Publications by authors named "Lucy Parker"

Objective: The objective of this study is to analyse the perspectives of screening candidates and healthcare professionals on shared decision-making (SDM) in prostate cancer (PCa) screening using the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test.

Design: Descriptive qualitative study (May-December 2022): six face-to-face focus groups and four semistructured interviews were conducted, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed using ATLAS.ti software.

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International public health agencies recommend policies to improve diets and promote healthy eating, but implementation often falters due to varying contextual factors across regions. This study evaluates the relevance and applicability of these policies in urban areas of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Using the Delphi technique, we convened a panel of 21 experts from 13 LAC countries, representing public policy, research, social action, and healthcare.

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  • - The study investigated how the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions affected the emotional well-being of people with type 2 diabetes and/or hypertension in Ecuador and Spain, considering their unique sociopolitical and economic contexts.
  • - Through 36 semi-structured interviews conducted in 2020, researchers found a notable decline in emotional health among participants, driven by pandemic-related stresses and pre-existing concerns about their chronic conditions, leading to feelings like fear and depression.
  • - A conceptual framework was developed to show the interplay between COVID-19 control measures, economic and social factors, and existing inequalities, suggesting that tailored social policies are needed to address emotional well-being during future health crises.
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  • Traditional medicine (TM) is commonly used by people in Ecuador to manage metabolic risk factors like hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and hyperglycemia, with notable usage rates of 39.4% in Esmeraldas and 31.1% in Quito.
  • The study analyzed data from 602 individuals across two diverse health districts, revealing that a significant number did not seek any treatment for their metabolic issues, and TM is often used alongside conventional medicine (CM).
  • Education level influences TM usage differently in the two regions; higher education correlates with TM use in urban Quito, while in rural Esmeraldas, those with no formal schooling are more likely to use TM, along with younger individuals and those of Afro ethnicity
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Introduction: Patients' decisions on prostate cancer (PCa) opportunistic screening may vary. This study aimed to assess how demographic and health-related characteristics may influence knowledge and decisions regarding PCa screening.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among men aged over 40, randomly sampled from the Spanish population, 2022.

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  • Recent guidelines suggest prostate cancer screening decisions should be made collaboratively between patients and clinicians, yet many clinicians lack awareness about screening practices.
  • A review of 14 studies found that general practitioners generally have lower awareness and less favorable opinions about PSA testing compared to urologists, who are more knowledgeable and proactive in using the test.
  • The study highlights a need for educational interventions for general practitioners to improve their understanding of prostate cancer guidelines and risk factors.
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  • The objective of this study was to explore the barriers and facilitators of shared decision-making (SDM) regarding PSA testing in primary care settings.
  • A systematic review was conducted using various databases, resulting in the analysis of 13 studies that highlighted common barriers (such as time constraints and knowledge gaps) and facilitators (like training and patient education).
  • The findings suggest that while there are significant challenges to implementing SDM, many of these barriers are modifiable, and enhancing facilitators could improve the practice.
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  • Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM) is becoming more common in low- and middle-income countries, with a study in rural northern Ecuador finding a prevalence of 6.8%, significantly higher in women (10.4%) compared to men (2.0%).
  • The study used surveys and tests to estimate obesity prevalence at 30.8%, particularly noting that women's obesity rates (43.2%) were nearly three times those of men (14.7%).
  • Results suggest that gender roles heavily influence health outcomes, indicating a need for targeted health promotion strategies that consider gender differences, especially in rural communities.
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This qualitative study aims to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted healthcare access for patients with chronic conditions in Ecuador from the patient's perspective. We interviewed 19 patients diagnosed with arterial hypertension or type 2 diabetes in rural and urban areas of Ecuador during August and September 2020. We used the Framework Method to analyse the interview transcripts with ATLAS.

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Background: There is general agreement regarding the relevance of community involvement in public health policy, practice, and research to reduce health inequities.

Objective: This review aims to analyse the experiences of community engagement in public health actions, with particular attention to methodologies used and how community participation is articulated.

Method And Analysis: We searched the Web of Science, EBSCO, and ProQuest for scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals.

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(1) Background: The frequency of imaging tests grew exponentially in recent years. This increase may differ according to a patient's sex, age, or socioeconomic status. We aim to analyze the impact of the Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom to control exposure to radiation for men and women and explore the impact of patients' age and socioeconomic status; (2) Methods: The retrospective observational study that includes a catchment population of 234,424.

