bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Beyond medication: Exploring social prescribing for mental ill health in Portugal
Authors: Hoffmeister L , Henriques J , Figueiredo C , Gama A , Dias S 
Published: October 2023

Abstract

Mental ill health represents a priority challenge in public health due to its considerable burden on people's health and well-being, as well as economic consequences. Individuals with mental health problems have been presented with limited alternatives for improving their mental well-being, with medication being the most widely adopted solution. It is imperative that the focus shifts to prevention and the promotion of positive mental health. This can be achieved through non-medical alternatives, such as social prescribing (SP), a person-centered and intersectoral intervention. Some studies reveal that mental ill health is one of the most common reasons for referral to a SP service, with encouraging results about SP's benefits in mental health. SP has been implemented in Portugal since 2018, a country that had one of the highest prevalence of mental health disorders in the European Union. The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of mental health-related referrals in Portugal and to describe the type of community services patients were referred to. Sociodemographic, health, and referral-related data was collected for 714 patients at primary healthcare units in Lisbon between 2018-2021. Results show that 53.6% of participants were aged between 26-65 and 66.9% were female. Approximately 20% were referred for mental health reasons and 65.5% had been diagnosed with a mental health disorder. Patients were referred to a range of third-sector organizations (associations, ONGs, municipalities) and activities (swimming, music classes, volunteering, pregnancy club), but no specific mental health services were identified among them. This could suggest that there is a lack of available mental health responses in the community or that they are not yet accessible to SP team. Further efforts are needed to map out these resources and reinforce the intersectoral work to create and promote mental well-being responses, to ensure access to mental health support for all.

Key messages
• There is a need to shift the focus towards prevention and promoting positive mental health through non-medical alternatives, such as social prescribing.
• In SP in Portugal, there is a lack of available mental health resources in the community, suggesting the need for further efforts to create and promote mental well-being responses for all individuals.
Gender based violence among LGBTQ+ health students
Authors: Tavolacci M , Karmaly A , Ladner J 
Published: October 2023

Abstract

Background
Although there has been increased attention to campus gender based violence,(GBV) much of that attention should be focused on victimization of LGBTQ+. The aim was to evaluate the risk of LGBTQ+ ob being exposed to GBV.

Methods
An anonymous online survey among health students was performed in a French university. Self-questionnaire included socio-economic characteristics: age, gender and LGBTQ+ status (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary, queer and other). The CES-D 8 score was used to measure depression levels. Five GBV were collected 1-Damage to the image with a sexual connotation on social networks; 2-Sexist remarks and behavior; 3-Comments with sexual connotations; 4-Sexual assaults; 5-Rape or attempted rape

Results
Overall 1152 students filled the questionnaire The mean age was 20.8 years (SD = 2.26), 82.6% of students were women (non binary 0.4%) and 14.7% were LGBTQ + (16.4% in men et 14.0% in women). Since the beginning of their study, respectively the non-LGBTQ+ and LGBTQ+ students were exposed to GBV1: 3.1% and 7.6 % (p = 0.005), GBV2 35.8% and 45.9% (p = 0.01); GBV3 37.0% and 32.9% (p = 0.10); GBV4 6.0% and 13.5% (p &lt; 0.001) and GBV5 1.2% and 5.3% (p &lt; 0.001). The CEDS-8 score was 15.3 for non-LGBTQ+ students and 17.1 for LGBTQ + (p &lt; 0.001). After logistic regression, LGBTQ+ health students have a higher risk of being exposed to GBV than non LGBTQ+ students AOR=2.01 CI95% [1.41-2.87].

Conclusions
LGBTQ+ health students have twice as likely to be exposed to GBV than non LGBTQ+ students. Four on the five GBV are more frequent among LGBTQ+ students. These negative outcomes may be exacerbated by minority stress due to discrimination and oppression in institutions and communities. Policy changes could help more affirming environments for LGBTQ+ students to reduce the disproportionate prevalence and impact of GBV on them. It could be include LGBTQ+ student examples in campus sexual misconduct policies.

