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Implementation Science Communications Oct 2022There is a fundamental gap in understanding the causal mechanisms by which strategies for implementing evidence-based practices address local barriers to effective,...
BACKGROUND
There is a fundamental gap in understanding the causal mechanisms by which strategies for implementing evidence-based practices address local barriers to effective, appropriate service delivery. Until this gap is addressed, scientific knowledge and practical guidance about which implementation strategies to use in which contexts will remain elusive. This research project aims to identify plausible strategy-mechanism linkages, develop causal models for mechanism evaluation, produce measures needed to evaluate such linkages, and make these models, methods, and measures available in a user-friendly website. The specific aims are as follows: (1) build a database of strategy-mechanism linkages and associated causal pathway diagrams, (2) develop psychometrically strong, pragmatic measures of mechanisms, and (3) develop and disseminate a website of implementation mechanisms knowledge for use by diverse stakeholders.
METHODS
For the first aim, a combination of qualitative inquiry, expert panel methods, and causal pathway diagramming will be used to identify and confirm plausible strategy-mechanism linkages and articulate moderators, preconditions, and proximal and distal outcomes associated with those linkages. For the second aim, rapid-cycle measure development and testing methods will be employed to create reliable, valid, pragmatic measures of six mechanisms of common strategies for which no high-quality measures exist. For the third aim, we will develop a user-friendly website and searchable database that incorporates user-centered design, disseminating the final product using social marketing principles.
DISCUSSION
Once strategy-mechanism linkages are identified using this multi-method approach, implementation scientists can use the searchable database to develop tailored implementation strategies and generate more robust evidence about which strategies work best in which contexts. Moreover, practitioners will be better able to select implementation strategies to address their specific implementation problems. New horizons in implementation strategy development, optimization, evaluation, and deployment are expected to be more attainable as a result of this research, which will lead to enhanced implementation of evidence-based interventions for cancer control, and ultimately improvements in patient outcomes.
PubMed: 36273224
DOI: 10.1186/s43058-022-00358-3 -
MBio Jun 2023Pf is a filamentous bacteriophage integrated in the chromosome of most clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Under stress conditions, mutations occurring in the...
Pf is a filamentous bacteriophage integrated in the chromosome of most clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Under stress conditions, mutations occurring in the Pf genome result in the emergence of superinfective variants of Pf (SI-Pf) that are capable of circumventing phage immunity; therefore, SI-Pf can even infect Pf-lysogenized P. aeruginosa. Here, we identified specific mutations located between the repressor and the excisionase genes of Pf4 phage in the P. aeruginosa PAO1 strain that resulted in the emergence of SI-Pf. Based on these findings, we genetically engineered an SI-Pf (eSI-Pf) and tested it as a phage therapy tool for the treatment of life-threatening burn wound infections caused by PAO1. In validation experiments, eSI-Pf was able to infect PAO1 grown in a lawn as well as biofilms formed on polystyrene. eSI-Pf also infected PAO1 present in burned skin wounds on mice but was not capable of maintaining a sustained reduction in bacterial burden beyond 24 h. Despite not lowering bacterial burden in burned skin tissue, eSI-Pf treatment completely abolished the capability of P. aeruginosa to disseminate from the burn site to internal organs. Over the course of 10 days, this resulted in bacterial clearance and survival of all treated mice. We subsequently determined that eSI-Pf induced a small-colony variant of P. aeruginosa that was unable to disseminate systemically. This attenuated phenotype was due to profound changes in virulence determinant production and altered physiology. Our results suggest that eSI-Pf has potential as a phage therapy against highly recalcitrant antimicrobial-resistant P. aeruginosa infections of burn wounds. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major cause of burn-related infections. It is also the most likely bacterial infection to advance to sepsis and result in burn-linked death. Frequently, P. aeruginosa strains isolated from burn patients display a multidrug-resistant phenotype necessitating the development of new therapeutic strategies and prophylactic treatments. In this context, phage therapy using lytic phages has demonstrated exciting potential in the control P. aeruginosa infection. However, lytic phages can present a set of drawbacks during phage therapy, including the induction of bacterial resistance and limited bacteria-phage interactions . Here, we propose an alternative approach to interfere with P. aeruginosa pathogenesis in a burn infection model, i.e., by using an engineered superinfective filamentous phage. Our study demonstrates that treatment with the engineered Pf phage can prevent sepsis and death in a burn mouse model.
