Interventions to prevent or cease electronic cigarette use in children and adolescents.

Background: The prevalence of e-cigarette use has increased globally amongst children and adolescents in recent years. In response to the increasing prevalence and emerging evidence about the potential harms of e-cigarettes in children and adolescents, leading public health organisations have called for approaches to address increasing e-cigarette use. Whilst evaluations of approaches to reduce uptake and use regularly appear in the literature, the collective long-term benefit of these is currently unclear.

Healthy eating interventions delivered in early childhood education and care settings for improving the diet of children aged six months to six years.

Background: Dietary intake during early childhood can have implications on child health and developmental trajectories. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are recommended settings to deliver healthy eating interventions as they provide access to many children during this important period. Healthy eating interventions delivered in ECEC settings can include strategies targeting the curriculum (e.

Healthy eating interventions delivered in early childhood education and care settings for improving the diet of children aged six months to six years.

Background: Dietary intake during early childhood can have implications on child health and developmental trajectories. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are recommended settings to deliver healthy eating interventions as they provide access to many children during this important period. Healthy eating interventions delivered in ECEC settings can include strategies targeting the curriculum (e.

Exploring the effect of a school-based cluster-randomised controlled trial to increase the scheduling of physical activity for primary school students on teachers' physical activity.

Background: To determine if a school-based physical activity (PA) intervention that supported primary school teachers to schedule PA during school hours impacted their own PA.

Methods: A 2x2 factorial group cluster-randomised controlled trial was undertaken in 12 Australian primary schools. The nine-month intervention supported classroom teachers to increase scheduled weekly PA for their class via physical education, sport, Energisers and integrated lessons.

Reducing Hospital Transfers from Aged Care Facilities: A Large-Scale Stepped Wedge Evaluation.

Background/objectives: Older people living in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) experience acute deterioration requiring assessment and decision making. We evaluated the impact of a large-scale regional Aged Care Emergency (ACE) program in reducing hospital admissions and emergency department (ED) transfers.

Design: A stepped wedge nonrandomized cluster trial with 11 steps, implemented from May 2013 to August 2016.

Development and Validation of the MiPrep Survey: An Instrument Assessing Patients' Perceived Preparation for Medical Interventions Including Medical Imaging, Radiotherapy, and Surgery.

Background: Adequately preparing patients for medical interventions is an important component of quality healthcare. Nevertheless, few instruments for assessing patients' preparation exist.

Objectives: To develop a psychometrically rigorous instrument to assess patients' perceptions of the quality of preparation.

Consumer input into health care: Time for a new active and comprehensive model of consumer involvement.

Background: To ensure the provision of patient-centred health care, it is essential that consumers are actively involved in the process of determining and implementing health-care quality improvements. However, common strategies used to involve consumers in quality improvements, such as consumer membership on committees and collection of patient feedback via surveys, are ineffective and have a number of limitations, including: limited representativeness; tokenism; a lack of reliable and valid patient feedback data; infrequent assessment of patient feedback; delays in acquiring feedback; and how collected feedback is used to drive health-care improvements.

Objectives: We propose a new active model of consumer engagement that aims to overcome these limitations.

Raised Anxiety Levels Among Outpatients Preparing to Undergo a Medical Imaging Procedure: Prevalence and Correlates.

Purpose: To examine the percentage of patients with raised state anxiety levels before undergoing a medical imaging procedure; their attribution of procedural-related anxiety or worry; and sociodemographic, health, and procedural characteristics associated with raised state anxiety levels.

Materials And Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was undertaken in the outpatient medical imaging department at a major public hospital in Australia, with institutional board approval. Adult outpatients undergoing a medical imaging procedure (CT, x-ray, MRI, ultrasound, angiography, or fluoroscopy) completed a preprocedural survey.

Exploring women's experiences with a decision aid for neoadjuvant systemic therapy for operable breast cancer.

Background: Some women with operable breast cancer have a choice between receiving upfront surgery followed by chemotherapy or neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NAST) prior to receiving surgery. While survival outcomes are equivalent for both options, the decision about treatment sequence can be difficult due to its complexity and perceived urgency. A decision aid has been developed to help patients decide on whether to receive NAST.

Patients' Experiences of Preparation for Radiation Therapy: A Qualitative Study.

Purpose/objectives: To explore patients' experiences of and preferences for preparation for radiation therapy.
.

Research Approach: Qualitative study.

Prevalence and associates of psychological distress in haematological cancer survivors.

Purpose: To explore outcomes of psychological distress, including anxiety, depression and stress, amongst adult haematological cancer survivors, with a specific focus on potential differences between rural and urban survivors.

Methods: One thousand four hundred fourteen urban and rural survivors were recruited from five Australian population-based cancer registries and completed a self-report pen-and-paper survey on their well-being, including the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale 21-item version.

Results: A quarter of survivors were identified as reporting above normal levels of anxiety and depression, respectively, and almost one fifth (17 %) reported above normal levels of stress.

Cross-Sectional Data That Explore the Relationship Between Outpatients' Quality of Life and Preferences for Quality Improvement in Oncology Settings.

Purpose: This cross-sectional study assessed the association between oncology outpatients' quality improvement preferences and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Implementation of specific initiatives preferred by patients with lower HRQoL may be a strategic approach to enhancing care for potentially vulnerable patients.

