Conectar
To explore peer volunteers' experiences of delivering online support through SMART to at-risk mothers during the perinatal period, to inform future improvements to mobile-health-application (mHealth app) based peer-support interventions.
Descriptive qualitative research.
The study was conducted between February 2024 and June 2025 in a tertiary public healthcare institution in Singapore. Twenty peer volunteers were recruited via convenience and snowball sampling and participated in individual semi-structured interviews. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis.
Four themes were identified: (a) Giving and receiving: the inner world of peer volunteers; (b) Navigating relational complexity in digital peer support; (c) Facilitating connection and continuity in digital peer support; and (d) Building better connections through supportive ecosystems.
Peers reported experiencing reciprocal benefits, such as a sense of fulfilment and achievement, while supporting mothers. Shared experiences and psychosocial vulnerabilities enhanced relatability, reassurance and rapport, which sustained supportive relationships. Challenges encountered by peers highlighted the need for strengthening both intervention design and peer training.
Regular check-ins by programme facilitators, alongside clear information, flexible guidelines and reassurance, can improve peer volunteers' motivation and resilience, thereby ensuring consistent and sustainable support for at-risk mothers.
Examined peer volunteers' experiences in providing online perinatal support to mothers with diverse psychosocial vulnerabilities. Peers offered emotional, informational and practical support, while mothers benefited from learning how peers had coped with their psychosocial vulnerabilities. Shared experiences fostered confidence and reassurance among mothers that they, too could overcome similar adversities. Valuable in providing both medically accurate perinatal information and meaningful social support to perinatal mothers.
The reporting of the study adheres to the standards outlined in the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) checklist.
Mothers and peer volunteers contributed valuable insights and suggestions that helped in the design of the intervention.
To examine the perinatal experiences of at-risk mothers and their engagement with mobile-health-based care.
A qualitative descriptive study.
One-to-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 at-risk mothers, defined as those who were single, had low income, were at risk of depression, had adverse childhood experiences, gave birth to a baby with congenital disorders, or had a history of mental health conditions. Participants were purposively sampled at 6 months postpartum from a tertiary public hospital in Singapore between February and September 2024. Interviews continued until data saturation was achieved, were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis.
The study identified four overarching themes: (a) Me and my baby versus the world, (b) navigating vulnerability and strength in motherhood, (c) generational tensions in modern parenting and (d) reimagining perinatal care for every mother. Across the perinatal period, both intervention and control group mothers reported social isolation, emotional and physical strain and challenges balancing traditional family expectations with modern parenting practices. While mothers in the intervention group described receiving holistic support through the SMART program, those in the control group relied on ad hoc sources of support, such as social media platforms.
At-risk mothers experienced significant challenges during the perinatal period, and those who used a mobile-health-based perinatal intervention felt supported through its peer support and multimedia educational resources.
Mobile-health-based interventions can be integral aspects of standard nursing care. Future researchers must ensure that support rendered to at-risk mothers is culturally compatible and specific to the psychosocial vulnerabilities they experience. Increased contact and funding are vital, whereas artificial intelligence, multiple shared access and health monitoring trackers can shape future perinatal interventions.
A mobile-health-based perinatal intervention can have an enormous positive impact on the psychological well-being of vulnerable mothers worldwide.
This study followed the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) checklist.
This study did not include patient or public involvement in its design, conduct or reporting.
ClinicalTrials.gov (Registration ID: NCT06363019). Registered 4/12/23, first recruitment on 26/02/2024.
To explore the experiences of Singaporean parents managing care for children with underlying chronic medical conditions and Paediatric Feeding Disorders.
Descriptive qualitative.
Data were collected via semi-structured interviews from 4 July 2024 to 4 October 2024. Fourteen English-speaking Singaporean parents were recruited via purposive sampling at an outpatient paediatric feeding clinic in a public tertiary hospital in Singapore. Data were thematically analysed using Braun and Clarke's six-step inductive approach.
Three themes and nine sub-themes were identified. The three themes were: (1) Caregiver's Compass: From Survival to Stability, (2) Navigating Emotional Terrain in Caregiving, (3) Feeding Suck-cess: Systemic, Medical, and Societal Challenges.