Key messages
• LGBTQ+ health students have twice as likely to be exposed to GBV than non LGBTQ+ students.
• Sexist remarks and behavior is the more frequent GBV among health students.
The podcast as strategy to professional development and knowledge transfer in Health Care Planning
Authors: Paiva Neto F T , Shimocomaqui G , Souza I S , Souza E L , Gadelha A K , Sousa AAF , Eshriqui I 
Published: October 2023

Abstract

Background
Is a notorious concern to seek new ways to use technologies in strategies for the development of health professionals with a focus on changes in the work process of health teams and in management practices. The PlanificaSUS Project implements the Health Care Planning (HCP) methodology in Brazil, with a goal to organizing and integrating Primary Health Care (PHC) and Specialized Outpatient Care (SOC) services. Some materials present podcasts as one of the pedagogical resources for reflection and discussion of heath themes. In this sense, each episode of the podcast has a specific theme. Objective: Report the experience of using podcast as a strategy to professional development and knowledge transfer in Health Care Planning.

Results
So far, nine podcast episodes, lasting ten minutes each, have been made available in the HCP materials and total more than 15,000 views. This strategy reached 4,000 health professionals, who work in 1,635 health units, distributed in 19 federative units in Brazil. All podcasts episodes are prepared using language that dialogues with the health professional and stimulates discussions of changes through cycles of continuous improvement. In specific HCP evaluation moments, participants demonstrated that, in their practice scenarios, the use of the podcast together with repetitive listening, helped to significantly improve their understanding.

Conclusions
The podcast presents flexibility in its aspects of production and distribution, supporting pedagogical possibilities. As one of the great challenges the training of teacher specialists to produce podcasts, this requires not only technological fluency, but also pedagogical fluency. The use and study of this tool in the educational context of health in Brazil is still incipient, but possible in the different realities of the country. Main messages: The podcast strategy has promising attributes for developing knowledge transfer strategies among healthcare professionals.

Key messages
• The podcast support possibility of making educational material available in the form of lectures or audio interviews, being accessible at any time without limitation of location.
• It is important to provide information access strategies for professionals who have difficulty obtaining protected time to read and study.
Effect of a modified Nutri-Score on the understanding of nutrient profile and ultra-processing
Authors: Srour B , Hercberg S , Galan P , Monteiro C A , Deschasaux-Tanguy M , Julia C , Touvier M 
Published: October 2023

Abstract

Introduction
When considering health-related impacts of foods, nutrient profile and processing are 2 complementary dimensions. Nutri-Score informs on the nutrient profile. Recently, mounting evidence linked ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption to various adverse health outcomes, independently of their nutrient profile. To inform consumers about each of these health-related dimensions of food, we tested, in a randomised controlled trial, if a graphically modified version “Nutri-Score 2.0”, including a black “ultra-processed” banner, would improve the capacity of consumers to rank products according to their nutrient profile, and to detect UPF, compared to a no-label situation.

Methods
21,159 participants included in the NutriNet-Santé web-cohort were randomly assigned to a control arm (no front-of-pack label) or an experimental arm (Nutri-Score 2.0), and were presented an online questionnaire with 3 sets of food products (cookies, breakfast cereals, and ready-to-eat meals) to rank according to nutrient profile, and to identify UPF. The primary outcome was objective understanding of nutrient profile and ultra-processing, represented by a score of correct answers. Secondary outcomes were purchasing intentions and the healthiest-perceived product. Multinomial logistic regressions were performed.

Results
Nutri-Score 2.0 improved objective understanding of both nutrient profile of food products from 0.9% to 24.2% (OR = 29.0 (23.4-35.9), p &lt; 0.001), and the ultra-processing dimension from 4.4% to 77.7% (OR = 174.3 (151.4-200.5), p &lt; 0.001). Trends were similar for cookies, breakfast cereals, and ready-to-eat meals. The Nutri-Score 2.0 had a positive impact on purchasing intentions and on the products perceived as the healthiest.

