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Poor youth mental health is an area of global concern. Summer holiday programs may provide environments that support mental health when the structures and supports of school are not available. The aim of this review was to determine the effectiveness of summer holiday programs in improving the mental health, social–emotional well-being, and cognitive (non-academic) outcomes of children and adolescents. Studies of summer holiday programs for school-aged children (5–18 years) were included if they measured any mental, socio-emotional or cognitive (non-academic) outcome. Studies were excluded if they were published prior to 2000, targeted clinical populations or lasted less than five days. Six databases were searched (April 2023). Risk of bias was assessed using the PEDro tool. Study outcomes were grouped according to three main constructs: mental health (psychological well-being, anxiety, depression, distress, and self-perception including self-esteem, self-worth, self-concept, confidence, and competence); social–emotional well-being (behavior and social skills, e.g., communication, bullying, conflict resolution, empathy, and social skills); and cognitive function (memory, selective attention, and executive function). A fourth "other" group captured substance use, personality traits, character skills, and values. Effect sizes were calculated as the standardized mean difference between pre- and post-intervention scores. The synthesis involved a random-effects meta-analysis (presented in forest plots), where possible, with the remaining outcomes narratively synthesized. Twenty-six studies (n = 6812 participants) were included. The results of the meta-analysis suggested that summer programs showed a statistically non-significant trend toward reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression (k = 2 studies, SMD = −0.17, 95% CI −2.94, 2.60), psychological distress (k = 2 studies, SMD −0.46, 95% CI –1.71, 0.79), and no effect on self-esteem (k = 6 studies, SMD = 0.02, 95% CI −0.02, 0.06) or self-worth (k = 3 studies, SMD = 0.05, 95% CI 0.00, 0.11). Narrative syntheses indicated a pattern toward improvements in general mental health, self-perception, social–emotional outcomes, and cognition. Studies were generally small, with a high risk of bias. Summer holiday programs for children and adolescents show trends toward improving mental, social, emotional, and cognitive outcomes. Programs targeting disadvantaged children showed stronger patterns of improvement related to mental health and self-perception than programs targeting the general population. While effect sizes are small to negligible, they consistently indicate improvements. Summer programs present a promising avenue to promote mental health in children; however, further rigorously designed, clearly reported control-group studies are required to more fully understand their effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Wearable activity trackers, including fitness bands and smartwatches, offer the potential for disease detection by monitoring physiological parameters. However, their accuracy as specific disease diagnostic tools remains uncertain., Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to evaluate whether wearable activity trackers can be used to detect disease and medical events., Methods: Ten electronic databases were searched for studies published from inception to April 1, 2023. Studies were eligible if they used a wearable activity tracker to diagnose or detect a medical condition or event (eg, falls) in free-living conditions in adults. Meta-analyses were performed to assess the overall area under the curve (%), accuracy (%), sensitivity (%), specificity (%), and positive predictive value (%). Subgroup analyses were performed to assess device type (Fitbit, Oura ring, and mixed). The risk of bias was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist for Diagnostic Test Accuracy Studies., Results: A total of 28 studies were included, involving a total of 1,226,801 participants (age range 28.6-78.3). In total, 16 (57%) studies used wearables for diagnosis of COVID-19, 5 (18%) studies for atrial fibrillation, 3 (11%) studies for arrhythmia or abnormal pulse, 3 (11%) studies for falls, and 1 (4%) study for viral symptoms. The devices used were Fitbit (n=6), Apple watch (n=6), Oura ring (n=3), a combination of devices (n=7), Empatica E4 (n=1), Dynaport MoveMonitor (n=2), Samsung Galaxy Watch (n=1), and other or not specified (n=2). For COVID-19 detection, meta-analyses showed a pooled area under the curve of 80.2% (95% CI 71.0%-89.3%), an accuracy of 87.5% (95% CI 81.6%-93.5%), a sensitivity of 79.5% (95% CI 67.7%-91.3%), and specificity of 76.8% (95% CI 69.4%-84.1%). For atrial fibrillation detection, pooled positive predictive value was 87.4% (95% CI 75.7%-99.1%), sensitivity was 94.2% (95% CI 88.7%-99.7%), and specificity was 95.3% (95% CI 91.8%-98.8%). For fall detection, pooled sensitivity was 81.9% (95% CI 75.1%-88.1%) and specificity was 62.5% (95% CI 14.4%-100%)., Conclusions: Wearable activity trackers show promise in disease detection, with notable accuracy in identifying atrial fibrillation and COVID-19. While these findings are encouraging, further research and improvements are required to enhance their diagnostic precision and applicability., Trial Registration: Prospero CRD42023407867; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=407867., (©Ben Singh, Sebastien Chastin, Aaron Miatke, Rachel Curtis, Dorothea Dumuid, Jacinta Brinsley, Ty Ferguson, Kimberley Szeto, Catherine Simpson, Emily Eglitis, Iris Willems, Carol Maher. Originally published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth (https://mhealth.jmir.org), 30.08.2024.)