Articles: adolescent.
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Background. National data from Canada and the United States identify women to be at greater risk than men for the misuse of prescription opioid medications. Various sex- and gender-based factors and patient and physician practices may affect women's use and misuse of prescription opioid drugs. ⋯ The majority of the literature is descriptive, with few studies that evaluate approaches and interventions to respond to the issue of chronic pain, trauma, and misuse of prescription opioids among women, particularly vulnerable subgroups of women. Conclusions. Trauma-informed and women-centred approaches that address women's vulnerabilities and complex needs require further attention.
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Curr Pain Headache Rep · Jan 2016
ReviewPsychological Therapy in Adolescents with Chronic Daily Headache.
Chronic daily headache is a serious disease, causing significant problems in terms of reduced quality of life and disability, with pain localized to the head (headache) occurring 15 or more days per month for more than 3 months (>180 days per year). Drugs, both used as preventive medications or as pain-killers, are insufficient for the management of these patients; a more global approach has been advocated. This paper reviews existing data concerning different psychological approaches, with a focus on adolescence. This leads to evidence still unanswered questions but also the importance to include psychological treatments in the management of this potentially disabling condition.
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Dec 2015
ReviewApps and Adolescents: A Systematic Review of Adolescents' Use of Mobile Phone and Tablet Apps That Support Personal Management of Their Chronic or Long-Term Physical Conditions.
The prevalence of physical chronic or long-term conditions in adolescents aged 10-24 years is rising. Mobile phone and tablet mobile technologies featuring software program apps are widely used by these adolescents and their healthy peers for social networking or gaming. Apps are also used in health care to support personal condition management and they have considerable potential in this context. There is a growing body of literature on app use in health contexts, thereby making a systematic review of their effectiveness very timely. ⋯ A key finding of the review is the paucity of evidence-based apps that exist, in contrast to the thousands of apps available on the app market that are not evidence-based or user or professional informed. Although we aimed to assess the effectiveness of apps, the dearth of studies meeting our criteria meant that we were unable to be conclusive in this regard. Based on the available evidence, apps may be considered feasible health interventions, but more studies involving larger sample sizes, and with patient and health professional input at all stages, are needed to determine apps' acceptability and effectiveness. This review provides valuable findings and paves the way for future rigorous development and evaluation of health apps for adolescents with chronic or long-term conditions.
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Pertussis is a potentially severe respiratory disease, which affects all age groups from young infants to older adults and is responsible for an estimated 195,000 deaths occurred globally in 2008. Active research is ongoing to better understand the pathogenesis, immunology, and diagnosis of pertussis. For diagnosis, molecular assays (e.g., polymerase chain reaction) for detection of Bordetella pertussis have become more widely available and support improved outbreak detection. ⋯ Continued surveillance for pertussis will be important to identify opportunities for reducing young infants' exposure and reducing the impact of outbreaks among school-aged children. Laboratory-based surveillance for newly emerging strains of B. pertussis will be important to identify strains that may evade protection elicited by currently available vaccines. Efforts to develop new-generation pertussis vaccines should be considered now in anticipation of vaccine development programs, which may require ten or more years to deliver a licensed vaccine.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2015
ReviewAn appraisal of theoretical approaches to examining behaviours in relation to Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination of young women.
Interventions to increase uptake of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination by young women may be more effective if they are underpinned by an appropriate theoretical model or framework. The aims of this review were: to describe the theoretical models or frameworks used to explain behaviours in relation to HPV vaccination of young women, and: to consider the appropriateness of the theoretical models or frameworks used for informing the development of interventions to increase uptake. ⋯ Due to diverse approaches and inconsistent findings across studies, the current contribution of theory to understanding and promoting HPV vaccination uptake is difficult to assess. Ecological frameworks encourage the integration of individual and social approaches by encouraging exploration of the intrapersonal, interpersonal, organisational, community and policy levels when examining public health issues. Given the small number of studies using such approach, combined with the importance of these factors in predicting behaviour, more research in this area is warranted.