Conclusions
This randomised controlled trial demonstrates the interest of a front-of-pack label combining Nutri-Score (informing on nutrient profile) with an additional graphic mention indicating when the food is UPF, compared to a no-label situation.

Key messages
• This study suggests relevance for providing information on both nutrient profile and ultra-processing on front-of-pack labels.
• Our results show that participants were able to independently identify and understand these two complementary dimensions of foods.
Climate, extreme weather and the health of older people: An umbrella review and framework for action
Authors: Mavrodaris A 
Published: October 2023

Abstract

Background
Older people are affected more severely and unequally by disturbances in climate and ecosystems. Directly, from extreme weather events such as heat waves, flooding, and severe storms; and indirectly, through droughts and compromised water safety catalysing food insecurity, displacement and poverty. Limited understanding of the impacts and interfaces of climate and extreme weather on older people and subgroups at potential increased risk hinders our ability to plan and respond effectively to protecting older populations as climatic instability continues.

Objectives
To progress this agenda, our work aims to i) systematically assess the health impacts of extreme weather on older people ii) synthesise the evidence to examine interfaces and subgroups at increased risk iii) develop a framework to inform responses.

Methods
An umbrella review is being conducted to systematically examine and synthesise the links between extreme weather events and health impacts on older people. The review will include original or primary research published between 2013 and 2023. Electronic searches will be conducted in Medline via Ovid, Embase via Ovid, Web of Science, CINAHL via EbscoHost, Cochrane Library, ASSIA via Proquest and PsycINFO via EbscoHost. Reference lists of retrieved articles will be checked for further relevant studies and experts in the field will be consulted to identify any further potentially relevant papers. Quality will be assessed using STROBE checklists and a narrative synthesis of the results conducted.

Findings
The results of this review will provide a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of the impacts of climate instability and extreme weather events on the health and wellbeing of older people. It will be used to develop a framework demonstrating the interfaces between climate, extreme weather and the health of older people which will inform guidance on which subgroups are at increased risk and which actions and responses are needed.
Capturing youth voices to improve food policy: applying CO-CREATE’s Dialogue Forum Tool in Ireland
Authors: Murrin C M , Lee C , Slattery J , Vladu C , Bouillon C , Lien N 
Published: October 2023

Abstract

Background
The percentage of children eating fruit and vegetables and consuming milk in Europe is low The EU School Fruit, Vegetable, and Milk Scheme (SFVMS) is funded by the European Commission to promote the daily consumption of fruit, vegetables and milk. In 2023, the Commission plan to revise the scheme and are interested in hearing the views of young people. The aim of this research is to capture the voices of European Youth on the SFVMS from a collaboration of 4 countries. The present study provides initial findings from 11 and 12 year olds living in Ireland using the novel CO-CREATE Dialogue Forum Tool (DFT).

Methods
Two primary schools were recruited from a list of schools participating in the EU school, fruit, vegetables and milk scheme. The schools were from a high and a low socioeconomic status area. In each school, 6 pupils were invited to participate in the forum with consent from their parents. The DFT was applied to capture youth voices. The tool involved a moderated structured discussion about a prewritten SFVMS policy idea. The moderator guided the participants through the discussion with a series of activities on a physical canvas.

Results
The participants felt the policy idea was important to improve health. They discussed the obstacles and opportunities to the policy idea, including the quality of the school food products and their preferences. They proposed actions for improvement, including raising awareness of the quality and creating an advertising campaign. The participants enjoyed taking part in the dialogue forum and felt it was important to have their voices heard.

Conclusions
The CO-CREATE DFT was useful to discuss a policy idea for the EU SFVMS. The implementation of the tool by other countries will provide a wider European perspective of the policy idea.

