How Many Participants Are Needed? Strategies for Calculating Sample Size in Nutrition Research.

Sample size estimation is a critical aspect of nutrition research methodology, yet it remains frequently overlooked, leading to underpowered studies and potentially inaccurate conclusions. This review addresses this gap by providing comprehensive guidance on how to calculate sample size in nutrition research. Emphasizing the importance of an a priori sample size calculation, the review outlines the key considerations, including the desired levels of significance and power, effect size estimation, and standard deviation assessment.

Family member experience with restricted family presence in Canadian PICUs: an interpretive descriptive study.

Purpose: We performed this study to explore family member experiences with restrictions to family presence during their child's PICU admission, leveraging the unique context of the COVID-19 pandemic to aid in future ethical and informed decision-making.

Methods: Qualitative interpretive descriptive study with family members of Canadian PICU patients admitted from March 2020 to April 2021 who experienced restricted family presence (RFP) policies. Respondents were purposively sampled for demographic-based maximum variation.

Developing community-based physical activity interventions and recreational programming for children in rural and smaller urban centres: a qualitative exploration of service provider and parent experiences.

Background: Children's physical inactivity is a persisting international public health concern. While there is a large body of literature examining physical activity interventions for children, the unique physical activity context of low-density communities in rural areas and smaller urban centres remains largely underexplored. With an influx of families migrating to rural communities and small towns, evaluations of health promotion efforts that support physical activity are needed to ensure they are meeting the needs of the growing populations in these settings.

Canadian Midwives' Experiences with Nutrition in Their Training and Practice: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction: Midwives are primary prenatal care providers well-positioned to offer nutrition advice to pregnant individuals; however, no Canadian study has assessed midwives' experience with nutrition education. The objective of this study was to investigate Canadian midwives' experiences with nutrition in their practice, their level of nutrition education, and their recommendations on select nutrition topics.

Methods: This cross-sectional study used an anonymous online survey consisting of 4 sections: demographics, opinions on the importance of nutrition, nutrition recommendations for pregnancy, and nutrition topics that midwives would like more information on.

Evaluation of a 4-week interdisciplinary primary care cardiovascular health programme: impact on knowledge, Mediterranean Diet adherence and biomarkers.

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the second-leading cause of death among Canadians. Clinical practice guidelines suggest that improvements to lifestyle, including dietary intake, can reduce the risk of CVD.

Objectives: The primary aim of the study was to evaluate patient changes in adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (Medi-Diet) from baseline to 4-week and 6-month follow-up after participating in a 4-week, group-based, interdisciplinary cardiovascular health programme run by healthcare professionals (HCPs) in a primary care setting.

Impact of COVID-19-related restricted family presence policies on Canadian pediatric intensive care unit clinicians: a qualitative study.

Purpose: Pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) worldwide restricted family presence in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to explore the experiences and impact of restricted family presence policies on Canadian PICU clinicians.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative study that followed an interpretive phenomenological design.

Environmental influences on E-cigarette use among young people: A systematic review.

E-cigarettes are a popular mode of delivery for nicotine, tobacco and cannabis. The prevalence of vaping among youth is increasing and this review aims to identify features of the neighbourhood environment, e.g.

Dietary Changes of Youth during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has taken the lives of millions and disrupted countless more worldwide. Simply living through the pandemic has had drastic effects on the health of citizens. Diet, an important aspect of health, has been uniquely affected by the pandemic, although these changes have not been sufficiently studied among youth.

"We Aren't Meant to Go Through the Hardest Parts of Our Lives Alone": Family Experience With Restricted PICU Presence During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Context: PICUs across Canada restricted family presence (RFP) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic from allowing two or more family members to often only one family member at the bedside. The objective of this study was to describe the experiences and impact of RFP on families of critically ill children to inform future policy and practice.

Hypothesis: RFP policies negatively impacted families of PICU patients and caused moral distress.

"I want to be there. I have to be there.": Parents' perceived barriers and facilitators to bedside presence in the pediatric intensive care unit.

Introduction: Parental presence at the bedside during a stressful pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission may improve child comfort, reduce parental anxiety, and enable family engagement. We performed this study to identify factors that parents perceive impact their capability, opportunity, and motivation to be at the bedside in PICU.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative descriptive study using semi-structured interviews based on the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF).

Impact of non-medical cannabis legalization with market restrictions on health service use and incident cases of psychotic disorder in Ontario, Canada.

Background: Cannabis is a risk factor in the onset and persistence of psychotic disorders. There is concern that non-medical cannabis legalization in Canada may have population-level impacts on psychotic disorders. We sought to examine changes in health service use and incident cases of psychotic disorder following cannabis legalization, during a period of tight restrictions on retail stores and product types.

Maternal Eating Disorders and Adverse Birth Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Previous systematic reviews have reported on the relationship between eating disorders (EDs) and birth outcomes, but there are no existing meta-analyses on this topic. This systematic review and meta-analysis examines the association between lifetime maternal EDs, including anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and binge-eating disorder (BED) with low birth weight (LBW), preterm birth (PTB), small for gestational age (SGA), large for gestational age (LGA), and miscarriage. Four databases were systematically searched for quantitative literature on maternal EDs that preceded birth outcomes.

The effect of non-medical cannabis retailer proximity on use of mental health services for psychotic disorders in Ontario, Canada.

Background: Cannabis is associated with the onset and persistence of psychotic disorders. Evidence suggests that accessibility of substances is associated with an increased risk of use-related harms. We sought to examine the effect of residing in proximity to non-medical cannabis retailers on the prevalence of health service use for psychosis.

A survey of pediatric intensive care unit clinician experience with restricted family presence during COVID-19.