The findings reflected the experiences of parents managing Paediatric Feeding Disorders. Parents transitioned from survival-focused to development-focused care, balancing medical guidance with parental instinct while navigating emotional strain, gendered caregiving roles, fragmented healthcare, and cultural conflicts.
Nurses are vital in supporting parents by recognising their lived experiences and caregiving challenges. By incorporating family-centered interventions, nurses can foster shared-decision making and provide culturally sensitive care. Providing tailored education and collaboration with multidisciplinary teams will enable nurses to empower caregivers with essential knowledge and resources, such as accessible and culturally attuned digital health solutions.
This study contributes to the limited body of qualitative research on parents of chronically ill children with Paediatric Feeding Disorders in Singapore and underscores the need for culturally sensitive, multidisciplinary support models to address the manifold responsibilities parents face in managing feeding issues. These insights may have broader implications for diverse populations managing similar caregiving complexities, informing family-centered interventions and healthcare policies that better support parents managing chronically ill children.
COREQ checklist.
This study did not include patient or public involvement in its design, conduct, or reporting.
To explore the perceptions and experiences of parents caring for children with paediatric feeding disorders requiring feeding tubes (PFD-T).
A descriptive qualitative approach was adopted in this study.
Using purposive sampling, 12 parents were recruited from paediatric inpatient wards and the outpatient paediatric feeding clinic at a tertiary public hospital in Singapore. Data collection was done from July to December 2024. Semi-structured one-on-one interviews were conducted with the parents (fathers or mothers) until data saturation. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes from the interview content.
A total of three themes and six subthemes were identified, encapsulating the challenges experienced by parents with caregiving and feeding tube management, as well as the sources of support they had. The themes are: (1) A sense of community, (2) Grieving over the loss of normalcy and (3) Facing the unknown.
Parents in this study felt supported being in a community of other parents with children who have PFD-T. It enabled them to gain valuable information and offered them a space where they felt understood. At the same time, they expressed feelings of guilt and isolation, as the caregiving demands led to limited capacity to cater to or interact with other loved ones. Additional challenges parents faced included transitioning between types of feeding tubes and insufficient support from healthcare professionals.
Ethical approval was obtained from the National Health Group Domain Specific Review Board (DSRB 2024/00064) on 8 May 2024.
This study followed the reporting guidelines outlined by the COnsolidated criteria for REporting Qualitative (COREQ) research checklist.
This study did not include patient or public involvement in its design, conduct, or reporting.
To critically reflect on the 50-year evolution of nursing in Singapore, identify pivotal milestones that have shaped the profession, and discuss strategies to address emerging challenges over the next five decades.
Nursing in Singapore has evolved from a vocational, subordinate role into a respected profession grounded in higher education, evidence-based practice and leadership in clinical and policy domains. Reforms in education, professional identity, workforce development and technology have paved the way for addressing future challenges, including ageing populations, workforce sustainability, technological disruption, leadership equity and global health threats.
Discursive commentary informed by historical analysis, policy developments and published literature, focusing on nursing education, workforce, leadership and digital integration in Singapore.
Strategic investments in education, research and leadership have elevated nursing's status and scope, with milestones such as tertiary education, advanced practice roles and doctoral pathways enabling nurses to serve as autonomous clinicians, researchers and policy leaders. Sustaining progress will require preparing nurses for multimorbidity and healthy ageing, embedding digital competencies while preserving human connection, ensuring inclusive leadership and enhancing global research translation.
Singapore's unique blend of innovation and tradition positions it to lead in shaping the future of nursing. By adopting a systems-level approach that integrates education reform, workforce wellbeing, ethical technology adoption and global collaboration, nursing can transform emerging challenges into opportunities for national progress and international impact.
This commentary offers insights for policymakers, educators and healthcare leaders on how a mid-sized nation can strategically position its nursing workforce for future readiness. Lessons from Singapore's trajectory, particularly in education reform, leadership cultivation and technology integration, apply to other countries seeking to enhance nursing's role in achieving health equity and system resilience.
None.