Key messages
• Participants engaged well with The CO-CREATE dialogue forum tool.
• Youth voices can be readily captured to co-create food related policies.
A research platform for measuring information exposure, trust, and behaviour – burden of infodemics
Authors: Purnat T , Dunn A G , Ishizumi A , Nguyen T , Machiri S , Briand S 
Published: October 2023

Abstract

Background
During a health emergency, accurate and useful information can be drowned out by legitimate questions, concerns, information voids, conflicting information, and misinformation. Very few studies connect information exposure and trust to health behaviours and health outcomes, which limits available evidence to inform when and where to act to mitigate infodemics, especially in low resource settings. We have developed a toolkit that can support studies linking information exposure to health behaviours at the individual level and therefore can help estimate burden of infodemics at population level.

Methods
We developed and validated a research toolkit to measure topic-specific information exposure and health behaviors. We evaluated it in realistic scenarios to understand the usability of the toolkit.

Results
We address researcher requirements via a web-based study platform that includes an app that participants use to record topic-specific information exposure, a browser plugin for tracking access to relevant webpages, questionnaires that can be delivered at any time during a study, and app-based incentives for participation such as visual analytics to compare trust levels with other participants. Platform features include tailoring studies to local contexts, ease of use for participants, and frictionless sharing of de-identified data for aggregating individual participant data in international meta-analyses. The toolkit was improved for usability to researchers and study participants.

Conclusions
When applied in research studies, as per proposed protocol and with Institutional Review Board ethics clearance, this toolkit can capture detailed data about information exposure and health behaviour data, standardise study design while supporting localisation, and make it easy to synthesise individual participant data across studies. This will facilitate estimations of population-level estimated of impact of information diets on health behaviors and health outcomes.

Key messages
• The toolkit will make it easy to synthesise results in a global meta-analysis, also by researchers in resource poor settings.
• Next steps include establishing a coordinating site to support training in regional centres to turn meta-analyses into ongoing monitoring of the global burden of infodemics.
Does a digitalized single-mode survey lead to similar participation as a mixed-mode survey?
Authors: Grønkjær M , Eliasen M H , Bekker-Jeppesen M , Gøtzsche N , Jacobsen M H , Elsborg P , Toxværd C G , Andreasen A H , Lau C J 
Published: October 2023

Abstract

Background
Choice of survey administration mode in surveys mapping public health may influence the participation rates and hence the generalizability of the results. The aim of the study was, in a randomized design, to examine whether three digital invitation letters (i.e., single-mode administration) lead to a similar participation as two digital letters and three physical letters (mixed-mode administration) mailed with a shorter time interval between reminders.

Methods
The study utilizes data on 10,000 individuals (≥20 years) who participated in The Danish Capital Region Health Survey in 2017 and were re-invited in 2021. Citizens who were registered to receive digital mail from public authorities were randomized into two groups; the intervention group that received three digital letters (day 0, 21, 46; N = 4,745), and the control group that received two digital letters (day 0 and 7) and three physical letters (day 23, 44, 68; N = 4,744). Participation rate in the intervention and control group was compared after the entire period. Furthermore, the two groups were compared in terms of increase in participation rate between first reminder and 14 days later, as well as after second reminder and 19 days later.

Results
The overall response rate was 69%, divided into 61% in the intervention group and 78% in the control group. After the first reminder, the response rate increased from 39% to 53% in the intervention group and from 34% to 53% in the control group, while the response rate after the second reminder increased from 54% to 60% in the intervention group and from 53% to 68% in the control group.

Conclusions
A digitalized single-mode survey with three digital letters led to a significantly lower participation rate compared with a mixed-mode survey with two digital and three physical letters. The results can create a better basis for choice of survey administration mode in future surveys.

Key messages
• Mixed-mode survey administration with multiple reminders leads to significantly higher response rates compared with single-mode surveys with fewer reminders.
• Although it is more expensive and time-consuming, mixed-mode survey administration with multiple reminders should be considered in surveys to increase generalizability of data.
The impact of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis on sexually transmitted infections incidence in Bulgaria
Authors: Pakov I , Birindzhieva E , Milanov A , Terzieva K , Gancheva G 
Published: October 2023

Abstract

Background
The global introduction of effective Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) alongside with available antiretroviral medications against HIV strongly limited the spread of infection among the high-risk population. This remarkable success predisposes to riskier sexual behaviour and has emerged as leading cause of the increased incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in sizes of new threatening pandemic.

