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Nutrients Jan 2019Colorectal Cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in the US. While the incidence and the mortality rate of colorectal cancer has decreased due to effective... (Review)
Review
Colorectal Cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in the US. While the incidence and the mortality rate of colorectal cancer has decreased due to effective cancer screening measures, there has been an increase in number of young patients diagnosed in colon cancer due to unclear reasons at this point of time. While environmental and genetic factors play a major role in the pathogenesis of colon cancer, extensive research has suggested that nutrition may play both a causal and protective role in the development of colon cancer. In this review article, we aim to provide a review of factors that play a major role in development of colorectal cancer.
Topics: Colorectal Neoplasms; Diet; Early Detection of Cancer; Exercise; Humans; Incidence; Meta-Analysis as Topic; Nutritional Status; Observational Studies as Topic; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Risk Factors
PubMed: 30646512
DOI: 10.3390/nu11010164 -
World Journal of Clinical Pediatrics Jan 2023Play is a pleasurable physical or mental activity that enhances the child's skills involving negotiation abilities, problem-solving, manual dexterity, sharing,... (Review)
Review
Play is a pleasurable physical or mental activity that enhances the child's skills involving negotiation abilities, problem-solving, manual dexterity, sharing, decision-making, and working in a group. Play affects all the brain's areas, structures, and functions. Children with autism have adaptive behavior, adaptive response, and social interaction limitations. This review explores the different applications of play therapy in helping children with autism disorder. Play is usually significantly impaired in children with autism. Play therapy is mainly intended to help children to honor their unique mental abilities and developmental levels. The main aim of play therapy is to prevent or solve psychosocial difficulties and achieve optimal child-healthy growth and development. Play therapy helps children with autism to engage in play activities of their interest and choice to express themselves in the most comfortable ways. It changes their way of self-expression from unwanted behaviors to more non-injurious expressive behavior using toys or activities of their choice as their words. Play therapy also helps those children to experience feeling out various interaction styles. Every child with autism is unique and responds differently. Therefore, different types of intervention, like play therapy, could fit the differences in children with autism. Proper evaluation of the child is mandatory to evaluate which type fits the child more than the others. This narrative review revised the different types of play therapy that could fit children with autism in an evidence-based way. Despite weak evidence, play therapy still has potential benefits for patients and their families.
PubMed: 36685315
DOI: 10.5409/wjcp.v12.i1.1 -
Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) Jul 2020Hospitalization disrupts children's lives and can produce feelings such as anxiety, fear, or pain. Playing is an important part of children's lives. Thus, it is... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Hospitalization disrupts children's lives and can produce feelings such as anxiety, fear, or pain. Playing is an important part of children's lives. Thus, it is necessary to ensure holistic care during the process, including play therapy. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of therapeutic play in hospitalized children.
METHODS
A systematic review was performed. The search was conducted in CINAHL (Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature), CUIDEN, and PubMed (Medline). The search equation was "pediatric nurs* AND play therapy". The search was performed in March 2020.
RESULTS
= 14 studies were included in the review. The studies reveal that the application of therapeutic play in hospitalized children decreases postoperative pain, improves behavior and attitude, and reduces anxiety during the hospital stay.
CONCLUSIONS
play therapy has a beneficial impact on the care of hospitalized children and should be implemented in pediatric units after assessing the resources and training needed for pediatric nurses.
PubMed: 32751225
DOI: 10.3390/healthcare8030239 -
Materia Socio-medica Dec 2021Play is an essential parameter of children's growth and expression and this is the reason of why the use of play therapy is considered as fundamental means of preventing... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Play is an essential parameter of children's growth and expression and this is the reason of why the use of play therapy is considered as fundamental means of preventing and dealing with problems and difficulties presented to children.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this paper is to review the parameters related to this issue, emphasizing the efficacy of this therapeutic approach to various problems of children.
METHODS
A review of the recent literature on the issue, searching through Greek and international databases (Medline, Heal-link), in English and Greek language.
RESULTS
The review shows that play therapy as a form of prevention and treatment is suitable mainly for preschool and school age children. It is addressed to children who are in a transition period of their lives (after a divorce, a loss), with difficulties in managing feelings, in socializing or children who have behavioral problems. It is also addressed to children who have been witnesses of domestic violence, who have suffered some form of abuse, children who are to undergo a major surgery or those who have speech disorders. Furthermore, it is suitable for children who have some kind of developmental disorder (autism or attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder). Its efficiency is demonstrated by numerous research papers reporting a significant decrease of negative emotions and behaviors by its use.
