Support needs of adolescents' post-cancer treatment: A systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: The study aimed to investigate the support needs for adolescents' post-cancer treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic literature review was conducted, articles were obtained from the following databases, Science Direct, PubMed and SCOPUS. Additional studies were identified from the reference lists of articles included in the review. RESULTS: 119 articles were identified as potentially relevant, of these, a total of 16 articles were nominated to be included in the review for analysis. CONCLUSION: The role of relationships and key workers were important to enabling survivors to self-manage. Studies have commended the role of friendships during the cancer treatment process but also as a means to coping with issues relating to survivorship. Using a coping mechanism thought to be beneficial by the survivor often improves their overall wellbeing. The eagerness to continue a normal successful life post-cancer treatment seems to be over-shadowed by the fear of not being able to conceive offspring. This, in turn, can impact the psychological wellbeing of survivors, thus signifying the need to develop ways in supporting these individuals. With research into quality of life (QoL) and survivorship issues continuing to progress and reach new heights, there is still much to be done

Impact of specialist and primary care stop smoking support on socio‐economic inequalities in cessation in the United Kingdom:a systematic review and national equity initial review

AIM: To assess the impact of UK specialist and primary care-based stop smoking support on socioeconomic inequalities in cessation.METHODS: Systematic review and narrative synthesis, with a national equity analysis of stop smoking services (SSS). Ten bibliographic databases were searched for studies of any design, published since 2012, which evaluated specialist or primary care-based stop smoking support by socioeconomic status (SES) or within a disadvantaged group. Studies could report on any cessation-related outcome. National Statistics were combined to estimate population-level SSS reach and impact among all smokers by SES. Overall, we included 27 published studies and three collated, national SSS reports for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland (equivalent data for Wales were unavailable).RESULTS: Primary care providers and SSS in the UK were particularly effective at engaging and supporting disadvantaged smokers. Low SES groups were more likely to have their smoking status assessed, to receive general practitioner brief cessation advice/SSS referral, and to attempt a quit with SSS support. Although disadvantaged SSS clients were less successful in quitting, increased service reach offset these lower quit rates, resulting in higher service impact among smokers from low SES groups. Interventions that offer tailored and targeted support have the potential to improve quit outcomes among disadvantaged smokers.CONCLUSIONS: Equity-oriented stop smoking support can compensate for lower quit rates among disadvantaged smokers through the use of equity-based performance targets, provision of targeted services and the development of tailored interventions.</p

Resource provision and environmental change for the prevention of skin cancer: systematic review of qualitative evidence from high-income countries.

This paper presents the findings of a systematic review of qualitative studies from high-income (OECD) countries relating to sun protection and skin cancer, with a focus on barriers and facilitators for the following interventions: resource provision; environmental change; and multi-component interventions. Twenty-three study reports were included in the review. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis methodology with the Health Belief Model as a framework. The risk and potential severity of skin cancer are not seen as important concerns, and tanning which is not deliberate is seen as less dangerous. There are a number of social and practical barriers to the use of sun protection resources, including cost, inconvenience and social norms. There are important differences between age groups and between men and women in attitudes

Frailty identification in the Emergency Department – a systematic review focussing on feasibility.

Introduction: risk-stratifying older people accessing urgent care is a potentially useful first step to ensuring that the most vulnerable are able to access optimal care from the start of the episode. While there are many risk-stratification tools reported in the literature, few have addressed the practical issues of implementation. This review sought evidence about the feasibility of risk stratification for older people with urgent care needs. Methods: medline was searched for papers addressing risk stratification and implementation (feasibility or evaluation or clinician acceptability). All search stages were conducted by two reviewers, and selected papers were graded for quality using the CASP tool for cohort studies. Data were summarised using descriptive statistics only. Results: about 1872 titles of potential interest were identified, of which 1827 were excluded on title/abstract review, and a further 43 after full-text review, leaving four papers for analysis. These papers described nine tools, which took between 1 and 10 minutes to complete for most participants. No more than 52% of potentially eligible older people were actually screened using any of the tools. Little detail was reported on the clinical acceptability of the tools tested. Discussion: the existing literature indicates that commonly used risk-stratification tools are relatively quick to use, but do not cover much more than 50% of the potential population eligible for screening in practice. Additional work is required to appreciate how tools are likely to be used, by whom, and when in order to ensure that they are acceptable to urgent care teams