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Cancer screening is a pivotal method for reducing mortality from disease, but the screening coverage is still lower than expected. Telehealth interventions demonstrated significant benefits in cancer care, yet there is currently no consensus on their impact on facilitating cancer screening or on the most effective remote technology.
A network meta-analysis was conducted to detect the impact of telehealth interventions on cancer screening and to identify the most effective teletechnologies.
Six English databases were searched from inception until July 2023 to yield relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Two individual authors completed the literature selection, data extraction, and methodological evaluations using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Traditional pairwise analysis and network meta-analysis were performed to identify the overall effects and compare different teletechnologies.
Thirty-four eligible RCTs involving 131,644 participants were enrolled. Overall, telehealth interventions showed statistically significant effects on the improvement of cancer screening. Subgroup analyses revealed that telehealth interventions were most effective for breast and cervical cancer screening, and rural populations also experienced benefits, but there was no improvement in screening for older adults. The network meta-analysis indicated that mobile applications, video plus telephone, and text message plus telephone were associated with more obvious improvements in screening than other teletechnologies.
Our study identified that telehealth interventions were effective for the completion of cancer screening and clarified the exact impact of telehealth on different cancer types, ages, and rural populations. Mobile applications, video plus telephone, and text message plus telephone are the three forms of teletechnologies most likely to improve cancer screening. More well-designed RCTs involving direct comparisons of different teletechnologies are needed in the future.
Telehealth interventions should be encouraged to facilitate cancer screening, and the selection of the optimal teletechnology based on the characteristics of the population is also necessary.
The emergence of novel infectious diseases has amplified the urgent need for effective prevention strategies, especially ones targeting vulnerable populations such as children. Factors such as the high incidence of both emerging and existing infectious diseases, delays in vaccinations, and routine exposure in communal settings heighten children's susceptibility to infections. Despite this pressing need, a comprehensive exploration of research trends in this domain remains lacking. This study aims to address this gap by employing text mining and modeling techniques to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the existing literature, thereby identifying emerging research trends in infectious disease prevention among children.
A cross-sectional text mining approach was adopted, focusing on journal articles published between January 1, 2003, and August 31, 2022. These articles, related to infectious disease prevention in children, were sourced from databases such as PubMed, CINAHL, MEDLINE (Ovid), Scopus, and Korean RISS. The data underwent preprocessing using the Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK) in Python, with a semantic network analysis and topic modeling conducted using R software.
The final dataset comprised 509 journal articles extracted from multiple databases. The study began with a word frequency analysis to pinpoint relevant themes, subsequently visualized through a word cloud. Dominant terms encompassed “vaccination,” “adolescent,” “infant,” “parent,” “family,” “school,” “country,” “household,” “community,” “HIV,” “HPV,” “COVID-19,” “influenza,” and “diarrhea.” The semantic analysis identified “age” as a key term across infection, control, and intervention discussions. Notably, the relationship between “hand” and “handwashing” was prominent, especially in educational contexts linked with “school” and “absence.” Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling further delineated seven topics related to infectious disease prevention for children, encompassing (1) educational programs, (2) vaccination efforts, (3) family-level responses, (4) care for immunocompromised individuals, (5) country-specific responses, (6) school-based strategies, and (7) persistent threats from established infectious diseases.
The study emphasizes the indispensable role of personalized interventions tailored for various child demographics, highlighting the pivotal contributions of both parental guidance and school participation.
The study provides insights into the complex public health challenges associated with preventing and managing infectious diseases in children. The insights derived could inform the formulation of evidence-based public health policies, steering practical interventions and fostering interdisciplinary synergy for holistic prevention strategies.
As the largest profession within the healthcare industry, nursing and midwifery workforce (NMW) provides comprehensive healthcare to children and their families. This study quantified the independent role of NMW in reducing under-5 mortality rate (U5MR) worldwide.
A retrospective, observational and correlational study to examine the independent role of NMW in protecting against U5MR.
Within 266 “countries”, the cross-sectional correlations between NMW and U5MR were examined with scatter plots, Pearson's r, nonparametric, partial correlation and multiple regression. The affluence, education and urban advantages were considered as the potential competing factors for the NMW–U5MR relationship. The NMW–U5MR correlations in both developing and developed countries were explored and compared.