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(1) Background: There are no real-world data evaluating the incidence of false-positive results. We analyzed the clinical and analytical factors associated with the presence of false-positive results in PSA determinations in practice. (2) Methods: A prospective cohort study of patients with a PSA test was performed in clinical practice.

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Work-related communication volume within the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) has had little systematic research previously. The impact of communication volume on work-life balance of healthcare staff in the NHS is also not known and has not been an area of focus or governance. COVID-19 led to a shift to non-physical work, with greater reliance on digital communication for clinical decision making.

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Opportunistic prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening may reduce prostate cancer mortality risk but is associated with false positive results, biopsy complications and overdiagnosis. Although different organisations have emphasised the importance of shared decision making (SDM) to assist men in deciding whether to undergo prostate cancer screening, recent evaluations show that the available decision aids fail to facilitate SDM, mainly because they do not consider the patients' perspective in their design. We aim to systematically develop and test a patient decision aid to promote SDM in prostate cancer screening, following the Knowledge to Action framework.

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We aimed to review strategies for identifying SARS-CoV-2 infection before the availability of molecular test results, and to assess the reporting quality of the studies identified through the application of the STARD guideline. We screened 3,821 articles published until 30 April 2021, of which 23 met the inclusion criteria: including at least two diagnostic variables, being designed for use in clinical practice or in a public health context and providing diagnostic accuracy rates. Data extraction and application of STARD criteria were performed independently by two researchers and discrepancies were discussed with a third author.

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Background: Rwanda is a sub-Saharan country, where intestinal parasite infections, anemia and undernutrition coexist. The purpose of this research is to study the relationship between intestinal parasite infections and undernutrition/anemia to clarify the priorities of intervention in the rural area of Gakenke district in the Northern Province of Rwanda.

Materials And Methods: A total of 674 students from Nemba I School, participated in a cross-sectional study, in which their parasitological and nutritional status were analysed.

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Introduction: The Diabetes Health Profile (DHP-18), structured in three dimensions (psychological distress (PD), barriers to activity (BA) and disinhibited eating (DE)), assesses the psychological and behavioural burden of living with type 2 diabetes. The objectives were to adapt the DHP-18 linguistically and culturally for use with patients with type 2 DM in Ecuador, and to evaluate its psychometric properties.

Methods: Participants were recruited using purposive sampling through patient clubs at primary health centres in Quito, Ecuador.

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Objectives: This study aimed to understand therapists' lived experiences of delivering mentalisation-based therapy (MBT), including their experiences of service user change.

Method: One-to-one semi-structured interviews or focus groups were conducted with 14 MBT therapists and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).

Results: Four superordinate themes were identified: (1) experiencing the challenges and complexities of being with service users during MBT; (2) being on a journey of discovery and change; (3) being an MBT therapist: a new way of working and developing a new therapeutic identity; and (4) being a therapist in the group: seeing it all come together.

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Scientific societies have provided guidelines to reduce PSA-specific harms. We studied the potential non-compliance of PSA testing with current guidelines in general practice. A cross-sectional study of a random sample of 1291 patients with a PSA test was performed between January and April 2018 in primary health care.

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Cysticercosis is a parasitic infection caused by the metacestode larval stage (cysticercus) of . In humans, cysticercosis may infect the central nervous system and cause neurocysticercosis, which is responsible for over 50,000 deaths per year worldwide and is the major cause of preventable epilepsy cases, especially in low-income countries. Cysticercosis infection is endemic in many less developed countries where poor hygiene conditions and free-range pig management favor their transmission.

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Diabetes is a major public health problem, increasingly affecting low- and middle-income countries. The project CEAD (Contextualizing Evidence for Action in Diabetes in low-resource settings) aims to evaluate the implementation of comprehensive diabetes care in two low-resource settings in Ecuador and to stimulate context-led health systems innovations to improve diabetes care and reduce inequity. The mixed-methods approach includes a 24-month retrospective study to assess the current level of implementation of comprehensive diabetes care and participants will be followed up prospectively for two years to assess changes in healthcare and clinical outcomes from the outset of the research.

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Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is one of the most important parasitic diseases in the world. The domestic dog is the main reservoir of zoonotic VL and a high prevalence of canine leishmaniasis (CanL) is associated with transmission of infection to humans. Here we describe the methodology used to obtain a rapid and representative sample of domestic dogs in the city of Posadas, Misiones, and compare the prevalence of infection with a sample of shelter dogs.

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