Topics: Animals; Mice; Bacteriophages; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Pseudomonas Infections; Pseudomonas Phages; Sepsis; Burns
PubMed: 37039641
DOI: 10.1128/mbio.00472-23 -
Journal of the American Geriatrics... Nov 2022Geriatrics research generally cumulates in academic journal publications, with variable diffusion to patients and communities. PlanYourLifespan.org is a free,...
BACKGROUND
Geriatrics research generally cumulates in academic journal publications, with variable diffusion to patients and communities. PlanYourLifespan.org is a free, evidence-based tool that assists older adults, and their loved ones, to better understand and plan for their long-term support needs. There is a need to effectively disseminate geriatrics research, such as PlanYourLifespan.org, to communities that may directly benefit from this research.
OBJECTIVE
To leverage community-based stakeholder leaders, utilizing a train-the-trainer program, to disseminate PlanYourLifespan.org and evaluate the extent of the dissemination.
METHODS
Using a train-the-trainer strategy, community stakeholder leaders from the original study paired up with newly recruited community stakeholder leaders. New community stakeholder leaders were trained on dissemination, using a "how-to-disseminate" web-based toolkit-developed as part of this project. Newly trained community stakeholder leaders subsequently trained additional community stakeholder leaders who conducted and tracked dissemination activities in their communities. Google Analytics tracked newly created PlanYourLifespan.org accounts, login sessions, and daily website visitors.
RESULTS
Five newly trained community stakeholder leaders disseminated PlanYourLifespan.org over a three-month period. Cumulatively, on the day of the dissemination activity, there were 11,361 PlanYourLifespan.org log-ins (average: 378.7 log-ins/activity day), 89,068 log-ins (average: 2969 log-ins/activity week) one-week after the activity, and 319,154 log-ins (average: 10,638 log-ins/activity month) one month after the dissemination activity. Approximately 9.4 new PlanYourLifespan.org accounts were created one-week post dissemination activity and over 1100 new accounts in the one-month period thereafter.
CONCLUSIONS
Wide dissemination of PlanYourLifespan.org occurred by leveraging a train-the-trainer approach with community stakeholder leaders. Researchers should consider collaborating early on with community stakeholders to meaningfully disseminate results.
Topics: Humans; Aged; Long-Term Care
PubMed: 35860971
DOI: 10.1111/jgs.17957 -
JMIR MHealth and UHealth Jan 2024Among the millions of mobile apps in existence, thousands fall under the category of mobile health (mHealth). Although the utility of mHealth apps has been demonstrated...
BACKGROUND
Among the millions of mobile apps in existence, thousands fall under the category of mobile health (mHealth). Although the utility of mHealth apps has been demonstrated for disease diagnosis, treatment data management, and health promotion strategies, to be effective they must reach and be used by their target audience. An appropriate marketing strategy can ensure that apps reach potential users and potentially convert them to actual users. Such a strategy requires definitions of target end users, communication channels, and advertising content, as well as a timeline for effectively reaching and motivating end users to adopt and maintain engagement with the mHealth app.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to identify strategies and elements that ensure that end users adopt and remain engaged with mHealth apps.
METHODS
A systematic search of the PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, and CINAHL databases was conducted for suitable studies published between January 1, 2018, and September 30, 2022. Two researchers independently screened studies for inclusion, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias. The main outcome was dissemination strategies for mHealth apps.
RESULTS
Of the 648 papers retrieved from the selected databases, only 10 (1.5%) met the inclusion criteria. The marketing strategies used in these studies to inform potential users of the existence of mHealth apps and motivate download included both paid and unpaid strategies and used various channels, including social media, emails, printed posters, and face-to-face communication. Most of the studies reported a combination of marketing concepts used to advertise their mHealth apps. Advertising messages included instructions on where and how to download and install the apps. In most of the studies (6/10, 60%), instructions were oriented toward how to use the apps and maintain engagement with a health intervention. The most frequently used paid marketing platform was Facebook Ads Manager (2/10, 20%). Advertising performance was influenced by many factors, including but not limited to advertising content. In 1 (10%) of the 10 studies, animated graphics generated the greatest number of clicks compared with other image types. The metrics used to assess marketing strategy effectiveness were number of downloads; nonuse rate; dropout rate; adherence rate; duration of app use; and app usability over days, weeks, or months. Additional indicators such as cost per click, cost per install, and clickthrough rate were mainly used to assess the cost-effectiveness of paid marketing campaigns.