CONCLUSION
Play therapy is an alternative proposal of intervention on important issues related to children. Its implementation and value is widely known and is constantly expanding. The only condition for its implementation is the correct theoretical training of the professionals and the proper diagnosis.
PubMed: 35210953
DOI: 10.5455/msm.2021.33.293-297 -
Current Sports Medicine Reports 2016Hamstring injuries are very common in athletes. Acute hamstring strains can occur with high-speed running or with excessive hamstring lengthening. Athletes with proximal... (Review)
Review
Hamstring injuries are very common in athletes. Acute hamstring strains can occur with high-speed running or with excessive hamstring lengthening. Athletes with proximal hamstring tendinopathy often do not report a specific inciting event; instead, they develop the pathology from chronic overuse. A thorough history and physical examination is important to determine the appropriate diagnosis and rule out other causes of posterior thigh pain. Conservative management of hamstring strains involves a rehabilitation protocol that gradually increases intensity and range of motion, and progresses to sport-specific and neuromuscular control exercises. Eccentric strengthening exercises are used for management of proximal hamstring tendinopathy. Studies investigating corticosteroid and platelet-rich plasma injections have mixed results. Magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound are effective for identification of hamstring strains and tendinopathy but have not demonstrated correlation with return to play. The article focuses on diagnosis, treatment, and return-to-play considerations for acute hamstring strains and proximal hamstring tendinopathy in the athlete.
Topics: Adrenal Cortex Hormones; Athletic Injuries; Blood Component Transfusion; Combined Modality Therapy; Diagnosis, Differential; Evidence-Based Medicine; Exercise Therapy; Hamstring Tendons; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Platelet-Rich Plasma; Return to Sport; Tendon Injuries; Treatment Outcome; Ultrasonography
PubMed: 27172083
DOI: 10.1249/JSR.0000000000000264 -
BMC Pediatrics Mar 2016Hospitalization is a stressful and threatening experience, which can be emotionally devastating to children. Hospital play interventions have been widely used to prepare...
BACKGROUND
Hospitalization is a stressful and threatening experience, which can be emotionally devastating to children. Hospital play interventions have been widely used to prepare children for invasive medical procedures and hospitalization. Nevertheless, there is an imperative need for rigorous empirical scrutiny of the effectiveness of hospital play interventions, in particular, using play activities to ease the psychological burden of hospitalized children. This study tested the effectiveness of play interventions to reduce anxiety and negative emotions in hospitalized children.
METHODS
A non-equivalent control group pre-test and post-test, between subjects design was conducted in the two largest acute-care public hospitals in Hong Kong. A total of 304 Chinese children (ages 3-12) admitted for treatments in these two hospitals were invited to participate in the study. Of the 304 paediatric patients, 154 received hospital play interventions and 150 received usual care.
RESULTS
Children who received the hospital play interventions exhibited fewer negative emotions and experienced lower levels of anxiety than those children who received usual care.
CONCLUSION
This study addressed a gap in the literature by providing empirical evidence to support the effectiveness of play interventions in reducing anxiety and negative emotions in hospitalized children. Findings from this study emphasize the significance of incorporating hospital play interventions to provide holistic and quality care to ease the psychological burden of hospitalized children.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02665403 . Registered 22 January 2016.
Topics: Anxiety; Child; Child, Hospitalized; Child, Preschool; Emotions; Female; Hong Kong; Humans; Male; Patient Satisfaction; Play Therapy; Treatment Outcome
PubMed: 26969158
DOI: 10.1186/s12887-016-0570-5 -
Occupational Therapy International 2022This paper presents a research design for an integrated intervention using sensory integration training fused with social sports games for the treatment of children with...
This paper presents a research design for an integrated intervention using sensory integration training fused with social sports games for the treatment of children with autism. This study used a multiple baseline cross-subject design in a single-subject experiment, with structured play as the independent variable and expressive language skills of children with autism spectrum disorders as the dependent variable, with three phases of intervention: baseline, intervention period, and maintenance period. The expressive language ability was examined in terms of both oral expression and gestural expression, where the intervention effect of the oral expression was analyzed in terms of four components: the total number of words, the total number of sentences, average sentence length, and vocabulary complexity of oral expression, and the intervention effect of the gestural expression was analyzed in terms of changes in the frequency of children's gestural expression behaviors. For the categories classified by sensory integration ability, there are corresponding specific training programs that combine various physical exercises and play equipment to train the various abnormal functions of children with autism. Stereotyped behavior is a repetitive, self-imposed, and purposeless physical action, usually in the form of continuous and repetitive movements, sounds, and so on. 4 times a week, 25 minutes each time, the activity of recognizing pictures and familiar objects is carried out first, and then the children choose the structured game model and the initiative to build and take turns with the researchers to build. Stereotypic behaviors cause a great deal of distress in the lives of children with autism, and it is necessary to explore how to implement positive and effective interventions. Subjects' play abilities developed after receiving effective critical response training. The subjects' practice and symbolic play showed good immediate and maintenance intervention effectiveness; their associative and functional play showed no significant intervention effectiveness. The enhancement of the sensory integration skills of children with autism through sensory integration training resulted in a relative reduction of stereotypic behavior about the stimulus-seeking function, which had a positive effect on the intervention of stereotypic behavior.
