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Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is associated with autonomic imbalance and significant secondary conditions, including cardiac and brain dysfunction that adversely impact health and wellbeing. This study will investigate the effectiveness (intention-to-treat) of a neuro-cardiac self-regulation therapy to improve autonomic and neural/brain activity in adults with SCI living in the community.Methods: A two-arm parallel, randomised controlled trial in which adults with SCI living in the community post-rehabilitation will be randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. The treatment group (N = 60) aged 18-70 years with a chronic traumatic or non-traumatic SCI, will receive intervention sessions once per week for 10 weeks, designed to regulate autonomic activity using computer-based feedback of heart rate variability and controlled breathing (called HRV-F). Comprehensive neurophysiological and psychological assessment will occur at baseline, immediate post-treatment, and 6 and 12-months post-treatment. Primary outcome measures include electrocardiography/heart rate variability (to assess autonomic nervous system function) and transcranial doppler sonography (to assess cerebral blood circulation in basal cerebral arteries). Secondary outcomes measures include continuous blood pressure, electroencephalography, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, respiration/breath rate, electrooculography, cognitive capacity, psychological status, pain, fatigue, sleep and quality of life. Controls (N = 60) will receive usual community care, reading material and a brief telephone call once per week for 10 weeks and be similarly assessed over the same time period as the HRV-F group. Linear mixed model analysis with repeated measures will determine effectiveness of HRV-F and latent class mixture modelling used to determine trajectories for primary and selected secondary outcomes of interest.Discussion: Treatments for improving autonomic function after SCI are limited. It is therefore important to establish whether a neuro-cardiac self-regulation therapy can result in improved autonomic functioning post-SCI, as well as whether HRV-F is associated with better outcomes for secondary conditions such as cardiovascular health, cognitive capacity and mental health.Trial Registration: The study has been prospectively registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry ( ACTRN12621000870853 .aspx). Date of Registration: 6th July 2021. Trial Sponsor: The University of Sydney, NSW 2006. Protocol version: 22/07/2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is estimated that up to 50 % of motor vehicle crash survivors develop significant psychological distress, such as depressive mood and anxiety, within 6 months of the crash. Associated impacts include loss of employment, delayed return to work, financial and familial stress, and increased medical and compensation costs. The major aim of this research is to investigate the efficacy of interventions for preventing the development of psychological distress following a motor vehicle crash. The efficacy of two brief interventions will be examined: a cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) programme, targeting mood and anxiety, and a lifestyle programme, targeting sleep, diet and physical activity.Methods/design: This is a randomized, controlled multisite study. Participants include at least 180 adults injured in a motor vehicle crash who have entered a compensation process. Research will compare outcomes in three groups randomly assigned to: one group of 60 adults, who receive a brief email-delivered CBT programme, with one session every 2 weeks for 10 weeks and telephone contact every 2 weeks; a second group of 60 adults, who receive a brief email-delivered lifestyle intervention involving one session every 2 weeks for 10 weeks with telephone contact; and an active waiting-list control group of 60 adults who are provided claims processing-related reading material along with telephone contact every 2 weeks for 10 weeks. Participants will be recruited within 12 weeks of the motor vehicle crash, and will be comprehensively assessed before and after treatment, and 6 and 12 months post-injury. Assuming an α probability level of 0.05 and a power of 80 %, at least 180 participants will be recruited. The primary outcome measure is the presence and severity of psychological distress or disorder. Secondary outcome measures include assessment of self-efficacy, resilience employment status, social activity and support, lifestyle and physical health factors, along with process outcome measures of treatment acceptability, feasibility and generalizability.Discussion: This study will determine whether brief email-delivered interventions distributed soon after the injury and entry into the claims process can be effective in preventing the development of psychological distress.Trial Registration: ANZCTR, ACTRN12615000326594 . Registered on 9 April 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Work disability following motor vehicle related orthopaedic trauma is a significant contributor to the burden of injury and disease. Early identification of predictors for return to work (RTW) is essential for developing effective interventions to prevent work disability. The study aim was to determine the predictors (including compensation related factors) of time to RTW following motor vehicle related orthopaedic trauma.Methods: Admitted patients were recruited prospectively from two trauma hospitals with upper and/or lower extremity fractures following a motor vehicle crash. Baseline and follow up data were collected by written questionnaire. For baseline, this occurred in person within 2 weeks of injury. For follow up, this occurred by mail at six, 12 and 24 months. Additional demographic and injury-related information was retrieved from hospital databases. Analysis involved: descriptive statistics; logrank test to detect survival distributions of categorical variables; and Cox proportional hazards regression models for risks of time to RTW using baseline characteristic and compensation related variables (at 6 months).Results: Of 452 study participants 334 (74%) were working pre-injury: results are based on this subset. Baseline characteristics were mean age 36 years (13.9 Standard Deviation [SD]), 80% male; 72% self-assessed very good-excellent pre-injury health, 83% household