American journal of preventive medicine
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Review Meta Analysis
Patient Decision Aids for Colorectal Cancer Screening: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Decision aids prepare patients to make decisions about healthcare options consistent with their preferences. Helping patients choose among available options for colorectal cancer screening is important because rates are lower than screening for other cancers. This systematic review describes studies evaluating patient decision aids for colorectal cancer screening in average-risk adults and their impact on knowledge, screening intentions, and uptake. ⋯ Decision aids improve knowledge and interest in screening, and lead to increased screening over no information, but their impact on screening is similar to general colorectal cancer screening information.
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The onset of cigarette smoking typically occurs during childhood or early adolescence. Nicotine dependence symptoms can manifest soon after onset, contributing to sustained, long-term smoking. Previous reviews have not clarified the determinants of onset. ⋯ Predictors of smoking onset for which there is robust evidence should be considered in the design of interventions to prevent first puff in order to optimize their effectiveness. Future research should seek to define onset clearly as the transition from never use to first use (e.g., first few puffs).
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This paper introduces and discusses key issues in the economic evaluation of digital health interventions. The purpose is to stimulate debate so that existing economic techniques may be refined or new methods developed. The paper does not seek to provide definitive guidance on appropriate methods of economic analysis for digital health interventions. ⋯ These characteristics imply that more-complex methods of economic evaluation are likely to be better able to capture fully the impact of the intervention on costs and benefits over the appropriate time horizon. This complexity includes wider measurement of costs and benefits, and a modeling framework that is able to capture dynamic interactions among the intervention, the population of interest, and the environment. The authors recommend that future research should develop and apply more-flexible modeling techniques to allow better prediction of the interdependency between interventions and important environmental influences.
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The School Obesity-related Policy Evaluation (ScOPE) Study uses existing public surveillance data and applies a rigorous study design to evaluate effectiveness of school policies and practices impacting student behavioral and weight outcomes. ⋯ Use of a school-level longitudinal cohort study design over a 6-year period uniquely adds to the methodologic rigor of school policy and practice evaluation studies. The ScOPE Study provides marginal evidence that school policies and practices, especially those that restrict vending and school store offerings, may have small effects on weight status among ninth grade students.