Topics: Autism Spectrum Disorder; Autistic Disorder; Child; Humans; Language; Occupational Therapy
PubMed: 36110198
DOI: 10.1155/2022/9693648 -
International Journal of Environmental... Jan 2020Overweight and obesity are the result of a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors, which begins prenatally. (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
BACKGROUND
Overweight and obesity are the result of a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors, which begins prenatally.
AIM
To analyse an intervention based on play as a means of improving the body composition of children who are overweight or obese.
METHODS
The Kids-Play study is a randomized clinical trial (RCT) consisting of 49 children aged 8-12 years on a nine-month intervention programme based on physical activity, play and nutritional advice. Controls had another 49 children, who received only nutritional advice.
RESULTS
The play-based intervention achieved a moderate-vigorous level of physical activity in the study group of 81.18 min per day, while the corresponding level for the control group was only 37.34 min. At the start of the intervention, the children in the study group had an average body fat content of 41.66%, a level that decreased to 38.85% by the end of the programme. Among the control group, body fat increased from 38.83% to 41.4% during the same period.
CONCLUSIONS
The intervention programme considered, based on both play and nutritional recommendations, produced a decrease in body fat among children aged 8-12 years. However, the control group, which received only nutritional recommendations, experienced an increase in body weight.
Topics: Behavior Therapy; Child; Exercise; Female; Humans; Male; Overweight; Pediatric Obesity; Play Therapy; Students
PubMed: 31947884
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17010346 -
The Cochrane Database of Systematic... Oct 2016Children and adolescents who have experienced trauma are at high risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other negative emotional, behavioural and... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
BACKGROUND
Children and adolescents who have experienced trauma are at high risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other negative emotional, behavioural and mental health outcomes, all of which are associated with high personal and health costs. A wide range of psychological treatments are used to prevent negative outcomes associated with trauma in children and adolescents.
OBJECTIVES
To assess the effects of psychological therapies in preventing PTSD and associated negative emotional, behavioural and mental health outcomes in children and adolescents who have undergone a traumatic event.
SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Common Mental Disorders Group's Specialised Register to 29 May 2015. This register contains reports of relevant randomised controlled trials from The Cochrane Library (all years), EMBASE (1974 to date), MEDLINE (1950 to date) and PsycINFO (1967 to date). We also checked reference lists of relevant studies and reviews. We did not restrict the searches by date, language or publication status.
SELECTION CRITERIA
All randomised controlled trials of psychological therapies compared with a control such as treatment as usual, waiting list or no treatment, pharmacological therapy or other treatments in children or adolescents who had undergone a traumatic event.
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two members of the review group independently extracted data. We calculated odds ratios for binary outcomes and standardised mean differences for continuous outcomes using a random-effects model. We analysed data as short-term (up to and including one month after therapy), medium-term (one month to one year after therapy) and long-term (one year or longer).
