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After the loss of a parent, families with minor children face psychosocial stressors. The bereaved parent has to deal with their own grief and at the same time support the children. Providing professional support to the parents can improve well-being of parents, children and the family as a whole. However, such manualised interventions are missing for the German context. This study aims to translate and culturally adapt the parent group ‘Resilient Parenting for Bereaved Families’ (RPBF) of the Family Bereavement Program for the German context specifically for loss due to cancer, and to pilot evaluate its feasibility and potential effects.
In this mixed-methods pilot study, six to eight group leaders, who are experienced in working in bereavement support, will be trained to conduct the parent group and afterwards lead parent groups. We aim to conduct three to four parent groups with 6–8 parents each (total target sample size n=24–32). Parents participate in 10 biweekly parent group sessions on-site or online. We will assess feasibility, acceptability, satisfaction and preliminary effects on parental well-being, family coping and communication (baseline (t0), post-intervention (t1) and 12-week post-intervention follow-up (t2)). Semistructured interviews with 10–12 parents will further explore experience and suggestions for refinement. Quantitative data will be analysed using descriptive and exploratory analyses and qualitative data will be analysed using qualitative content analysis.
The study was approved by the Local Psychological Ethics Committee of the Center for Psychosocial Medicine of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (LPEK-0919). Upon completion, a German version of the Resilient Parenting for Bereaved Families (RPBF) parent group and the group leader training will be available. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. To make the results available to affected families, a lay summary will be written and disseminated in several ways.
The study was registered with the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS00039060 (date of registration: 19 February 2026))
Endometriosis is associated with reduced pregnancy and live birth rates in patients attempting both spontaneous and assisted conception. At present, it is unclear whether prepregnancy surgery for moderate or severe endometriosis, either in the setting of established infertility or even before a woman has begun trying to conceive, confers any benefit in terms of (a) spontaneous conception, (b) conception with assisted reproductive technology (ART), (c) live birth or (d) other obstetric outcomes.
The Endometriosis Longitudinal Fertility Study (ELFS) is a multisite prospective longitudinal cohort study, recruiting patients
The Austin Health Ethics Committee approved the ELFS protocol (HREC/65683/Austin-2020). On study completion, results of the trial will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Interim experiences with the ELFS App as well as relevant secondary outcomes will be presented at international conferences with additional goals for publication.
ACTRN12621000431820.
Child maltreatment (CM) can have significant and long-lasting consequences over the life course. These include long-term physical injuries and an increased risk for mental illness. Preventive applications are critical to reduce maltreatment, promote early detection and initiate early interventions, and prevent further harm. Social marketing (SM) strategies offer a promising approach for the prevention of CM. They use commercial marketing principles to raise awareness and/or influence behaviour of populations for social welfare purposes. To date, there is no comprehensive overview of SM strategies and applications used for prevention, early detection and reduction of harms of physical and emotional child abuse and neglect. This study aims to address this gap by means of a scoping review mapping the national and international literature and to provide an understanding of how SM strategies have been conceptualised and implemented in CM prevention. We chose a scoping review to catalogue and organise the literature, define key constructs and identify gaps, instead of pooling effects.
PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC and PsycINFO will be searched for relevant existing literature published between 2010 and 2025 using a search string based on the Population, Concept and Context scheme. Empirical studies examining SM strategies for the prevention of physical and emotional abuse and neglect of all designs will be included.
The results will be presented in both narrative and tabular formats. These tables will report on general study characteristics (eg, country, year of publication, study design), key characteristics of SM applications (eg, prevention aims, setting, components, target audiences) and strategies used (eg, media channels, communication formats and theories used). Where reported, we will also summarise evaluations of SM strategies used (eg, study design and outcome measures, main findings).
The reporting of the review follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Extension for Scoping Reviews: Checklist and Explanation and PRISMA Statement for Reporting Literature Searches in Systematic Reviews.
Literature is used as the only data source, therefore, no ethical approval is required. The findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. They will identify research gaps and will inform a research agenda on integrating SM strategies in the design of preventive applications regarding child physical/emotional abuse and neglect and future evaluations. Our findings can also inform the design of population-level prevention policies and strategies that use SM strategies to raise public awareness of CM and to promote preventive behaviours in everyday settings.
A protocol outlining the scoping review has been preregistered at the Open Science Framework (osf preregistration).
