Are AI chatbots concordant with evidence-based cancer screening recommendations?

Objective: This study aimed to assess whether information from AI chatbots on benefits and harms of breast and prostate cancer screening were concordant with evidence-based cancer screening recommendations.

Methods: Seven unique prompts (four breast cancer; three prostate cancer) were presented to ChatGPT in March 2024. A total of 60 criteria (30 breast; 30 prostate) were used to assess the concordance of information.

Treatment of Intracranial Aneurysms with the FRED X Flow Diverter Stent: Mid-term Angiographic and Safety Results.

Purpose: The aim of our study was to assess the mid-term efficacy and safety of the FRED X flow diverting stent (FDS) in the treatment of intracranial aneurysms. The FRED X FDS is relatively new with limited data on its longer-term effectiveness and safety profile.

Methods: Patients with intracranial aneurysms treated with the FRED X FDS at two UK centres, between March 2021 and July 2022 with at least 18 months follow-up, were retrospectively reviewed.

Exploring Adolescents' Understanding, Experiences and Beliefs About Pain: A Qualitative Study.

Background: Pain is prevalent across the lifespan and contributes to significant societal and economic burdens. The public often holds misconceptions about pain and pain management. Despite this, there are no well-resourced public health initiatives delivering information about pain and pain management to the public.

Identifying and counteracting fraudulent responses in online recruitment for health research: a scoping review.

Objectives: This study aimed to describe how health researchers identify and counteract fraudulent responses when recruiting participants online.

Design: Scoping review.

Eligibility Criteria: Peer-reviewed studies published in English; studies that report on the online recruitment of participants for health research; and studies that specifically describe methodologies or strategies to detect and address fraudulent responses during the online recruitment of research participants.

The Readability Study: A Randomised Trial of Health Information Written at Different Grade Reading Levels.

Background: Despite increasing attention on health literacy and the inclusion of grade reading level recommendations in guidelines, it remains unclear if lowering the grade reading level of written health information to specific target grades improves patient-related outcomes.

Objective: To assess whether grade reading level of written information affects knowledge, perceived reading ease, acceptability and trustworthiness of information and, to explore whether information written at a lower grade reading level reduces disparities in outcomes across health literacy levels.

Design: We conducted a 4-arm online randomized trial with a community sample of adults living in Australia from 31 July to 20 September 2023.

Clinician experiences in providing reassurance for patients with low back pain in primary care: a qualitative study.

Questions: What reassurance is being delivered by physiotherapists and chiropractors to people with non-specific low back pain? How is it being delivered? What are the barriers and enablers to delivering reassurance to people with non-specific low back pain?

Design: A qualitative study.

Participants: Thirty-two musculoskeletal clinicians (16 physiotherapists and 16 chiropractors) who manage low back pain in primary care.

Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted about their experiences delivering reassurance.

The quality and safety of using generative AI to produce patient-centred discharge instructions.

Patient-centred instructions on discharge can improve adherence and outcomes. Using GPT-3.5 to generate patient-centred discharge instructions, we evaluated responses for safety, accuracy and language simplification.

Utilization and integration of microalgae consortium in treating undiluted anaerobic digestate animal effluent to produce animal feed, bio-oil, and biogas.

Anaerobic digestate animal effluent (ADAE) contains high N and P nutrients which need to be treated. In this study, an integrated process was proposed using a microalgae consortium of Chlorella and Scenedesmus. The system was designed for 71 m/d (medium-sized) and 355 m/d (large-sized) animals of ADAE.

Online Plain Language Tool and Health Information Quality: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Complex and ineffective health communication is a critical source of health inequity and occurs despite repeated policy directives to provide health information that is easy to understand and applies health literacy principles.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of the Sydney Health Literacy Lab Health Literacy Editor, an easy-to-use online plain language tool that supports health information providers to apply health literacy guidelines to written health information.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This randomized clinical trial, conducted online in Australia from May 2023 to February 2024, included a convenience sample of health information providers with no previous experience using the Health Literacy Editor.

Health literacy and diabetes information preferences among Chinese immigrants: An Australian cross-sectional study.

Aim: Explore Australian-Chinese immigrants' health literacy and preferences and engagement with translated diabetes self-management patient education materials.

Design: The cross-sectional survey was conducted with Australian-Chinese immigrants at risk or with type 2 diabetes recruited via health services, and diabetes and community organisations.

Methods: The survey had three parts: (1) diabetes screening; (2) sociodemographic information, clinical characteristics and preferences for translated materials; and (3) Functional, Communicative and Critical Health Literacy (FCCHL) Scale.

Qualitative Evaluation of a Health Literacy Program for Older Adults Who Live in a Community Dwelling in Brazil.

To address current gaps in health literacy research and practice in low-resource settings, the 'Alfa-Health Program' was designed to improve health literacy in older adults who live in a community dwelling in a socioeconomically disadvantaged community in North-East Brazil. In this longitudinal qualitative study, participants were interviewed before and after participating in the group-based program that was delivered November 2017 to December 2017 in the Primary Care Health Unit. Semi-structured interviews were guided by a previously validated health literacy instrument, translated and adapted for use in Brazil.

Qualitative and Quantitative Evaluation of an Innovative Primary and Secondary Diabetes Clinic in Western Sydney.

Introduction: Western Sydney Diabetes (WSD) established an innovative diabetes service in May 2020, using virtual and in-person care, linking primary care with the diabetes specialist team. This study evaluated the service's feasibility using qualitative and quantitative methods.

Method: Evaluation included: 1) thematic analysis of interviews and workshops with patients and health professionals (n = 28); 2) quantitative analysis of records of patients admitted July 2020-June 2021 (n = 110).