Purpose: Limiting family presence runs counter to the family-centred values of Canadian pediatric intensive care units (PICUs). This study explores how implementing and enforcing COVID-19-related restricted family presence (RFP) policies impacted PICU clinicians nationally.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, online, self-administered survey of Canadian PICU clinicians to assess experience and opinions of restrictions, moral distress (Moral Distress Thermometer, range 0-10), and mental health impacts (Impact of Event Scale [IES], range 0-75 and attributable stress [five-point Likert scale]).

The impact of smartphone app-based interventions on adolescents' dietary intake: a systematic review and evaluation of equity factor reporting in intervention studies.

Context: Adolescence is a critical stage for improving nutrition. The popularity of smartphones makes them an ideal platform for administering interventions to adolescents. A systematic review has yet to assess the impact of smartphone app-based interventions exclusively on adolescents' dietary intake.

Does Dietitian Involvement During Pregnancy Improve Birth Outcomes? A Systematic Review.

Maternal diet during pregnancy can have a significant impact on maternal and offspring health. As nutrition counselling is an important component of prenatal care, registered dietitians (RDs) are uniquely trained professionals who can provide personalized nutrition counselling customized to an individual's sociocultural needs. The objective of this systematic review was to determine if RD involvement during pregnancy is associated with a lower prevalence of adverse birth outcomes in the United States and Canada.

Validating the Perceived Active School Travel Enablers and Barriers-Parent (PASTEB-P) Questionnaire to Support Intervention Programming and Research.

A child's ability to participate in active school travel (AST) is complicated by several factors. Of particular note are parental controls, which are informed by their perceptions of the local built and social environments, assessments of their child's skills, and convenience preferences, among other considerations. However, there is currently a lack of AST-specific scales that include validated parental perception measures related to such notable barriers and enablers, or those that tend to frame their AST decision-making processes.

Breakfast Consumption and Diet Quality of Teens in Southwestern Ontario.

Background: Breakfast skipping has previously been associated with worse diet quality among adolescents; the latter increases the risk of chronic disease. However, many studies do not consider diet quality as a function of calories, which is problematic as skippers tend to consume less energy than consumers. Additionally, due to the lack of one accepted definition of both breakfast skipping and diet quality, it is unclear how differences found may change when using varying definitions.

Nicotine and Nicotine-Free Vaping Behavior among a Sample of Canadian High School Students: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Youth vaping is a public health concern in Canada. Researchers have explored factors associated with vape use, but rarely differentiated between types of use. This study estimates the prevalence and correlations among past-month nicotine vaping, nicotine-free vaping, and dual-use vaping (nicotine and nicotine-free) in grades 9-12 high school students.

Applicability of the Socioecological Model for Understanding and Reducing Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods in Canada.

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have become a major contributor to the diets of Canadians, with a recent report from Statistics Canada suggesting Canadians are consuming almost one-half of their calories from UPFs. Research has linked UPF consumption with increased risk for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, among others. This paper sought to investigate the popularity of UPFs, particularly among children and teens, utilizing the socioecological model as a framework to illustrate how influences at multiple levels (i.

Fruit and Vegetable Intake Is Associated with Food Knowledge among Children Aged 9-14 Years in Southwestern Ontario, Canada.

Interventions to improve dietary quality and intake of fruits and vegetables (FV) among Canadian children have had modest success, and it has been suggested that food knowledge could be key to improvement. Programs have been criticized for insufficiently connecting food knowledge with food skills and decision making about dietary intake. The objective of this study was to investigate factors associated with FV consumption by elementary school children, aged 9-14 years, in Ontario, Canada, including food knowledge, socioeconomic status, sociodemographic characteristics, and the food environment.

Outcomes associated with family presence at the bedside of critically ill children in the pediatric intensive care unit: a scoping review protocol.

Objective: The objective of this review is to identify the outcomes of family presence at the bedside of critically ill children in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) that have been reported in the literature.

Introduction: PICU admission is traumatic for critically ill children and their family members, and family presence may alleviate negative outcomes. Family presence may change with family member, patient, health care provider, and institutional circumstances.

The Proof Is in the Pudding: Using a Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Long-Term Effectiveness of a Household Food Waste Reduction Intervention During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

To halve per capita global food waste by 2030, policies and programs that effectively reduce household food waste generation are needed. Building upon a previous randomized controlled trial, this study evaluated the long-term effectiveness of the "Reduce Food Waste, Save Money" household food waste reduction intervention by comparing direct measurements of household food waste generated by treatment ( = 47) and control households ( = 52) over three time periods. The results indicate that there has been a long-term, sustained 30% reduction of avoidable food waste sent to landfill by treatment households following the implementation of this intervention.

A randomized control trial of a Canadian-based school food program on the home food environment.

Research provides evidence of take-home effects in school-based nutrition interventions, citing children as important influencers of family nutrition, acting as agents of change in the household and potentially influencing family food consumption. Therefore, the purpose of this randomized control trial was to examine whether implementation of a centrally procured school food program would produce changes in children's home food environment, including fruit and/or vegetable availability and parental modelling of fruit and/or vegetable consumption. A secondary objective was to investigate whether children's fruit and/or vegetable intake predicted their parent's fruit and/or vegetable intake.

Family presence in Canadian PICUs during the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods environmental scan of policy and practice.

Background: Despite their broad commitment to family-centred care, children's hospitals and associated pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) restricted family presence during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to describe family presence policies and practices in Canadian PICUs from March to May 2020, and their evolution by August to December 2020.

Methods: We conducted an environmental scan of family presence policies and restrictions in all 19 Canadian PICUs using 2 methods.