by Geena Verma, Muna Aden, Marie Hartman, Jennifer D. Walker, Kaela Pelland, Chris Mushquash, Savitri Persaud, Meghan Young, Holly Gauvin, Anita C. Benoit, Ontario Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Strategy , Elevate Northwestern Ontario
Indigenous people using substances experience health disparities that are compounded by systemic inequities shaped by colonialism. The WHiSE 2.0 study aims to describe substance use patterns and harm reduction approaches among Indigenous people who use drugs in Thunder Bay, Sudbury, and Sault Ste Marie. A community-based research approach was used and guided by Indigenous leadership. Eligible study participants self-identified as Indigenous, lived in the study regions, and used substances within the last 3 months. Participants completed an interviewer-administered 1-hour questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were conducted to summarize participant demographic and cultural characteristics, impacts of colonization, substance use and health behaviours, and harm reduction knowledge, stratified by city. A total of 356 participants were enrolled: 173 in Thunder Bay, 101 in Sault Ste. Marie, and 82 in Sudbury. Most identified as First Nations with 93.1% in Thunder Bay, 76.8% in Sudbury, and 75.2% in Sault Ste. Marie. The percentage of participants across all sites with precarious sleeping situations was high, with 39.0% sleeping on the street, 28.3% staying in a shelter, and 23.3% couch surfing as well as 41.9% staying at a family or friend’s home. Across all sites, 43.3% of participants injected drugs, 31.5% ingested drugs, 92.1% smoked drugs, and 38.5% snorted or inhaled drugs. Importantly across all sites, 84.0% knew what harm reduction was, and 82.3% of respondents had ever had HIV screening test and 84.3% hepatitis C testing. Also, 71.3% of all participants engaged in ceremonies and 22.2% reported that cultural teachings affected their harm reduction practices. WHiSE 2.0 is the first prospective cohort study examining the harm reduction needs of Indigenous people using substances in northern Ontario. Through a culturally grounded, community-led study, urgent service gaps are highlighted and the importance of locally tailored harm reduction strategies rooted in Indigenous knowledge and leadership.To examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on body mass index (BMI) and obesity status among Canadian residents and explore how this association varied by sociodemographic and health status.
Prospective cohort study.
Canada.
41 302 adults, aged 45–85 at baseline, participating in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.
BMI and BMI-defined obesity were measured at baseline, follow-up 1 and follow-up 2 (FUP2), with 33% of FUP2 data (n=13 444) gathered after 16 March 2020, when COVID-19 restrictions began. Correction factors were applied for self-reported BMI and weighted generalised estimating equations assessed BMI changes before and during the pandemic.
We found a significant interaction between follow-up time and timing of FUP2 data collection (before or during the pandemic). Participants measured during the pandemic had an excess BMI increase of 0.21 kg/m² (95% CI 0.15 to 0.28) and 1.06 times higher odds of obesity (95% CI 1.03 to 1.09) compared with prepandemic trends. Increases were more pronounced among females, middle-aged adults and those without diabetes.
The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a modest increase in BMI and obesity among Canadian adults. Ongoing research is needed to assess long-term trends.
The shortage of general practitioners in many countries remains a persistent issue and is likely to become more severe in the future. Multiple factors influencing the attitude of medical students towards general practice have been identified. The aim of this scoping review is to describe the scope of the evidence on the influence of teaching general practice in medical school (eg, lectures, seminars, internships) on medical students’ attitude towards this discipline and to identify knowledge gaps.
We will apply a mixed studies scoping review design. Quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods studies exploring the influence of general practice education in medical school (exposure) on the attitudes (outcome) of medical students (population) will be included. The outcome will be any measured or reported change in medical students’ attitude towards general practice as a discipline. A systematic search in MEDLINE through PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, the Education Resources Information Centre and PsycInfo, as well as forward and backward citation tracking, will be conducted starting from 2015, published in English or German. Titles, abstracts and full texts will be screened and data will be extracted independently by two reviewers. Results will be tabulated and summarised narratively and interpreted according to the framework of the affective domain.
By identifying and linking educational formats with levels of the affective domain, this approach may help educators understand how medical training can influence the attitude towards and interest in primary care and improve the development of professional identity formation and general practice focused curricula.
This scoping review does not require ethical approval. The results will be disseminated through publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at national and international conferences.
The protocol of this scoping review has been registered on OSF (DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/UFJCR).
Chronic venous leg ulcers (CVLUs) affect 1%–3% of adults. Standard compression therapy achieves healing in only 40%–70% of cases at 24 weeks. Evidence for hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy remains controversial, with limited sham-controlled trials. To evaluate whether adjunctive HBO improves healing of refractory CVLUs compared to standard care alone. Single-centre, open-label randomised trial of 80 adults with CVLUs that persisted > 3 months despite standard care (defined as < 30% area reduction after 4 weeks of compression therapy). All consecutive eligible patients were randomised to HBO (20 sessions at 2.4 ATA, 90 min) plus standard care (n = 40) or standard care alone (n = 40). Primary outcome: percentage ulcer area reduction at day 30. Blinded assessors measured wounds, though participants knew their treatment allocation. HBO group had greater area reduction (62.1% ± 22.1% vs. 41.7% ± 21.5%; mean difference 20.4%, 95% CI: 10.1–30.7, p < 0.001; Cohen's d = 0.95). Complete healing at 90 days occurred in 62.5% vs. 30.0% (NNT = 3). TcPO2 increased from 26.1 ± 6.3 to 150.3 ± 45.6 mmHg in HBO group (p < 0.001). Pain decreased more with HBO (ΔVAS −5.0 vs. −1.5, p < 0.001). Three patients (7.5%) had mild ear barotrauma that resolved spontaneously. Main limitations were lack of sham control and 90-day follow-up. In this trial, adjunctive HBO was associated with faster short-term healing of refractory venous ulcers < 20 cm2. However, the open-label design and single-centre setting limit confidence in these findings. Sham-controlled multicentre trials with longer follow-up are needed before recommending routine use.
FreshRSS 