MAIN RESULTS
Investigators included 6201 participants in the 51 included trials. Twenty studies included only children, two included only preschool children and ten only adolescents; all others included both children and adolescents. Participants were exposed to sexual abuse in 12 trials, to war or community violence in ten, to physical trauma and natural disaster in six each and to interpersonal violence in three; participants had suffered a life-threatening illness and had been physically abused or maltreated in one trial each. Participants in remaining trials were exposed to a range of traumas.Most trials compared a psychological therapy with a control such as treatment as usual, wait list or no treatment. Seventeen trials used cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT); four used family therapy; three required debriefing; two trials each used eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR), narrative therapy, psychoeducation and supportive therapy; and one trial each provided exposure and CBT plus narrative therapy. Eight trials compared CBT with supportive therapy, two compared CBT with EMDR and one trial each compared CBT with psychodynamic therapy, exposure plus supportive therapy with supportive therapy alone and narrative therapy plus CBT versus CBT alone. Four trials compared individual delivery of psychological therapy to a group model of the same therapy, and one compared CBT for children versus CBT for both mothers and children.The likelihood of being diagnosed with PTSD in children and adolescents who received a psychological therapy was significantly reduced compared to those who received no treatment, treatment as usual or were on a waiting list for up to a month following treatment (odds ratio (OR) 0.51, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.34 to 0.77; number needed to treat for an additional beneficial outcome (NNTB) 6.25, 95% CI 3.70 to 16.67; five studies; 874 participants). However the overall quality of evidence for the diagnosis of PTSD was rated as very low. PTSD symptoms were also significantly reduced for a month after therapy (standardised mean difference (SMD) -0.42, 95% CI -0.61 to -0.24; 15 studies; 2051 participants) and the quality of evidence was rated as low. These effects of psychological therapies were not apparent over the longer term.CBT was found to be no more or less effective than EMDR and supportive therapy in reducing diagnosis of PTSD in the short term (OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.29 to 1.91; 2 studies; 160 participants), however this was considered very low quality evidence. For reduction of PTSD symptoms in the short term, there was a small effect favouring CBT over EMDR, play therapy and supportive therapies (SMD -0.24, 95% CI -0.42 to -0.05; 7 studies; 466 participants). The quality of evidence for this outcome was rated as moderate.We did not identify any studies that compared pharmacological therapies with psychological therapies.
AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
The meta-analyses in this review provide some evidence for the effectiveness of psychological therapies in prevention of PTSD and reduction of symptoms in children and adolescents exposed to trauma for up to a month. However, our confidence in these findings is limited by the quality of the included studies and by substantial heterogeneity between studies. Much more evidence is needed to demonstrate the relative effectiveness of different psychological therapies for children exposed to trauma, particularly over the longer term. High-quality studies should be conducted to compare these therapies.
Topics: Adolescent; Aggression; Child; Child Abuse, Sexual; Child, Preschool; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Desensitization, Psychologic; Exposure to Violence; Family Therapy; Humans; Interview, Psychological; Psychotherapy; Psychotherapy, Psychodynamic; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Treatment Outcome; War Exposure; Young Adult
PubMed: 27726123
DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD012371 -
Trials Feb 2019Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common lifelong condition affecting 1 in 100 people. ASD affects how a person relates to others and the world around them. Difficulty...
Sensory integration therapy versus usual care for sensory processing difficulties in autism spectrum disorder in children: study protocol for a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.
BACKGROUND
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common lifelong condition affecting 1 in 100 people. ASD affects how a person relates to others and the world around them. Difficulty responding to sensory information (noise, touch, movement, taste, sight) is common, and might include feeling overwhelmed or distressed by loud or constant low-level noise (e.g. in the classroom). Affected children may also show little or no response to these sensory cues. These 'sensory processing difficulties' are associated with behaviour and socialisation problems, and affect education, relationships, and participation in daily life. Sensory integration therapy (SIT) is a face-to-face therapy or treatment provided by trained occupational therapists who use play-based sensory-motor activities and the just-right challenge to influence the way the child responds to sensation, reducing distress, and improving motor skills, adaptive responses, concentration, and interaction with others. With limited research into SIT, this protocol describes in detail how the intervention will be defined and evaluated.
METHODS
This is a two-arm pragmatic individually 1:1 randomised controlled trial with an internal pilot of SIT versus usual care for primary school aged children (aged 4 to 11 years) with ASD and sensory processing difficulties; 216 children will be recruited from multiple sources. Therapy will be delivered in clinics meeting full fidelity criteria for manualised SIT over 26 weeks (face-to-face sessions: two per week for 10 weeks, two per month for 2 months; telephone call: one per month for 2 months). Follow-up assessments will be completed at 6 and 12 months post-randomisation. Prior to recruitment, therapists will be invited to participate in focus groups/interviews to explore what is delivered as usual care in trial regions; carers will be invited to complete an online survey to map out their experience of services. Following recruitment, carers will be given diaries to record their contact with services. Following intervention, carer and therapist interviews will be completed.
DISCUSSION
Results of this trial will provide high-quality evidence on the clinical and cost effectiveness of SIT aimed at improving behavioural, functional, social, educational, and well-being outcomes for children and well-being outcomes for carers and families.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
ISRCTN14716440 . Registered on 8 November 2016.
Topics: Adaptation, Psychological; Age Factors; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Child; Child Behavior; Child Development; Child, Preschool; Cues; Female; Humans; Male; Motor Skills; Occupational Therapy; Pilot Projects; Play Therapy; Pragmatic Clinical Trials as Topic; Sensory Thresholds; Social Behavior; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome; United Kingdom
PubMed: 30744672
DOI: 10.1186/s13063-019-3205-y