Virtual reality used to distract children and young people with long-term conditions from pain or pruritus: A scoping review using PAGER.

Aims And Objectives: To map out the primary research studies relating to how virtual reality (VR) has been used to distract children and young people with long-term conditions from pain or pruritus.

Background: Pharmacologic treatment of chronic pain and pruritus may have side effects; hence, non-invasive non-pharmacological treatments are being sought.

Design: The scoping review followed the methodology recommended by the Joanna Briggs Institute, PAGER framework and PRISMA-ScR checklist.

'Ask a hundred people, you get a hundred definitions': A comparison of lay and expert understanding of stress and its associations with health.

The understanding an individual holds about stress can influence their appraisal of it and have implications for subsequent health, yet knowledge of such understanding is scarce. This study explored discrepancies between lay and expert understanding of stress and links made between stress and health. Twenty-six lay members of the local community aged 18-62 years, and seven expert stress researchers, participated in individual semi-structured interviews.

Wellbeing in Addiction Recovery: Does It Differ across Addictions?

Limited research has been conducted on the experiences of individuals in long-term recovery from addiction, and addictions are usually studied in isolation. However, no theories of addiction differentiate between addictions or assume that individuals will experience only one addiction. This study aimed to compare affect between individuals with addictions to drugs and alcohol and to explore how QoL changes in long-term recovery from addiction.

Social norms and goal-setting interventions to promote responsible gambling in low-to-moderate online gamblers: protocol for a four-arm randomised controlled feasibility study.

Introduction: Gambling is increasingly recognised as an important public health issue. Problem gambling is associated with highly negative impacts on physical, psychological and social well-being, not only for those who gamble but also for those around them. There has been a rapid expansion of internet gambling and attributes such as continuous play and instant rewards, and enhanced privacy may lead to a greater likelihood of gambling-related harms.

Protocol: The effects of nutrient- vs food- vs food-substitution-based dietary recommendations for reducing free sugar intakes, on free sugar intakes, dietary profiles and sweet taste outcomes: A randomised controlled trial.

Background: Dietary guidelines are intended to inform and aid the general public, with the aim of improving healthy diets and reducing health risk. The effectiveness of these guidelines, however, is rarely investigated.

Aim: This work investigates the effects of three different types of dietary recommendations for reducing free sugars, on free sugar intakes over 12 weeks.

Men and Women as Differential Social Barometers: Gender Effects of Perceived Friend Support on the Neuroticism-Loneliness-Well-Being Relationship in a Younger Adult Population.

Loneliness and social isolation are well known to have detrimental effects on mental and physical health, and the perception of social support is frequently viewed as a protective factor. Yet, the beneficial effect varies when perceived support is considered with respect to gender and personality. We examined the mechanism of loneliness as a mediator of personality on health and moderation of this relationship by perceived social support and gender.

"What kind of man gets depressed after having a baby?" Fathers' experiences of mental health during the perinatal period.

Background: To date, information and support has been focused on mothers, with evidence that healthcare professionals overlook fathers' mental health, and that fathers receive little or no support for themselves during the perinatal period. However, recently, fathers' mental health has become an area of interest.

Methods: This study explored the support fathers receive for their own mental health during the perinatal period.

The impact of Behçet's disease on intimate relationships in women: A qualitative study.

Objective: Behçet's disease is a rare and incurable condition where the body's immune system attacks healthy tissue. Behçet's can cause blood clots and ulcerations to form in every organ and system in the body, including deep and painful genital ulceration. The psychological impact of the disease on intimacy and relationships is unexplored.

A feasibility study of a psycho-educational support intervention for men with prostate cancer on active surveillance.

Background: PROACTIVE is a psycho-educational support intervention for prostate cancer patients managed on Active Surveillance. PROACTIVE is composed of two interdependent components: group workshops and internet-delivered information modules.

Aims: We conducted a feasibility study to determine the practicality of delivering PROACTIVE at two prostate cancer centres.

Supporting women who develop poor postnatal mental health: what support do fathers receive to support their partner and their own mental health?

Background: Research regarding support provided for poor maternal postnatal mental health (such as depression, anxiety disorders, and postpartum psychosis) is relatively common. Fathers appear to play an important role supporting partners but many feel alienated within maternity services. Research focusing on fathers is less common.

Be quiet and man up: a qualitative questionnaire study into fathers who witnessed their Partner's birth trauma.

Background: Research focusing on paternal mental health is limited, especially regarding the impact of the experience of poor mental health in the perinatal period. For example, little is known about the experiences of fathers who witness their partner's traumatic birth and the subsequent impact on their mental health. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore fathers' experiences of witnessing a traumatic birth, how these experiences impacted their wellbeing, and what support they received during and following the traumatic birth.

Mindfulness-Based Interventions in Recurrent Ovarian Cancer: A Mixed-Methods Feasibility Study.

A recurrence of cancer is a traumatic and stressful experience, and a number of approaches have been proposed to manage or treat the associated psychological distress. Meditative techniques such as mindfulness may be able to improve an individual's ability to cope with stressful life events such as cancer diagnosis or treatment. This single-arm mixed-methods study primarily aimed to determine the feasibility of using a mindfulness-based intervention in managing psychosocial distress in recurrent ovarian cancer.

Evaluation of a breathing retraining intervention to improve quality of life in asthma: quantitative process analysis of the BREATHE randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Explore qualitative differences between interventions (DVD and booklet (DVDB) versus face-to-face and booklet (F2FB) versus usual care) in the BREATHE (Breathing Retraining for Asthma Trial of Home Exercises) trial of breathing retraining for asthma.

Design: Quantitative process analysis exploring group expectancy, experience and practice before and after intervention delivery for the main trial.

Setting: Primary care.