income > AU$40,000 (Australian Dollar). Follow up data was available for 233 (70%), 210 (63%), and 182 (54%) participants at six, 12 and 24 months respectively. Significant risks of a longer time to RTW were greater injury severity, as measured by the New Injury Severity Score (NISS) (Hazards Rate Ratio [HRR] = 0.54, 95% CI 0.35-0.82); and lower occupational skill levels (HRR = 0.53, 95% CI 0.34-0.83). Significant risks of a shorter time to RTW were: recovery expectations for usual activities within 90 days (HRR = 2.10, 95% CI 1.49-2.95); full-time pre-injury work hours (HRR = 1.99, 95% CI 1.26-3.14); and very good self-assessed pre-injury health status (HRR = 1.41, 95% CI 0.98-2.02). Legal representation (analysed at six months only) was not associated with time to RTW. At each time period, there were 146 (63%), 149 (71%), and 137 (76%) working participants.Conclusions: A longer time to RTW was associated with greater injury severity and lower occupational skill levels; while a shorter time to RTW was associated with recovery expectations for usual activities within 90 days, full-time pre-injury work hours, and very good self-assessed pre-injury health status. Our findings reinforce existing research. There is an opportunity to trial interventions that address potentially modifiable factors. The issues surrounding legal representation are complex and require further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: People who sustain road traffic injuries often have poor health outcomes. While outcomes are often worse in people with a compensation claim, especially in fault-based schemes versus no-fault schemes, few studies have directly compared outcomes across scheme types.Objective: To compare health and work outcomes between people who had no compensation claim, a fault-based claim, or "no-fault" transport or workers compensation claim after hospitalisation for a road traffic injury.Methods: Participants aged >=18 years admitted to hospital in New South Wales or Victoria for >24 hours were recruited in two separate prospective cohort studies (N=1,034). People who died or sustained minor or very severe injuries were excluded. Groups included Compulsory Third Party (fault-based, n=128), no-fault Transport Accident Commission (TAC; n=454) and workers compensation claimants (n=73), or no claim (n=226). Outcomes at six, 12- and 24-months post-injury included health [SF-12 Mental Component Score (MCS) and Physical Component Score (PCS)], and return to work for people working pre-injury. Multivariable mixed effects linear and logistic regressions, adjusting for demographic and injury covariates, examined differences in health and work outcomes between claimant groups, with fixed effects of time and random effects of participant ID.Results: Health status was better in people with a no-fault TAC claim (MCS: m=50.62, 95%CI:49.62,51.62; PCS: m=40.49, 95%CI:39.46,41.52) or no claim (MCS: m=49.99, 95%CI:49.62,51.62; PCS: m=44.36, 95%CI:43.00,45.72), than people with a workers compensation (MCS: m=45.73, 95%CI:43.46,48.00; PCS: m=38.94, 95%CI:36.59,41.30) or fault-based CTP claim (MCS: m=41.34, 95%CI:39.54,43.13; PCS: m=35.64, 95%CI:33.78,37.49). Relative to fault-based CTP claimants, the odds of returning to work were higher for people with no claim (AOR=6.84, 95%CI:1.73,27.05) but did not differ for no-fault TAC (AOR=1.21, 95%CI:0.36,4.05) or workers compensation claimants (AOR=0.83,95%CI: 0.17,3.99). While people with a fault-based CTP claim had poorer mental and physical health and return to work after injury, they showed greater improvements in mental health, and similar levels of improvement in physical health and work participation over time to the other groups.Conclusion: The patterns of health and work across scheme types provide important insights against which we can contrast the effects of future scheme designs on client outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Value-based healthcare delivery models have emerged to address the unprecedented pressure on long-term health system performance and sustainability and to respond to the changing needs and expectations of patients. Implementing and scaling the benefits from these care delivery models to achieve large-system transformation are challenging and require consideration of complexity and context. Realist studies enable researchers to explore factors beyond 'what works' towards more nuanced understanding of 'what tends to work for whom under which circumstances'. This research proposes a realist study of the implementation approach for seven large-system, value-based healthcare initiatives in New South Wales, Australia, to elucidate how different implementation strategies and processes stimulate the uptake, adoption, fidelity and adherence of initiatives to achieve sustainable impacts across a variety of contexts., Methods and Analysis: This exploratory, sequential, mixed methods realist study followed RAMESES II (Realist And Meta-narrative Evidence Syntheses: Evolving Standards) reporting standards for realist studies. Stage 1 will formulate initial programme theories from review of existing literature, analysis of programme documents and qualitative interviews with programme designers, implementation support staff and evaluators. Stage 2 envisages testing and refining these hypothesised programme theories through qualitative interviews with local hospital network staff running initiatives, and analyses of quantitative data from the programme evaluation, hospital administrative systems and an implementation outcome survey. Stage 3 proposes to produce generalisable middle-range theories by synthesising data from context-mechanism-outcome configurations across initiatives. Qualitative data will be analysed retroductively and quantitative data will be analysed to identify relationships between the implementation strategies and processes, and implementation and programme outcomes. Mixed methods triangulation will be performed., Ethics and Dissemination: Ethical approval has been granted by Macquarie University (Project ID 23816) and Hunter New England (Project ID 2020/ETH02186) Human Research Ethics Committees. The findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals. Results will be fed back to partner organisations and roundtable discussions with other health jurisdictions will be held, to share learnings., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objectives: The Australian Ageing Semantic Differential (AASD) survey was developed to quantify medical student attitudes towards older people. The purpose of this study is to examine psychometric properties of the survey and confirm its factor structure of four composites., Design: A cross-sectional study., Setting: Three medical schools in three Australian states: Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia., Participants: Third-year or fourth-year medical students (n=188, response rate=79%)., Outcome Measures: In the previous AASD study, exploratory factor analysis supported a four-factor model consisting of 'Instrumentality' (I), 'Personal Appeal' (PA), 'Experience' (E) and 'Sociability' (S). Congeneric one-factor confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to examine model fit for factors using a new student sample (n=188).Psychometric properties of survey items and factors.Post-hoc analysis of pooled data from this study and earlier AASD study (n=509)., Results: Indices of fit (Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), standardised root mean square residual (SRMR)) for data to the factor model were: PA adequate fit (CFI=0.94, TLI=0.89, RMSEA=0.11 and SRMR=0.05), I good fit (CFI=0.99, TLI=0.99, RMSEA=0.04 and SRMR=0.03), S good fit (CFI=0.98, TLI=0.95, RMSEA=0.06 and SRMR=0.03) and E excellent fit (CFI=1.0, TLI=1.0, RMSEA=0.00 and SRMR=0.01).The AASD was internally consistent (Cronbach's alpha=0.84), without difference in mean student scores by institution. Mean AASD score was positive for medical students outside New South Wales (73.2/114).Mean I score for all Australian students was negative, with female respondents' mean E score significantly higher than their counterparts. A positive correlation between student age and I score was noted., Conclusions: The AASD is internally consistent and generalisable within Australia, with acceptable structural validity for measuring medical student attitudes towards older people within a four-factor model. Student attitudes were positive globally and within all factors except I. Female students rated older persons E more positively. Older students recorded more positive attitudes towards I of older people., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objective: This study outlines development of an instrument for measuring attitudes of medical students towards older people, the Australian Ageing Semantic Differential (AASD)., Methods: Words for AASD scales were derived from the reflections of 151 third year medical students attending two Australian medical schools. A pilot study of the AASD was then undertaken with third year students at another medical school to confirm usability and reliability of the instrument. After slight modification, a larger study using the AASD was then undertaken of medical students attending the three institutions, in order to obtain sufficient data for exploratory factor analysis., Results: n = 321 (response rate 73%). Mean AASD score 73.2/114. Cronbach's α = 0.86. There was no evidence of sequence bias. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) demonstrated four factors: Instrumentality; Personal Appeal; Experience; and Sociability. A lower mean instrumentality subscore for all students and a higher mean experience subscore for female students were noted., Conclusions: The AASD instrument proved internally reliable, and its use was generalisable to different groups of medical students. Its design ensured construct and face validity, and responses were not affected by sequencing bias. This study has revealed positive student attitudes towards older people. Variation in attitudes requires further investigation., (© 2019 AJA Inc.)

Background: The preliminary results of a randomised controlled trial are presented. The aim of the trial is to determine the efficacy, feasibility and acceptability of email-delivered psychological interventions with telephone support, for adults injured in a motor vehicle crash engaged in seeking compensation. The primary intention for this preliminary analysis was to investigate those who were psychologically distressed and to stop the trial midway to evaluate whether the safety endpoints were necessary., Methods: The analysis included 90 adult participants randomised to one of three groups, who were assessed at baseline and post-intervention at 3 months. Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) or healthy lifestyle interventions were delivered over 10 weeks, involving fortnightly emailed modules plus clinically focussed telephone support, with the aim of reducing psychological distress. An active waiting list of control subjects received non-clinically focussed telephone contact over the same period along with claim-related reading material. Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) and Impact of Events Scale (Revised) (IES-R) were used to assess psychological distress. Psychiatric interviews were used to diagnose major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Aspects of acceptability and feasibility were also assessed., Results: For those diagnosed with depression at baseline in the CBT group, psychological distress reduced by around 16%. For those with depression in the healthy lifestyle group, distress increased marginally. For those in the control group with depression, distress also decreased (by 18% according to DASS-21 and 1.2% according to IES-R). For those without depression, significant reductions in distress occurred, regardless of group (P < .05). The results suggest that for those with depression, a healthy lifestyle intervention is contraindicated, necessitating the cessation of recruitment to this intervention. The interventions were reported as acceptable by the majority and the data indicated that the study is feasible., Conclusions: CBT with telephone support reduced psychological distress in physically injured people with depression who are engaged in seeking compensation. However, time plus fortnightly telephone contact with claim-related reading material may be sufficient to reduce distress in those who are depressed. For those who were not depressed, time plus telephone support is most likely sufficient enough to assist them to recover. The trial will continue with further recruitment to only the CBT and control groups, over longer follow-up periods., Trial Registration: Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: Preventing psychological distress following a motor vehicle accident; ACTRN12615000326594 . Registered on 9 April 2015.