CONCLUSIONS
mHealth apps can be disseminated via paid and unpaid marketing strategies using various communication channels. The effects of these strategies are reflected in download numbers and user engagement with mHealth apps. Further research could provide guidance on a framework for disseminating mHealth apps and encouraging their routine use.
Topics: Humans; Advertising; Benchmarking; Communication; Databases, Factual; Mobile Applications; Telemedicine
PubMed: 38180796
DOI: 10.2196/50293 -
Cureus Nov 2023Health dialogue plays a pivotal role in sustaining rural communities by enhancing help-seeking behaviors (HSBs). This article delves deep into how family physicians...
Health dialogue plays a pivotal role in sustaining rural communities by enhancing help-seeking behaviors (HSBs). This article delves deep into how family physicians accentuate the efficacy of rural health dialogues, prompting rural citizens to evaluate and adapt their current HSBs critically. Establishing a foundation of trust in rural family physicians significantly influences the motivation for refined HSBs. Additionally, such engagements optimize the application of limited healthcare resources. For these outcomes to be realized, family physicians must amplify their communication and leadership abilities, and confront the inherent challenges of disseminating contemporary medical evidence in rural domains.
PubMed: 38060724
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.48380 -
Acta Informatica Medica : AIM : Journal... Dec 2019Dissemination benefits come from the outputs integration and implementation by the key audience, who will also determine the relevance and usability of the disseminated...
INTRODUCTION
Dissemination benefits come from the outputs integration and implementation by the key audience, who will also determine the relevance and usability of the disseminated content.
AIM
One of the CrowdHEALTH project's objectives is the transition from patient health records towards the Holistic Health Records (HHRs) and Social HHR. The CrowdHEALTH project aims at integrating high volumes of health-related data collected from various sources to support policy-making decisions.
METHODS
The European Federation for Medical Informatics (EFMI) supports the development of an effective Communication and Collaboration Plan identifying the messages, the tools and channels in disseminating the project and its outcomes to the target audience based on the McGuire approach.
RESULTS
The process for defining the dissemination strategy is a cyclic one as shown in the following figure involving review of each step periodically The next step was to define the four dimension dissemination approach based on McGuire attributes of persuasive communication. The objectives, target groups, key messages, the tools and channels where defined at this stage.
CONCLUSION
The CrowdHEALTH project and its outcomes were disseminated with a variety of tools and channels such as scientific journals, conferences, exhibitions and social media communication.
PubMed: 32210503
DOI: 10.5455/aim.2019.27.348-354 -
Journal of Medical Internet Research Sep 2023Social networks have become one of the main channels for obtaining health information. However, they have also become a source of health-related misinformation, which...
BACKGROUND
Social networks have become one of the main channels for obtaining health information. However, they have also become a source of health-related misinformation, which seriously threatens the public's physical and mental health. Governance of health-related misinformation can be implemented through topic identification of rumors on social networks. However, little attention has been paid to studying the types and routes of dissemination of health rumors on the internet, especially rumors regarding health-related information in Chinese social media.
OBJECTIVE
This study aims to explore the types of health-related misinformation favored by WeChat public platform users and their prevalence trends and to analyze the modeling results of the text by using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation model.
METHODS
We used a web crawler tool to capture health rumor-dispelling articles on WeChat rumor-dispelling public accounts. We collected information from health-debunking articles posted between January 1, 2016, and August 31, 2022. Following word segmentation of the collected text, a document topic generation model called Latent Dirichlet Allocation was used to identify and generalize the most common topics. The proportion distribution of the themes was calculated, and the negative impact of various health rumors in different periods was analyzed. Additionally, the prevalence of health rumors was analyzed by the number of health rumors generated at each time point.
RESULTS
We collected 9366 rumor-refuting articles from January 1, 2016, to August 31, 2022, from WeChat official accounts. Through topic modeling, we divided the health rumors into 8 topics, that is, rumors on prevention and treatment of infectious diseases (1284/9366, 13.71%), disease therapy and its effects (1037/9366, 11.07%), food safety (1243/9366, 13.27%), cancer and its causes (946/9366, 10.10%), regimen and disease (1540/9366, 16.44%), transmission (914/9366, 9.76%), healthy diet (1068/9366, 11.40%), and nutrition and health (1334/9366, 14.24%). Furthermore, we summarized the 8 topics under 4 themes, that is, public health, disease, diet and health, and spread of rumors.