Physiotherapy breathing retraining for asthma: a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Despite effective pharmacotherapy, asthma continues to impair quality of life for most patients. Non-pharmacological approaches, including breathing retraining, are therefore of great interest to patients. However, clinicians rarely advocate breathing retraining and access to this intervention is restricted for most patients due to the limited availability of suitable physiotherapists and poor integration of breathing retraining into standard care.

Barriers and facilitators of effective self-management in asthma: systematic review and thematic synthesis of patient and healthcare professional views.

Self-management is an established, effective approach to controlling asthma, recommended in guidelines. However, promotion, uptake and use among patients and health-care professionals remain low. Many barriers and facilitators to effective self-management have been reported, and views and beliefs of patients and health care professionals have been explored in qualitative studies.

Patients' experiences of breathing retraining for asthma: a qualitative process analysis of participants in the intervention arms of the BREATHE trial.

Unlabelled: Poor symptom control and impaired quality of life are common in adults with asthma, and breathing retraining exercises may be an effective method of self-management. This study aimed to explore the experiences of participants in the intervention arms of the BREATHE trial, which investigated the effectiveness of breathing retraining as a mode of asthma management. Sixteen people with asthma (11 women, 8 per group) who had taken part in the intervention arms of the BREATHE trial (breathing retraining delivered by digital versatile disc (DVD) or face-to-face sessions with a respiratory physiotherapist) took part in semi-structured telephone interviews about their experiences.

A randomised controlled study of the effectiveness of breathing retraining exercises taught by a physiotherapist either by instructional DVD or in face-to-face sessions in the management of asthma in adults.

Background: Asthma control is suboptimal, resulting in quality of life (QoL) impairment and costs. Breathing retraining exercises have evidence of effectiveness as adjuvant treatment, but are infrequently used.

Objectives: To transfer the contents of a brief (three-session) physiotherapist-delivered breathing retraining programme to a digital versatile disc (DVD) and booklet format; to compare the effectiveness of the self-guided intervention with that of 'face-to-face' physiotherapy and usual care for QoL and other asthma-related outcomes; to perform a health economic assessment of both interventions; and to perform a process evaluation using quantitative and qualitative methods.

Health behaviour change interventions for couples: A systematic review.

Objectives: Partners are a significant influence on individuals' health, and concordance in health behaviours increases over time in couples. Several theories suggest that couple-focused interventions for health behaviour change may therefore be more effective than individual interventions.

Design: A systematic review of health behaviour change interventions for couples was conducted.

The person-based approach to enhancing the acceptability and feasibility of interventions.

Background: This paper provides three illustrations of how the "person-based approach" can be used to assess and enhance the acceptability and feasibility of an intervention during the early stages of development and evaluation. The person-based approach involves using mixed methods research to systematically investigate the beliefs, attitudes, needs and situation of the people who will be using the intervention. The in-depth understanding of users' perspectives derived from this research then enables intervention developers to design or modify the intervention to make it more relevant, persuasive, accessible and engaging.

A Visualization Tool to Analyse Usage of Web-Based Interventions: The Example of Positive Online Weight Reduction (POWeR).

Background: Attrition is a significant problem in Web-based interventions. Consequently, this research aims to identify the relation between Web usage and benefit from such interventions. A visualization tool has been developed that enables researchers to more easily examine large datasets on intervention usage that can be difficult to make sense of using traditional descriptive or statistical techniques alone.

How do men in the United Kingdom decide to dispose of banked sperm following cancer treatment?

Current policy in the UK recommends that men bank sperm prior to cancer treatment, but very few return to use it for reproductive purposes or agree to elective disposal even when their fertility recovers and their families are complete. We assessed the demographic, medical and psychological variables that influence the decision to dispose by contacting men (n = 499) who banked sperm more than five years previously, and asked them to complete questionnaires about their views on sperm banking, fertility and disposal. From 193 responses (38.

Why don't some men with banked sperm respond to letters about their stored samples?

Abstract Long-term storage of banked sperm, especially when it is not needed, for reproductive purposes, is costly and poses practical problems for sperm banks. For sperm banks to function efficiently, men must understand the implications of unnecessary storage, and make timely decisions about disposal of their own samples. Men who bank sperm prior to cancer treatment are routinely offered follow-up consultations to test their fertility, update consent and, where necessary, expedite referral for Assisted Conception.

Randomised controlled feasibility trial of a web-based weight management intervention with nurse support for obese patients in primary care.

Background: There is a need for cost-effective weight management interventions that primary care can deliver to reduce the morbidity caused by obesity. Automated web-based interventions might provide a solution, but evidence suggests that they may be ineffective without additional human support. The main aim of this study was to carry out a feasibility trial of a web-based weight management intervention in primary care, comparing different levels of nurse support, to determine the optimal combination of web-based and personal support to be tested in a full trial.

Developing digital interventions: a methodological guide.

Digital interventions are becoming an increasingly popular method of delivering healthcare as they enable and promote patient self-management. This paper provides a methodological guide to the processes involved in developing effective digital interventions, detailing how to plan and develop such interventions to avoid common pitfalls. It demonstrates the need for mixed qualitative and quantitative methods in order to develop digital interventions which are effective, feasible, and acceptable to users and stakeholders.

Evaluation of a web-based intervention to reduce antibiotic prescribing for LRTI in six European countries: quantitative process analysis of the GRACE/INTRO randomised controlled trial.

Background: To reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance, there is a pressing need for worldwide implementation of effective interventions to promote more prudent prescribing of antibiotics for acute LRTI. This study is a process analysis of the GRACE/INTRO trial of a multifactorial intervention that reduced antibiotic prescribing for acute LRTI in six European countries. The aim was to understand how the interventions were implemented and to examine effects of the interventions on general practitioners' (GPs') and patients' attitudes.