Development and pilot implementation of a novel protocol to assess capacity and readiness of health systems to adopt HPV detection-based cervical cancer screening in Europe.

Background: Cervical cancer remains a significant public health concern in Europe. Effective introduction and scaling up of human papillomavirus (HPV) detection-based cervical cancer screening (CCS) requires a systematic assessment of health systems capacity. However, there is no validated capacity assessment methodology for CCS programmes, especially in European contexts.

Factors influencing human papillomavirus vaccination uptake in European women and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: Cervical Cancer (CC) lingers as a severe public health issue due to low vaccination coverage and poor screening addressability. Hence, this systematic review explored psychological factors influencing the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination uptake in European women.

Methods: As of September 2022, PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science were systematically searched to include English studies assessing diverse factors influencing vaccination uptake in European women.

Handwashing adherence during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study based on protection motivation theory.

Rationale: The associations between the number of COVID-19 cases/deaths and subsequent uptake of protective behaviors may reflect cognitive and behavioral responses to threat-relevant information.

Objective: Applying protection motivation theory (PMT), this study explored whether the number of total COVID-19 cases/deaths and general anxiety were associated with cross-situational handwashing adherence and whether these associations were mediated by PMT-specific self-regulatory cognitions (threat appraisal: perceived vulnerability, perceived illness severity; coping appraisal: self-efficacy, response efficacy, response costs).

Method: The study (#NCT04367337) was conducted in March-September 2020 among 1256 adults residing in 14 countries.

Measuring antenatal depressive symptoms across the world: A validation and cross-country invariance analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) in eight diverse low-resource settings.

Measures that produce valid and reliable antenatal depressive symptom scores in low-resource country contexts are important for efforts to illuminate risk factors, outcomes, and effective interventions in these contexts. Establishing the psychometric comparability of scores across countries also facilitates analyses of similarities and differences across contexts. To date, however, few studies have evaluated the psychometric properties and comparability of the most widely used antenatal depressive symptom measures across diverse cultural, political, and social contexts.

Associations Between ADHD Symptoms and Maternal and Birth Outcomes: An Exploratory Analysis in a Multi-Country Cohort of Expectant Mothers.

Objective: ADHD symptoms can adversely impact functioning in a range of domains relevant for maternal well-being and fetal development; however, there has been almost no research examining their impact during pregnancy. We aimed to address this gap.

Method: We used data ( = 1,204) from a longitudinal birth cohort study spanning eight countries to address this gap.

Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and associations with prenatal substance use and poor infant outcomes in a multi-country cohort of mothers: a latent class analysis.

Background: This paper enumerates and characterizes latent classes of adverse childhood experiences and investigates how they relate to prenatal substance use (i.e., smoking, alcohol, and other drugs) and poor infant outcomes (i.

Perceived stress during the prenatal period: assessing measurement invariance of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) across cultures and birth parity.

Maternal prenatal stress places a substantial burden on mother's mental health. Expectant mothers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have thus far received less attention than mothers in high-income settings. This is particularly problematic, as a range of triggers, such as exposure to traumatic events (e.

Prevention of child mental health problems through parenting interventions in Southeastern Europe (RISE): study protocol for a multi-site randomised controlled trial.

Background: Childhood adversities, such as poor parental practices, exposure to violence, and risk behaviours strongly impact children's future mental and behavioural problems. Adversities affect families living in disadvantaged environments and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to a greater extent than in high-income countries. Parenting programmes are an effective way to alleviate them, although their outreach and scalability is still limited in LMICs.

The Interplay Between Strictness of Policies and Individuals' Self-Regulatory Efforts: Associations with Handwashing During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: Patterns of protective health behaviors, such as handwashing and sanitizing during the COVID-19 pandemic, may be predicted by macro-level variables, such as regulations specified by public health policies. Health behavior patterns may also be predicted by micro-level variables, such as self-regulatory cognitions specified by health behavior models, including the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA).

Purpose: This study explored whether strictness of containment and health policies was related to handwashing adherence and whether such associations were mediated by HAPA-specified self-regulatory cognitions.

The trajectory of COVID-19 pandemic and handwashing adherence: findings from 14 countries.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected people's engagement in health behaviors, especially those that protect individuals from SARS-CoV-2 transmission, such as handwashing/sanitizing. This study investigated whether adherence to the World Health Organization's (WHO) handwashing guidelines (the outcome variable) was associated with the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic, as measured by the following 6 indicators: (i) the number of new cases of COVID-19 morbidity/mortality (a country-level mean calculated for the 14 days prior to data collection), (ii) total cases of COVID-19 morbidity/mortality accumulated since the onset of the pandemic, and (iii) changes in recent cases of COVID-19 morbidity/mortality (a difference between country-level COVID-19 morbidity/mortality in the previous 14 days compared to cases recorded 14-28 days earlier).

Methods: The observational study (#NCT04367337) enrolled 6064 adults residing in Australia, Canada, China, France, Gambia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, and Switzerland.

