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Background: Lone parents and their children experience higher than average levels of adverse health and social outcomes, much of which are explained by high rates of poverty. Many high income countries have attempted to address high poverty rates by introducing employment requirements for lone parents in receipt of welfare benefits. However, there is evidence that employment may not reduce poverty or improve the health of lone parents and their children.Methods: We conducted a systematic review of qualitative studies reporting lone parents' accounts of participation in welfare to work (WtW), to identify explanations and possible mechanisms for the impacts of WtW on health and wellbeing. Twenty one bibliographic databases were searched. Two reviewers independently screened references and assessed study quality. Studies from any high income country that met the criteria of focussing on lone parents, mandatory WtW interventions, and health or wellbeing were included. Thematic synthesis was used to investigate analytic themes between studies.Results: Screening of the 4703 identified papers and quality assessment resulted in the inclusion of 16 qualitative studies of WtW in five high income countries, USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand, covering a variety of welfare regimes. Our synthesis found that WtW requirements often conflicted with child care responsibilities. Available employment was often poorly paid and precarious. Adverse health impacts, such as increased stress, fatigue, and depression were commonly reported, though employment and appropriate training was linked to increased self-worth for some. WtW appeared to influence health through the pathways of conflict and control, analytical themes which emerged during synthesis. WtW reduced control over the nature of employment and care of children. Access to social support allowed some lone parents to manage the conflict associated with employment, and to increase control over their circumstances, with potentially beneficial health impacts.Conclusion: WtW can result in increased conflict and reduced control, which may lead to negative impacts on mental health. Availability of social support may mediate the negative health impacts of WtW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Graduate entry nursing programmes provide students with an accelerated pathway to becoming a registered nurse. Motivations for study, together with commonly shared characteristics of students enrolling in such programmes is becoming well documented, however, their experiences of studying for a professional qualification in this manner is less understood. As a means of maintaining the relevance of these fast-tracked programmes in the future, an understanding of graduate entry nursing students' experiences of academic teaching and clinical placements is imperative. Objective: To explore the academic and clinical experiences of students enrolled in the first year of graduate entry nursing programmes in New Zealand and Australia. Methods: A qualitative case study approach was taken. Here we report the experiences of nine students enrolled in their first year of a two-year graduate entry nursing programme during 2020. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection and analysed using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis. Findings: Three overarching themes were developed—affirmation, reflections on expectations and clinical experiences. Conclusion: This study highlights the experiences of first year graduate entry nursing students, with many experiencing affirmation that their altruistic career visions came to fruition. The findings indicate that these graduate-entry nursing students interviewed for this study tended to be flexible and adaptable in their approach to study as a means of meeting the challenges of the programme, all of which are key characteristics for a registered nurse; with personal growth and the development of the self, providing preparation for their second year of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Indigenous peoples in developed countries have reduced life expectancies, particularly from chronic diseases. The lack of access to and take up of palliative care services of Indigenous peoples is an ongoing concern. Objectives: To examine and learn from published studies on provision of culturally safe palliative care service delivery to Indigenous people in Australia, New Zealand (NZ), Canada and the United States of America (USA); and to compare Indigenous peoples' preferences, needs, opportunities and barriers to palliative care. Methods: A comprehensive search of multiple databases was undertaken. Articles were included if they were published in English from 2000 onwards and related to palliative care service delivery for Indigenous populations; papers could use quantitative or qualitative approaches. Common themes were identified using thematic synthesis. Studies were evaluated using Daly's hierarchy of evidence-for-practice in qualitative research. Results: Of 522 articles screened, 39 were eligible for inclusion. Despite diversity in Indigenous peoples' experiences across countries, some commonalities were noted in the preferences for palliative care of Indigenous people: to die close to or at home; involvement of family; and the integration of cultural practices. Barriers