dissemination will also be pursued. Research ethics board approval is not required, since data are from peer-reviewed publications or publicly shared health reports and knowledge translation products.