Methods: English-speaking adults were recruited from five outpatient chemotherapy clinics located in New South Wales, Australia.

Wilfully out of sight? A literature review on the effectiveness of cancer-related decision aids and implementation strategies.

Background: There is evidence to suggest that decision aids improve a number of patient outcomes. However, little is known about the progression of research effort in this area over time. This literature review examined the volume of research published in 2000, 2007 and 2014 which tested the effectiveness of decision aids in improving cancer patient outcomes, coded by cancer site and decision type being targeted.

Preparing patients for medical interventions: A systematic review of the psychometric qualities of published instruments.

Objective: Preparing patients for medical interventions improves patient outcomes and is an ethical and legal imperative. This review examines the characteristics and psychometric properties of published instruments which assess patients' preparation for medical interventions.

Methods: Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE and PsycINFO electronic databases were searched from the date of their inception to November 2015.

To adhere or not to adhere: Rates and reasons of medication adherence in hematological cancer patients.

To conduct a comprehensive review to examine among hematological cancer patients: (1) rates of adherence to self-administered cancer treatments; and (2) factors impacting on their adherence. Fifty two eligible publications were identified. The majority focused on Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML) (n=40) and Acute Lymphoid Leukaemia (ALL) (n=11) patients.

What do haematological cancer survivors want help with? A cross-sectional investigation of unmet supportive care needs.

Background: This study aimed to identify the most prevalent unmet needs of haematological cancer survivors.

Methods: Haematological cancer survivors aged 18-80 years at time of recruitment were selected from four Australian state cancer registries. Survivors completed the Survivor Unmet Needs Survey.

Development and psychometric evaluation of the Quality of Patient-Centered Cancer Care measure with hematological cancer survivors.

Background: The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommended 6 objectives for achieving patient-centered care. However, most patient-reported outcome measures developed with cancer populations fail to address all 6 patient-centeredness dimensions. The Quality of Patient-Centered Cancer Care (QPCCC) measure was developed on the basis of IOM recommendations, and the measure's validity, reliability, and floor and ceiling effects were examined.

The quality of patient-centred care: haematological cancer survivors' perceptions.

Objective: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) that assess the quality of patient-centred cancer care have failed to measure all six patient-centredness dimensions endorsed by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). This study is the first to use the Quality of Patient-Centered Cancer Care (QPCCC) measure that covers all six IOM patient-centredness dimensions to examine haematological cancer survivors' perceptions of care and characteristics associated with perceived quality of care.

Methods: Haematological cancer survivors diagnosed in the last 6 years and aged 18-80 years were recruited from two Australian state population-based cancer registries.

A systematic review of the quality of reporting in published smoking cessation trials for pregnant women: an explanation for the evidence-practice gap?

Background: To facilitate translation of evidence into clinical practice, it is critical that clear, specific, and detailed information about interventions is provided in publications to promote replication, appropriate aggregation in meta-analysis, and implementation. This study examined whether twenty elements of interventions deemed essential for such translational application were reported in sufficient detail in smoking cessation trials with pregnant women.

Methods: Searches of electronic databases using MeSH terms and keywords identified peer-reviewed English language studies published between 2001 and 2012.

Development and validation of the Short-Form Survivor Unmet Needs Survey (SF-SUNS).

Purpose: The Survivor Unmet Needs Survey (SUNS) is one of the only unmet needs measures that was developed and evaluated utilising a population-based sample of cancer survivors. At 89 items, the current scale is quite burdensome. The current study aimed to develop a valid and reliable short version of this survey.

Access to care and impacts of cancer on daily life: do they differ for metropolitan versus regional hematological cancer survivors?

Purpose: Little is known about access to care for hematological cancer patients. This study explored patient experiences of barriers to accessing care and associated financial and social impacts of the disease. Metropolitan versus nonmetropolitan experiences were compared.

How will we close the gap in smoking rates for pregnant Indigenous women?

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are more than three times more likely to smoke during pregnancy than non-Indigenous women, greatly increasing the risk of poor birth outcomes. Our systematic review found that there is currently no evidence for interventions that are effective in supporting pregnant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to quit smoking, which impedes development and implementation of evidence-informed policy and practice. There is an urgent need for methodologically rigorous studies to test innovative approaches to addressing this problem.

Format and readability of an enhanced invitation letter did not affect participation rates in a cancer registry-based study: a randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of an "enhanced" invitation letter in increasing participation in an Australian cancer registry-based study and assess the representativeness of the study sample.

Study Design And Setting: Eight hundred hematological cancer survivors, diagnosed within the last 3 years and aged 18-80 years at recruitment, were selected from one Australian state-based cancer registry. Half were randomly allocated to receive the standard invitation letter (control group).

Improving access to information and support for patients with less common cancers: hematologic cancer patients' views about Web-based approaches.

Background: Meeting the psychosocial needs of vulnerable groups such as cancer survivors remains an ongoing challenge. This is particularly so for those who have less access to the usual forms of medical specialist and in-person support networks. Internet-based approaches offer an opportunity to better meet patients' information and support needs by overcoming the barrier of geographic isolation.