identified included inaccessibility, affordability, lack of awareness of services, perceptions of palliative care, and inappropriate services. Identified models attempted to address these gaps by adopting the following strategies: community engagement and ownership; flexibility in approach; continuing education and training; a whole-of-service approach; and local partnerships among multiple agencies. Better engagement with Indigenous clients, an increase in number of palliative care patients, improved outcomes, and understanding about palliative care by patients and their families were identified as positive achievements. Conclusions: The results provide a comprehensive overview of identified effective practices with regards to palliative care delivered to Indigenous populations to guide future program developments in this field. Further research is required to explore the palliative care needs and experiences of Indigenous people living in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Perioperative medicine services for older surgical patients are being developed across several countries. This qualitative study aims to explore geriatricians' perspectives on challenges and opportunities for developing and delivering integrated geriatrics perioperative medicine services.Methods: A qualitative phenomenological semi-structured interview design. All geriatric medicine departments in acute public hospitals across Australia and New Zealand (n = 81) were approached. Interviews were conducted with 38 geriatricians. Data were analysed thematically using a framework approach.Results: Geriatricians identified several system level barriers to developing geriatrics perioperative medicine services. These included lack of funding for staffing, encroaching on existing consultative services, and competing clinical priorities. The key barrier at the healthcare professional level was the current lack of clarity of roles within the perioperative care team. Key facilitators were perceived unmet patient needs, existing support for geriatrician involvement from surgical and anaesthetic colleagues, and the unique skills geriatricians can bring to perioperative care. Despite reporting barriers, geriatricians are contemplating and implementing integrated proactive perioperative medicine services. Geriatricians identified a need to support other specialties gain clinical experience in geriatric medicine and called for pragmatic research to inform service development.Conclusions: Geriatricians perceive several challenges at the system and healthcare professional levels that are impacting current development of geriatrics perioperative medicine services. Yet their strong belief that patient needs can be met with their specialty skills and their high regard for team-based care, has created opportunities to implement innovative multidisciplinary models of care for older surgical patients. The barriers and evidence gaps highlighted in this study may be addressed by qualitative and implementation science research. Future work in this area may include application of patient-reported measures and qualitative research with patients to inform patient-centred perioperative care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Falls in hospitals remain a major challenge to patient safety. All hospitalised adults are at risk of falling during their inpatient stay, though this risk is not always realised by patients and clinicians. This study will evaluate the outcomes of a hospital clinician education program that teaches clinicians how to screen for falls risk and assign mitigation strategies using clinical reasoning, rather than relying on a standardised falls risk assessment tool (FRAT). The education program aims to increase clinician knowledge, motivation and confidence in screening falls risk and selecting individual falls prevention interventions. Perceptions of the education intervention will also be examined.Methods: Participants will be a sample of convenience of nurses and allied health professionals from five Australian hospitals. For each hospital there will be two cohorts. Cohort 1 will be clinical leaders who shall receive a three-hour education program on the latest evidence in hospital falls risk assessment and how to implement a new falls screening and management tool. They will also be taught practical skills to enable them to deliver an effective one-hour in-service training session to Cohort 2. Cohort 2 will be recruited from the workforce as a whole and include nurses and other health professionals involved in routine hospital falls screening and prevention. The investigation will be framed on Keller's Model of Motivational Design and Kirkpatrick's evaluation framework. It will involve a mixed methods pre and post-test questionnaire design inclusive of semi-structured telephone interviews, to triangulate the data from multiple approaches.Discussion: This study will quantify the outcomes of a high-quality clinician education program to increase knowledge of evidence-based practice for falls prevention. It is predicted that positive behavioural changes will occur in health professionals, leading to organisational change and improved patient outcomes. Furthermore, the findings from the study will inform the future refinement of educational delivery to health professionals across hospital sites.Trial Registration: The study has also been approved by the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: Preventing Hospital Falls: Optimal Screening UTN U1111-1225-8450. Universal Trial Number (UTN): U1111-1228-0041 (obtained 5/2/19). Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR): ACTRN12619000200189 (obtained 12/2/19). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Under-nutrition is a public health problem in Myanmar. Despite current efforts, the exclusive breastfeeding rate (EBF) for children under six months is only 24%. Intention to breastfeed is a strong predictor for long-term breastfeeding, however, little is known about pregnant women's breastfeeding intentions in Myanmar. We, therefore, aimed to identify the factors associated with women's intention to EBF. Method: Data in this article was collected in a baseline survey for a randomized controlled trial, which aimed to assess the impact of mobile text messages on the breastfeeding practices of women in Yangon, Myanmar. A total of 353 pregnant women at 28-34 weeks of gestation, recruited into the trial from the antenatal clinics of the Central Women's Hospital, Yangon, Myanmar, responded to the baseline survey questions, which included background information and breastfeeding related characteristics. To determine factors associated with women's intention to EBF logistic regression was used to analyse individual demographic, household economic and breastfeeding characteristics. In-depth interviews were performed with a sub-sample of 24 women who participated in the survey, to gain a further understanding of these associated factors. Results: After adjusting for potential confounders, working women were less likely to intend to EBF (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 0.30, CI 0.17-0.53). Women from rich households (AOR = 2.43, CI 1.08-5.47) and middle income households (AOR = 1.79, CI 1.01-3.16); those who had high (AOR = 10.19, CI 3.43-30.23) and medium (AOR = 5.46, CI 1.79-16.72) breastfeeding knowledge levels, and received information from health professionals (AOR = 2.29, CI 1. 29-4.03) and mobile internet (AOR 3.62, CI 2.04-6.41) had a higher intention to EBF. These findings were supported by qualitative analysis, which revealed that returning to work was the main barrier; health staff and printed media are reliable sources and; women with higher knowledge had high intentions to EBF. Conclusions: EBF intention was influenced by many factors. Breastfeeding promotion programs should target the poor, working women and women with lower breastfeeding knowledge. Breastfeeding education via health staff and the Internet, breastfeeding facilities at the work place and longer maternity leave in the private sector should all be encouraged. Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12615000063516. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: ACP involving a facilitated conversation with a health or care professional is more effective than document completion alone. In policy, there is an expectation that health and care professionals will provide ACP support, commonly within their existing roles. However, the potential contributions of different professionals are outlined only broadly in policy and guidance. Research on opportunities and barriers for involving different professionals in providing ACP support, and feasible models for doing so, is currently lacking. Methods: We identified twelve healthcare organizations aiming to offer system-wide ACP support in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In each, we conducted an average 13 in-depth interviews with senior managers, ACP leads, dedicated ACP facilitators, physicians, nurses, social workers and other clinical and non-clinical staff. Interviews were analyzed thematically using NVivo software. Results: Organizations emphasized leadership for ACP support, including strategic support from senior managers and intensive day-to-day support from ACP leads, to support staff to deliver ACP support within their existing roles. Over-reliance on dedicated facilitators was not considered sustainable or scalable. We found many professionals, from all backgrounds, providing ACP support. However, there remained barriers, particularly for facilitating ACP conversations. A significant barrier for all professionals was lack of time. Physicians sometimes had poor communication skills, misunderstood medico-legal aspects and tended to have conversations of limited scope late in the disease trajectory. However, they could also have concerns about the appropriateness of ACP conversations conducted by others. Social workers had good facilitation skills and understood legal aspects but needed more clinical support than nurses. While ACP support provided alongside and as part of other care was common, ACP conversations in this context could easily get squeezed out or become fragmented. Referrals to other professionals could be insecure. Team-based models involving a physician and a nurse or social worker were considered cost-effective and supportive of good quality care but could require some additional resource. Conclusions: Effective staffing of ACP support is likely to require intensive local leadership, attention to physician concerns while avoiding an entirely physician-led approach, some additional resource and team-based frameworks, including in evolving models of care for chronic illness and end of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]