Preventing child mental health problems in southeastern Europe: Feasibility study (phase 1 of MOST framework).

The prevalence of child emotional and behavioral problems is an international problem but is higher in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) where there are often less mental health supports for families. Parenting programs can be an effective means of prevention, but must be low-cost, scalable, and suitable for the local context. The RISE project aims to systematically adapt, implement, and evaluate a low-cost parenting program for preventing/reducing child mental health problems in three middle-income countries in Southeastern Europe.

Evidence for Better Lives Study: a comparative birth-cohort study on child exposure to violence and other adversities in eight low- and middle-income countries - foundational research (study protocol).

Introduction: Violence against children is a health, human rights and social problem affecting approximately half of the world's children. Its effects begin at prenatal stages with long-lasting impacts on later health and well-being. The (EBLS) aims to produce high-quality longitudinal data from cities in eight low- and middle-income countries-Ghana, Jamaica, Pakistan, the Philippines, Romania, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Vietnam-to support effective intervention to reduce violence against children.

Preventing child mental health problems through parenting interventions in Southeastern Europe (RISE): Protocol for a multi-country cluster randomized factorial study.

Background: Child mental health problems continue to be a major global concern, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Parenting interventions have been shown to be effective for reducing child behavior problems in high-income countries, with emerging evidence supporting similar effects in LMICs. However, there remain substantial barriers to scaling up evidence-based interventions due to limited human and financial resources in such countries.

Breastfeeding (Un)Covered: Narratives of Public Breastfeeding on Romanian Discussion Forums.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the construction of breastfeeding in public, as depicted in the stories and the opinions of women participating in discussions on public forums.

Method: There were 8 discussion forums selected, from which 769 messages were subjected to a narrative analysis further informed by recurrent themes identified in the literature and across messages. The emerging narratives were grouped based on their valence, and three broader categories of themes were formed, highlighting the predominant tone towards breastfeeding in public.

Play seriously: Effectiveness of serious games and their features in motor rehabilitation. A meta-analysis.

Background: Evidence for the effectiveness of serious games (SGs) and their various features is inconsistent in the motor rehabilitation field, which makes evidence based development of SGs a rare practice.

Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of SGs in motor rehabilitation for upper limb and movement/balance and to test the potential moderating role of SGs features like feedback, activities, characters and background.

Methods: We ran a meta-analysis including 61 studies reporting randomized controlled trials (RCTs), controlled trials (CTs) or case series designs in which at least one intervention for motor rehabilitation included the use of SGs as standalone or in combination.

Innovative treatment modalities for urinary incontinence: a European survey identifying experience and attitude of healthcare providers.

Introduction And Hypothesis: Urinary incontinence is a common condition in women, with a reported prevalence ranging from 25% to 51%. Of these women, an estimated 38% suffer from stress urinary incontinence (SUI). A European research consortium is investigating an innovative system based on information and communication technology for the conservative treatment of women with SUI.

Children's and adolescents' snacking: interplay between the individual and the school class.

Objective: In schools, perceived norms of classmates facilitate but can also inhibit unhealthy food intake in children and adolescents. However, the role of actual class behaviors and attitudes is less established. Thus, the present study examined classmates' actual eating behavior and food preferences in relation to actual food intake.

Exploring the association between television advertising of healthy and unhealthy foods, self-control, and food intake in three European countries.

Background: Building upon previous results, the present study explored the relationship between exposure to unhealthy and healthy food TV commercials, trait self-control, and food intake.

Methods: In total, 825 Finns (53% female), 1,055 Germans (55% female), and 971 Romanians (55% female) aged 8-21 reported advertisement exposure, self-control, and food intake.

Results: Altogether, participants indicated higher exposure to unhealthy compared to healthy food advertisements (F(1, 2848) = 354.

Developmental trends in eating self-regulation and dietary intake in adolescents.

Background: Research suggests that while capacities for self-regulation gradually improve during adolescence, eating habits become unhealthier. This study investigated whether there are age-related patterns in using self-regulation strategies (SRS) as well as in the self-reported dietary intake of fruit, vegetables, and unhealthy snacks. Moreover, we tested the strength of the relationship between different SRS (aimed at goal versus aimed at temptations) and dietary intake across different ages in adolescents.

Reappraise the Situation but Express Your Emotions: Impact of Emotion Regulation Strategies on ad libitum Food Intake.

Research investigating the role of maladaptive emotion regulation (ER) on food intake has exclusively focused on food intake in a forced consumption situation. In contrast, the present study examined the effect of negative emotions (fear, negative affect) and ER strategies (suppression, reappraisal) on food intake in a non-forced, free eating setting where participants (N = 165) could choose whether and how much they ate. This free (ad libitum) eating approach enabled, for the first time, the testing of (1) whether eating (yes/no) is used as a secondary ER strategy and (2) whether the amount of food intake differed, depending on the ER strategy.