If clinical trials measure and report the outcomes included in core outcome sets (COS) for a given condition/disease as a minimum, this has the potential to improve comparability between trials and prevent research waste. Until now, the uptake of the Bronchiectasis and Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS) COS has not been assessed.
This study assessed the uptake of Bronchiectasis and HS COS using a review of trial registries, with entries taken from ClinicalTrials.gov and the WHO International Clinical Trial Registry Platform. This uptake assessment provides valuable information to inform COS refinement and uncover areas lacking uptake to inform further dissemination requirements.
For each trial, the outcomes included in the trial registry entry were extracted and compared with those included in the corresponding Bronchiectasis or HS COS. The Bronchiectasis COS consists of 18 outcomes, and the HS COS, 6.
Of the trials registered after both COS were developed in 2018, 63% (12/19) of HS trials planned to measure the full COS, whereas for Bronchiectasis, 0% (0/24) of trials planned to measure the full COS. However, of the five priority outcomes to be measured for Bronchiectasis, 4% (1/24) of trials planned to measure all five outcomes.
Both COS publications’ focus was to reach consensus on what outcomes should be measured. Despite both publications referring to the Core outcome Measures for Effectiveness Trials (COMET) Handbook, which discusses the importance of COS dissemination, implementation plans were not included in either publication.
The results suggest that uptake of the HS COS is relatively good, despite yearly fluctuations, whereas for Bronchiectasis, COS uptake is limited. Further research into standardised measurement tools for HS is expected to increase uptake. The focus for Bronchiectasis, however, will be to refine the COS for feasible application in clinical trials. Future COS development publications should use all resources from the COMET initiative to ensure feasible dissemination of the COS.
To investigate the incidence and the factors associated with paternal postpartum depression amongst new fathers in Singapore.
A prospective repeated measures study was conducted from September 2023 to March 2024.
A total of 200 fathers aged 21 years and above who had a neonate born at full term and no serious health events for both mother and neonate were recruited from a local hospital via convenience sampling. Fathers completed questionnaires at the third trimester of pregnancy (baseline) and 1 month postpartum. Multiple regression analyses were used to identify significant factors associated with postpartum depression in fathers.
The incidence of paternal postpartum depression was 5.26% at 1 month post-childbirth, using the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS). Using the Gotland Male Depression Scale (GMDS), 7% of the fathers were identified with high risk of depression and 14.3% of the fathers had moderate depressive symptoms. Paternal postpartum depression at 1 month post-childbirth could be predicted by paternal postpartum depression scores at baseline measured by EPDS and GMDS, as well as by baseline perceived social support and parental self-efficacy at 1 month post-childbirth.
This study found that a considerable number of fathers in Singapore are at risk of postpartum depression. There is an urgent need for the development of more comprehensive tools to measure postpartum depression in fathers that are culturally adapted to the local context.
Early screening during antenatal visits enables timely intervention and access to support, benefiting the entire family. Nurses could help fathers to be more involved by extending patient education and teaching infant care skills to both parents. When counselling patients, the involvement of extended family members and navigating new roles as caregivers of a new baby and breadwinners are important considerations for new parents.
This study is the first of its kind to measure the incidence of postpartum depression amongst new fathers in an urban multicultural Asian setting, like Singapore. The study found that the incidence of postpartum depression in fathers were 5.26% when measured using EPDS and 14.3% when measured using GMDS at 1 month postpartum. These findings could inform future family-centred and father-specific interventions to improve the mental health outcomes of new parents.
This study adhered to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) reporting guideline.
No patient or public contribution.
To consolidate and appraise available evidence on the experiences and perceptions of male nurses and male midwives facing discrimination.
Qualitative systematic review. This review was informed by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA).
The Critical Appraisal Skills Program checklist was used to appraise included articles, and extracted data were meta-summarised and meta-synthesised using Sandelowski and Barroso's two-step approach.
PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, ProQuest (Dissertations and Theses Global) and ClinicalTrials.gov were sourced from the inception to December 2022.
A total of 21 studies were included, involving 283 male nurses and 11 male midwives. Four themes were identified during the meta-synthesis: (1) It's a ‘women's world’, (2) discrimination within and beyond the workplace, (3) stereotypes and labels and (4) the silver lining.