Bivariate correlations revealed that NMW negatively and significantly correlated to U5MR worldwide. When the contributing effects of economic affluence, urbanization and education were removed, the independent NMW role in reducing U5MR remained significant. NMW independently explained 9.36% U5MR variance. Multilinear regression selected NMW as a significant factor contributing an extra 3% of explanation to U5MR variance when NMW, affluence, education and urban advantage were incorporated as the predicting variables. NMW correlated with U5MR significantly more strongly in developing countries than in developed countries.
NMW, indexing nursing and midwifery service, was a significant factor for reducing U5MR worldwide. This beneficial effect explained 9.36% of U5MR variance which was independent of economic affluence, urbanization and education. The NMW may be a more significant risk factor for protecting children from dying under 5 years old in developing countries. As a strategic response to the advocacy of the United Nations to reduce child mortality, it is worthy for health authorities to consider a further extension of nurses and midwives' practice scope to enable communities to have more access to NMW healthcare services.
The exploration of conceptual equivalence within the process of the cross-cultural adaptation of tools is usually neglected as it generally assumed that the theoretical construct of a tool is conceptualized in the same way in both the original and target culture. This article attempts to throw light on the contribution of the evaluation of conceptual equivalence to the process of adaptation, and for tool development. To illustrate this premise, the example of the cross-cultural adaptation of the Patients' Perception of Feeling Known by their Nurses (PPFKN) Scale is presented.
An adapted version of the Sousa and Rojjanasrirat (Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 2011, 17(2), 268–274) guidelines was used to translate and culturally adapt the PPFKN Scale to Spanish language and culture. A qualitative descriptive study was added to the traditional process of translation and pilot study to explore the concept in the target culture and recognize conceptual equivalence.
Experts in the tool concept, bilingual translators and the author of the tool participated in the translation of the original tool into Spanish. A pilot study of the Spanish version with a sample of 44 patients and a panel of six experts from different fields evaluated its clarity and relevance. In addition, seven patients participated in a descriptive qualitative study using semi-structured individual interviews to explore the phenomenon in the new culture. A content analysis following the Miles, Huberman & Saldaña (Qualitative data analysis, a methods sourcebook, 2014) approach was used to analyze qualitative data.
The cross-cultural translation and adaptation of the PPFKN scale into Spanish required a thorough revision. More than half of the items needed discussions to reach consensus regarding the most appropriate Spanish term. In addition, the study confirmed the four attributes of the concept identified in the American context and allowed for new insights within those attributes to appear. Those aspects reflected characteristics of the phenomenon of being known in the Spanish context and were added to the tool in the format of 10 new items.
A comprehensive cross-cultural adaptation of tools should incorporate, together with the study of linguistic and semantic equivalence, the analysis of the conceptual equivalence of the phenomenon in both contexts. The identification, acknowledgment and study of the conceptual differences between two cultures in relation to a phenomenon becomes an opportunity for deeper study of the phenomenon in both cultures, for understanding of their richness and depth, and for the proposal of changes that may enhance the content validity of the tool.
The evaluation of conceptual equivalence of tools within the process of cross-cultural adaptation will make it possible for target cultures to rely on tools both theoretically sound and significant. Specifically, the cross-cultural adaptation of the PPFKN scale has facilitated the design of a Spanish version of the tool that is linguistically, semantically and theoretically congruent with Spanish culture. The PPFKN Scale is a powerful indicator that evidences nursing care contribution to the patient's experience.
To explore trans men's access and use of healthcare services in Chile, based on the experiences of the trans men themselves, as well as of healthcare professionals.
A qualitative study with an ethnographic approach was carried out with 30 participants: 14 trans men and 16 healthcare professionals. Semi-structured one-on-one interviews with open-ended questions were used to collect the data. A thematic analysis was carried out with the NVivo Software.
Three main themes were identified: (1) failures in the recognition of trans identity, (2) challenges with patient-centered care, and (3) use of other (“non-trans”) health services.
The results suggest that not all transition processes are the same, individuals seek different ways; therefore, it is necessary to consider different body types and identities when planning programs and care for men in transition. Moreover, the accompaniment provided during the gender transition process should contemplate emotional and mental support.
The study outlines the need for all healthcare professionals to have training and knowledge about the transgender population, regardless of whether they are part of the teams supporting gender transition processes. The role of nurses and the contributions that can be made from nursing discipline in this research field are fundamental.
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