Methods
Checkpoint - Sofia is a medical centre located in Sofia, Bulgaria for consultations, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of STIs and HIV. Retrospective clinical study was performed on 507 consulted HIV-negative males with monitored normal renal function (October 2020 to March 2023).

Results
The mean age was 32±7.8 years (18-58 years) with prevalent ages &lt;30 and 30-40 years (41% and 47%, respectively). As “men having sex with men” (MSM) identified themselves 96% of the studied individuals and 131 (26%) reported past STI history. Drug substances usage monthly reported 25% and weekly 11%; vaccinated for HBV &lt;55%. On demand regimen (2 + 1+1 tablets) of PrEP was preferred at 91% and 15% switched to every-day receiving before increased risk. Voluntary were tested 58% of the subjects at least once during the first year of PrEP intake. No one was positive for HIV, HBV and HCV. We observed notable increase of STIs such as syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhoea among the PrEP users - 9% (3/4 of them in the initial phase of the disease), 6% and 4%, respectively. Mixed infection (gonorrhoea and chlamydia) was confirmed at three.

Conclusions
The drastic increase of unprotected sex practices in people regularly taking PrEP gradually leads to Ð° significant raise of other STIs and potential antibiotic resistance. This trend confirms the extreme importance of sexual health centres in the application of parallel approach towards HIV/STIs including periodic screening among risk groups, confirmation of asymptomatic cases and conduction of proper prevention or therapy.

Key messages
• The dramatic increase of unprotected sex practices in people regularly taking PrEP as HIV prevention, gradually leads to a drastic raise of other STIs and potential antibiotic resistance.
• Sexual health centres play a key role in the emergent screening among risk groups together with applying of preventive measures.
Associations of physical activity with risk of cardiovascular diseases using mediation analysis
Authors: Jasiukaitiene V , Luksiene D , Tamosiunas A , Radisauskas R , Bobak M 
Published: October 2023

Abstract

Background
The prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been, and continues to be, one of the most pressing issues worldwide, and the most important risk factors for CVD are physical inactivity, tobacco consumption and metabolic syndrome (MS). The psychological well-being (PWB) of the population is also important, as optimism is associated with a lower risk of CVDs.

Aim
To evaluate the association of PA with risk of CVD.

Methods
In the baseline survey (2006-2008), 7100 men and women ages 45-72 were examined within the framework of the international study HAPIEE. 6770 participants were available for statistical analysis (after excluding 330 respondents due to missing information on study variables). PA was determined by the mean length of time spent per week during leisure time for walking, moderate and hard work like gardening and other PA. The respondents were categorized into three tertiles according to their PA in leisure time. MS is diagnosed according to the NCEP-ATP III criteria. PWB was assessed with the CASP-12 scale. When assessing the associations between direct variables, statistical significance is defined by the P-value. For indirect associations, significance is defined in terms of CI.

Results
The results for PA and incidence of CVDs show that PA is statistically significantly negatively associated with MS and smoking, and statistically significantly positively associated with PWB assessment (P &lt; 0.001). There were also statistically significant positive associations found between MS and the incidence of CVDs, and statistically significant negative associations between PWB assessment and the incidence of CVDs (P &lt; 0.001). A direct and indirect statistical relationship was found between PA and morbidity CVDs (P &lt; 0.05).

Conclusions
PA is an important factor that directly and indirect predicts statistically significantly lower incidence of CVDs. PA has benefits in protecting against CVD, therefore it is important to encourage people to participate in PA.

Key messages
• PA directly predicts statistically significantly lower incidence of CVDs.
• Indirect associations between PA and the incidence of CVDs have been found.