Publications by authors named "Maria Armaou"

Background: Dupuytren's contracture is caused by nodules and cords which pull the fingers towards the palm of the hand. Treatments include limited fasciectomy surgery, collagenase injection and needle fasciotomy. There is limited evidence comparing limited fasciectomy with collagenase injection.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study compares the effectiveness of two treatments for Dupuytren's contracture: collagenase injection and limited fasciectomy, using a randomized controlled trial with 672 participants
  • - The main measurement tool used was the Patient Evaluation Measure-Hand Health Profile (PEM), where scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating worse hand health; results showed a mean score of 17.8 for the collagenase group and 11.9 for the limited-fasciectomy group at 1 year
  • - The findings concluded that collagenase injection was not as effective as limited fasciectomy after one year, with fewer complications reported in the collagenase group (1.8%) compared to the limited-fasc
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Research into digital interventions for mental well-being promotion has grown in recent years, fuelled by the need to improve mental health prevention strategies and respond to challenges arising from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This bibliometric analysis provides a structured overview of publication trends and themes in primary research studies reporting an array of digital interventions indexed at WoS from 2004 to 2023. Bibliometric data were collected on a sample of 1117 documents and analysed using the Biblioshiny package.

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Background: The unprecedented rapid re-deployment of healthcare workers from different care pathways into newly created and fluid COVID-19 teams provides a unique opportunity to examine the interaction of many of the established non-technical factors for successful delivery of clinical care and teamwork in healthcare settings. This research paper therefore aims to address these gaps by qualitatively exploring the impact of COVID work throughout the pandemic on permanent and deployed personnel's experiences, their ability to effectively work together, and the effect of social dynamics (e.g.

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Background: Digital psychological interventions can target deficit-oriented and asset-oriented psychological outcomes in the workplace. This review examined: (a) the effectiveness of digital interventions for psychological well-being at work, (b) associations with workplace outcomes, and (c) associations between interventions' effectiveness and their theory-base.

Methods: six electronic databases were searched for randomised controlled trials (RCT) and quasi-experimental studies.

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The rapid increase of acute and intensive care capacities in hospitals needed during the response to COVID-19 created an urgent demand for skilled healthcare staff across the globe. To upscale capacity, many hospitals chose to increase their teams in these departments with rapidly re-deployed inter-professional healthcare personnel, many of whom had no prior experience of working in a high-risk environment and were neither prepared nor trained for work on such wards. This systematic review of reviews examines the current evidence base for successful teamwork in rapidly deployed interprofessional teams in intensive and acute care settings, by assessing systematic reviews of empirical studies to inform future deployments and support of rapidly formed clinical teams.

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Background: Dupuytren's contracture is a fibro-proliferative disease of the hands affecting over 2 million UK adults, particularly the white, male population. Surgery is the traditional treatment; however, recent studies have indicated that an alternative to surgery-collagenase clostridium histolyticum (collagenase)-is better than a placebo in the treatment of Dupuytren's contracture. There is however no robust randomised controlled trial that provides a definitive answer on the clinical effectiveness of collagenase compared with limited fasciectomy surgery.

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Aims: COVID-19 has compounded a growing waiting list problem, with over 4.5 million patients now waiting for planned elective care in the UK. Views of patients on waiting lists are rarely considered in prioritization.

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Objective: Psychological well-being has been associated with desirable individual and organisational outcomes. This systematic review aims to assess the effectiveness of digital interventions for the improvement of psychological well-being and/or the prevention/management of poor mental well-being in the workplace.

Methods: This review protocol is registered in PROSPERO (CRD42019142428).

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Objectives: Employment following illness is associated with better physical and psychological functioning. This study aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a theoretically led workbook intervention designed to support patients with cancer returning to work.

Design: Parallel-group randomised controlled trial with embedded qualitative interviews.

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Background: Returning to work after cancer is associated with improved physical and psychological functioning, but managing this return can be a challenging process. A workbook based intervention (WorkPlan) was developed to support return-to-work among cancer survivors. The aim of this study was to explore how participants using the workbook engaged with the intervention and utilised the content of the intervention in their plan to return-to-work.

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