Conectar
Chronic dyspnoea is a prevalent and clinically significant symptom, often indicative of underlying cardiorespiratory disease. It is frequently under-reported by patients and under-recognised in primary care, with these challenges exacerbated in rural and remote communities where disease burden is greater and patients experience barriers to timely diagnosis and management. The BREATHE SMART trial aims to implement and evaluate an innovative, fully digital self-screening system for chronic dyspnoea, integrated into general practice workflows and information technology infrastructure. This approach seeks to enhance early detection and management of chronic cardiorespiratory conditions across diverse practice settings.
This multisite proof-of-concept study will test a software platform delivering a preconsultation self-screening questionnaire across 40 general practices in urban, rural and remote Australia. The system identifies eligible patients (≥18 years, consenting to SMS communication with their practice), issues an automated SMS that administers a validated dyspnoea screening questionnaire, and summarises responses for integration into the electronic medical record. Process evaluation will assess acceptability and utility using deidentified audit data, software metrics and qualitative feedback from patients, staff and general practitioners (GPs) via surveys, interviews and focus groups. Approximately 12 000 patients will be screened over 12 months. Primary outcomes will include the proportion completing self-screening and prevalence of chronic dyspnoea and secondary outcomes will include the rate of newly diagnosed chronic dyspnoea-related conditions (ie, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure) in the preceding 12 months and during the intervention period.
Ethics approval was granted by the University of New South Wales Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) (iRECS6645) and the University of Notre Dame Australia HREC (2024-155). Participating practices and each GP will provide written, informed consent. All patients being screened will provide electronic informed consent. Results of the study will be disseminated through various forums, including peer-reviewed publications and presentation at national and international conferences. Following the study, participating practices will be provided with a summary of the findings of the study, together with a full copy of any publications and a plain language statement for participants, which will be made available in the practices.
ACTRN12624001451594.
This study examined associations between pregnancy-related fear and stress, occupational exposures, and workplace modifications among pregnant registered nurses in the United States engaged in direct patient care.
A cross-sectional design was used with data collected via an online survey between November 2021 and April 2022. Participants (n = 358) were recruited through social media and listservs. Log-binomial regression models, adjusted for age and parity, estimated prevalence ratios and confidence intervals for associations between occupational exposures and workplace modifications with prevalence of pregnancy-related stress at work and fear of pregnancy or infant complications. Stress, a non-specific physical/psychosocial response to demands, and fear, an emotional response to perceived threat, functioned as distinct constructs.
Emotional and physical environmental hazards were associated with increased prevalence of stress. Emotional and environmental hazards, as well as physical movement, administering antineoplastic medications, infectious disease transmission and scans, were associated with increased prevalence of fear. Each additional occupational exposure increased prevalence of stress by 4% and fear by 12%. Nurses also mitigated risks by implementing workplace modifications. Stress was associated with changing work schedules, while fear was statistically significantly associated with taking extra infection precautions and seeking assistance for CPR.
Findings highlight the need for interventions that address modifiable occupational hazards and improve access to modifications that reduce stress and fear among pregnant nurses.
Strengthening workplace protections could reduce occupational stress, improve nurse retention and enhance patient care quality.
Pregnant nurses face significant occupational hazards, yet limited research has examined their psychosocial effects and mitigation strategies. This study identified key exposures associated with increased stress and fear and showed that workplace modifications varied by stress/fear levels and pregnancy trimester, informing policies to better protect pregnant nurses.
Authors adhered to the STROBE checklist for cross-sectional studies.
This study did not include patient or public involvement in its design, conduct or reporting.
The study aimed to explore the recent scientific literature regarding the knowledge, attitudes and practices of informal caregivers towards supporting a person with astroke.
This study was a scoping review that followed the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology and PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, Scoping Review extension) guidelines.
Searches were conducted across Medline, CINAHL, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Cochrane, SCOPUS and Web of Science from January 2009 to January 2024.
The search results from the various database sources were collated in EndNote 20 and duplicates were removed. Following the removal of duplicates, the studies were imported to Covidence and filtered based on the well-defined eligibility criteria. Three reviewers independently conducted screening and data extraction, and any conflicts were resolved through discussion.
The analysis included a total of 37 studies that focused on the knowledge, attitudes and practices related to stroke caregiving. Of these, 15 studies addressed knowledge, 24 studies examined attitudes and 33 studies looked at caregiver practices.
This scoping review finds that lack of knowledge impacts the attitudes and practices of informal stroke caregivers. With the increasing incidence of stroke and the growing number of caregivers, there is an urgent need for targeted, individualised interventions accompanied by comprehensive evaluation.
Caregivers of people with stroke are often unprepared to provide care. Further research is needed to support these individuals, ensuring improved quality of life and better health outcomes for both the caregiver and the person with stroke.
Not applicable.
To examine the association between caregiving context and the health and well-being of community-dwelling people with dementia (functional ability, physical function, depression, quality of life and health-related quality of life) and their informal carers (health-related quality of life) at the pre-rehabilitation stage and the potential mediating role of caregiving context variables.
Cross-sectional study.
Secondary analysis of baseline data from a randomised controlled trial of 130 dementia care dyads—the Interdisciplinary Home-based Reablement Programme (2018–2022). Bivariate analyses were applied to identify key caregiving context variables—co-residence, sole carer status, additional caring responsibilities, client-carer relationship and subjective carer burden (carer burden hereafter)—associated with health outcomes. Subsequently, multivariable linear regression models were developed. To examine carer burden, two models were run for each outcome: one with caregiving context variables and covariates, and the other adding carer burden. The mediating effects of the identified caregiving context variable were examined using post hoc mediation analysis.
Spouse/partner carer relationship was significantly associated with better client well-being, including lower depressive symptoms and higher quality of life scores compared to adult child and other relationships. Higher carer burden was strongly associated with lower functional ability, more depressive symptoms, lower quality of life for clients and lower health-related quality of life for both clients and carers. Including carer burden in regression models explained the greatest variance across most models. Carer burden fully mediated the association between additional caring responsibilities and client functional ability, and partially mediated the association between other carers and client depression.
Carer burden needs to be carefully considered in supporting the health and well-being of dementia carer dyads.
Addressing carer burden and tailoring support to carers are essential for optimising health impacts for dementia carer dyads.
STROBE checklist.
None.
ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: ACTRN12618000600246
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