Could nudges reduce health literacy disparities in CVD prevention? An experiment using alternative messages for CVD risk assessment screening.

Objective: To explore the effect of SMS nudge messages amongst people with varying health literacy on their intention to get a Heart Health Check.

Methods: A 3 (Initial SMS: scarcity, regret, or control nudge) x 2 (Reminder SMS: social norm or control nudge) factorial design was used in a hypothetical online experiment. 705 participants eligible for Heart Health Checks were recruited.

The impact of frailty on initiation, continuation and discontinuation of secondary prevention medications following myocardial infarction.

Aim: To evaluate the association between frailty and initiating, continuing, or discontinuing secondary prevention medications following myocardial infarction (MI).

Methods: We conducted a cohort study using linked health data, including all adults aged ≥65 years who discharged from hospital following MI from January 2013 to April 2018 in Victoria, Australia (N = 29,771). The Hospital Frailty Risk Score (HFRS) was used to assess frailty.

New Frontiers in Health Literacy: Using ChatGPT to Simplify Health Information for People in the Community.

Background: Most health information does not meet the health literacy needs of our communities. Writing health information in plain language is time-consuming but the release of tools like ChatGPT may make it easier to produce reliable plain language health information.

Objective: To investigate the capacity for ChatGPT to produce plain language versions of health texts.

What generative AI means for trust in health communications.

Large language models are fundamental technologies used in interfaces like ChatGPT and are poised to change the way people access and make sense of health information. The speed of uptake and investment suggests that these will be transformative technologies, but it is not yet clear what the implications might be for health communications. In this viewpoint, we draw on research about the adoption of new information technologies to focus on the ways that generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools like large language models might change how health information is produced, what health information people see, how marketing and misinformation might be mixed with evidence, and what people trust.

General practitioners' decision-making process to prescribe pain medicines for low back pain: a qualitative study.

Background: Pain medicines are widely prescribed by general practitioners (GPs) when managing people with low back pain (LBP), but little is known about what drives decisions to prescribe these medicines.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate what influences GPs' decision to prescribe pain medicines for LBP.

Design: Qualitative study with in-depth interviews.

Systematic review of health literacy champions: who, what and how?

Health literacy is an important aspect of equitable, safe, and high-quality care. For organizations implementing health literacy initiatives, using 'change champions' appears to be a promising strategy. This systematic review aimed to identify the empirical and conceptual research that exists about health literacy champions.

Helping patient educators meet health literacy needs: End-user testing and iterative development of an innovative health literacy editing tool.

Objective: The Sydney Health Literacy Lab (SHeLL) Editor is an online text-editing tool that provides real-time assessment and feedback on written health information (assesses grade reading score, complex language, passive voice). This study aimed to explore how the design could be further enhanced to help health information providers interpret and act on automated feedback.

Methods: The prototype was iteratively refined across four rounds of user-testing with health services staff ( = 20).

Guideline concordant prescribing following myocardial infarction in people who are frail: A systematic review.

Aims: The risk-to-benefit ratio of cardioprotective medications in frail older adults is uncertain. The objective was to systematically review prescribing of guideline-recommended cardioprotective medications following myocardial infarction (MI) in people who are frail.

Data Sources: Ovid Medline, PubMed and Cochrane were searched from inception to October 2022 for studies that reported prescribing of one or more cardioprotective medication classes post-MI or acute coronary syndromes in people with frailty.

Physiotherapists should apply health coaching techniques and incorporate accountability to foster adherence to a walking program for low back pain: a qualitative study.

Questions: What motivates individuals to start a walking program for the prevention of low back pain? What strategies optimise short-term and long-term adherence to a walking program? What strategies can physiotherapists incorporate into clinical practice to facilitate commencement of and adherence to a walking program?

Design: Qualitative study.

Participants: Twenty-two adults recently recovered from an episode of non-specific low back pain who participated in a 6-month, progressive and individualised walking program that was prescribed by a physiotherapist trained in health coaching.

Methods: Semi-structured focus groups conducted online following completion of the walking program.

Addressing Behavioral Barriers to COVID-19 Testing With Health Literacy-Sensitive eHealth Interventions: Results From 2 National Surveys and 2 Randomized Experiments.

Background: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for COVID-19 was crucial in Australia's prevention strategy in the first 2 years of the pandemic, including required testing for symptoms, contact with cases, travel, and certain professions. However, several months into the pandemic, half of Australians were still not getting tested for respiratory symptoms, and little was known about the drivers of and barriers to COVID-19 PCR testing as a novel behavior at that time.

Objective: We aimed to identify and address COVID-19 testing barriers, and test the effectiveness of multiple eHealth interventions on knowledge for people with varying health literacy levels.

Integrating consumer perspectives into a large-scale health literacy audit of health information materials: learnings and next steps.

Background: Health information is less effective when it does not meet the health literacy needs of its consumers. For health organisations, assessing the appropriateness of their existing health information resources is a key step to addressing this issue. This study describes novel methods for a consumer-centred large-scale health literacy audit of existing resources and reflects on opportunities to further refine the method.

COVID-19 messages targeting young people on social media: content analysis of Australian health authority posts.

Health authorities utilized social media during the COVID-19 pandemic to disseminate critical and timely health messages, specifically targeting priority groups such as young people. To understand how social media was used for this purpose, we investigated the content of COVID-19-related social media posts targeting young people (16-29 years old) shared by Australian health departments. Posts targeting young people with COVID-19 information were extracted from all eight Australian State and Territory health department Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounts over 1 month of the Delta outbreak (September 2021) and analysed thematically.