This review offered male nurses' and male midwives' perspectives on discrimination faced in nursing. There is a need to ensure gender equality in the nursing profession by reinforcing the importance and value of employing men in this profession.
Future research should focus on examining the experiences of male nursing students and other healthcare stakeholders to understand discrimination faced by men in nursing from varied geographical and cultural backgrounds. The findings may provide helpful insights for planning supportive interventions, institutional adjustments, legislative changes, educational initiatives and research that benefit male nurses and male midwives.
This qualitative systematic review consolidated and meta-synthesised the available evidence on male nurses' and male midwives' experiences of discrimination. These findings contribute to the understanding of male nurses and male midwives as a gender minority and the need for greater gender equality.
PRISMA.
No patient or public contribution.
This study aimed to review studies exploring the experiences and perceptions of healthcare students and providers regarding their personal choices for elective female fertility preservation and their recommendations of the same to patients.
Employing Pluye and Hong's convergent qualitative synthesis approach, a mixed-studies review was conducted. The appraisal of studies was performed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool and data analysis utilised Thomas and Harden's thematic synthesis approach.
Six electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus and Web of Science) were searched from their inception till November 2023.
About 24 studies were reviewed, uncovering four major themes: varied personal perspectives, knowledge gaps and role ambiguities, perceived temporal and financial constraints and apprehensions related to fear and stigma.
This review underscored the challenges faced by healthcare professionals and students in their personal pursuit of elective fertility preservation. Addressing these challenges demands the implementation of fertility navigators, culturally and religiously sensitive public health campaigns and staff training. Moreover, standardised guidelines, transparent cost and process reporting, evidence-based education, counselling on risks and success rates and governmental support in the form of subsidies can mitigate barriers, enhance cost-effectiveness and promote equitable access to care. Collaboration among stakeholders is imperative to ensure equitable access and maintain quality care in elective female fertility preservation.
This mixed studies review followed the reporting guidelines in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement.
No Patient or Public Contribution.
Trial Registration: This review has been registered on the Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) database (CRD42023395406)
To consolidate adolescents' perspectives regarding various aspects of sleep and offer insights to promote healthier sleep habits during their critical developmental years.
Six electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Scopus, PsycINFO and Web of Science) were searched from their inception dates to June 2023. Data were extracted and meta-summarised using Sandelowski and Barroso's approach and synthesised using Thomas and Harden's thematic analysis framework.
Meta-synthesis from 11 peer-reviewed published studies identified four main themes: (1) Awareness and understanding of sleep's significance, (2) The shadows and radiance of slumber, (3) Traversing the sleepscape: trouble bubbles and (4) Illuminating the path: Guiding lights to enhanced sleep.
Our review findings suggest a lack of awareness and guidance regarding the significance of sleep and the cultivation of good sleep habits among adolescents. Identified barriers to adequate sleep encompass various factors, including overthinking, poor habits, family/environmental influences, extensive technology use, peer pressure, the fear of missing out, academic demands and involvement in extracurricular activities. Strategies to improve adolescents' sleep health involve multiple sleep strategies, including sleep education, workshops/seminars, parental involvement, incorporating digital well-being practices, the promotion of relaxation techniques and the provision of essential resources. Prioritising sleep health and implementing targeted interventions are key steps to empower adolescents, create supportive environments and shape a healthier future generation. Future research endeavours should focus on evaluating the effectiveness of interventions and exploring the influence of cultural factors.
There exists a notable lack of awareness and guidance regarding the significance of sleep and the cultivation of good sleep habits among adolescents. Barriers to achieving adequate sleep among adolescents include overthinking, poor habits, family/environmental influences, extensive technology use, peer pressure, the fear of missing out, academic demands and involvement in extracurricular activities. The collaboration between healthcare institutions, professionals and educational institutions is crucial to facilitate (1) the implementation of sleep education workshops/seminars targeting adolescents, (2) increased parental involvement and role-modelling to instil good sleep practices among adolescents and (3) enhanced integration of digital well-being practices, the promotion of relaxation techniques and accessibility to essential sleep hygiene resources.
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.
No patient or public contribution.
This review was registered on the Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD42023403775).
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