CONCLUSIONS
Our study shows that topic modeling can provide analysis and insights into health rumor governance. The rumor development trends showed that most rumors were on public health, disease, and diet and health problems. Governments still need to implement relevant and comprehensive rumor management strategies based on the rumors prevalent in their countries and formulate appropriate policies. Apart from regulating the content disseminated on social media platforms, the national quality of health education should also be improved. Governance of social networks should be clearly implemented, as these rapidly developed platforms come with privacy issues. Both disseminators and receivers of information should ensure a realistic attitude and disseminate health information correctly. In addition, we recommend that sentiment analysis-related studies be conducted to verify the impact of health rumor-related topics.
Topics: Humans; Diet, Healthy; Government; Health Education; Communication; Social Media; China
PubMed: 37733396
DOI: 10.2196/45019 -
Microbial Biotechnology Sep 2020Microbes and their activities have pervasive influence and deterministic roles in the functioning and health of the geosphere, atmosphere and biosphere, i.e. in nature....
Microbes and their activities have pervasive influence and deterministic roles in the functioning and health of the geosphere, atmosphere and biosphere, i.e. in nature. Microbiology can be considered a language of nature. We have argued that the relevance of microbes for everyday personal decisions and collective policies requires that society attains microbiology literacy, through the introduction of child-relevant microbiology topics into school curricula. That is: children should learn the microbiology language of nature. Children can be effective transmitters of new and/or rapidly evolving knowledge within families and beyond, where there is a substantive information asymmetry (witness digital technology, social media, and new languages in foreign countries). They can thus be key disseminators of microbiology knowledge, where there will be information asymmetry for the foreseeable future, and thereby contribute to the attainment of microbiology literacy in society. The education of family and friends can be encouraged/stimulated by home assignments, family leisure projects, and school-organised microbiology-centric social-education events. Children are key stakeholders in family decisions. Their microbiology knowledge, and their dissemination of it, can help inform and increase the objectivity of such decisions.
Topics: Child; Humans; Literacy
PubMed: 32649058
DOI: 10.1111/1751-7915.13619 -
Psychology of Addictive Behaviors :... Sep 2022The first clinical trial of the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) was launched at the University of Washington in 1990. Since that...
The first clinical trial of the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) was launched at the University of Washington in 1990. Since that time, multiple trials have demonstrated the efficacy of BASICS and related approaches in a variety of young adult populations and this information has been widely disseminated. However, in practice BASICS implementation varies considerably, including formats and mediums (e.g., group, telehealth, written/electronic feedback alone) not studied in the original research. Even if delivered in an individual in-person format, implementation can stray substantially from the original design. Adaptations may be necessary to address campus resource constraints or other barriers to implementation but can have unknown impacts on intervention effectiveness. Thus, despite wide-scale efforts to disseminate and implement BASICS, challenges remain, and there are several critical research gaps that need to be addressed to support campuses in implementing BASICS successfully. The current manuscript reviews several ways in which BASICS has been adapted to address these challenges, and provides recommendations for best implementation practices as well as future research needed to improve implementation and effectiveness of BASICS going forward. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Humans; Mass Screening; Students; Telemedicine; Young Adult
PubMed: 34914406
DOI: 10.1037/adb0000794 -
Cell Reports Jun 2023Murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infection of macrophages relies on MCMV-encoded chemokine 2 (MCK2), while infection of fibroblasts occurs independently of MCK2. Recently,...
Murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infection of macrophages relies on MCMV-encoded chemokine 2 (MCK2), while infection of fibroblasts occurs independently of MCK2. Recently, MCMV infection of both cell types was found to be dependent on cell-expressed neuropilin 1. Using a CRISPR screen, we now identify that MCK2-dependent infection requires MHC class Ia/β-2-microglobulin (B2m) expression. Further analyses reveal that macrophages expressing MHC class Ia haplotypes H-2b and H-2d, but not H-2k, are susceptible to MCK2-dependent infection with MCMV. The importance of MHC class I expression for MCK2-dependent primary infection and viral dissemination is highlighted by experiments with B2m-deficient mice, which lack surface expression of MHC class I molecules. In those mice, intranasally administered MCK2-proficient MCMV mimics infection patterns of MCK2-deficient MCMV in wild-type mice: it does not infect alveolar macrophages and subsequently fails to disseminate into the salivary glands. Together, these data provide essential knowledge for understanding MCMV-induced pathogenesis, tissue targeting, and virus dissemination.
Topics: Mice; Animals; Muromegalovirus; Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; Cytomegalovirus Infections; Macrophages; Salivary Glands; Mice, Inbred BALB C
PubMed: 37289588
DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112597