INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NURSING STUDIES

Achieving research impact: the advice we would give to our younger selves
McKenna HP and Thompson DR
Nurses' role in deprescribing for older adults: A scoping review
Barbuiani G, Terzoni S, Caruso R, Cilluffo S, Pasina L and Lusignani M
To map the evidence on nurses' roles and contributions in deprescribing within the multidisciplinary team across all clinical settings.
Why do adolescents hurt themselves? A qualitative study
Wang X, Zhang YH, Ju JW, Chen ZH and Tang MW
Non-suicidal self-injury is highly prevalent among adolescents with mood disorders. It not only severely jeopardizes their physical and mental health but also imposes a substantial burden on families. Nurses working in psychiatric settings frequently report challenges in providing care to these young people, often experiencing negative emotional impacts and occupational burnout. The personal experiences of non-suicidal self-injury, and how they intersect with the broader socio-cultural context to influence behavior in this population, are not well understood, thereby hindering the development of effective nursing interventions.
Patterns of social participation among older adults with chronic multimorbidity in the community: A qualitative study
Qiu X, Liang J, Luo L, Huang X, Yi G, Xiong C and Gong N
Social participation significantly promotes health in older adults with chronic multimorbidity. However, their needs and characteristics of social participation demonstrate substantial heterogeneity due to multidimensional influences. Current standardized community service models inadequately address this population's diverse needs. User personas, as a group classification model derived from integrating the characteristics of target populations along specific dimensions, can provide a basis for addressing the current challenge in which standardized community services fail to meet the diverse needs of this population.
Effectiveness of interactive digital health services in non-communicable diseases: An umbrella review and evidence synthesis from 26 meta-analyses
Laukka E, Jansson M, Suonnansalo P, Ojanperä R, Härkönen H, Lakoma S and Torkki P
New digital health services are continuously developed, implemented, tested, and refined to meet diverse health and system needs. With the rise in non-communicable diseases, these services are increasingly integrated into care processes. However, the effectiveness of digital health services varies across time and settings, highlighting the need to evaluate their effectiveness longitudinally and in specific settings.
"Coming to terms" - the post-burn recovery journey of parent-child dyads: A constructivist grounded theory
Bayuo J, Wong AKC, Wong FKY and Adinkrah EA
Paediatric burn injuries pose a critical global health challenge, affecting millions of children annually. Beyond the immediate physical harm, burns disrupt developmental trajectories, leaving enduring psychological, physical, and relational impacts as children transition into adulthood. While advancements in acute care have improved survival rates, understanding the dyadic recovery process between parent and children remains underexplored. The prolonged and complex nature of post-burn recovery necessitates sustained caregiver support, emphasising the need to examine how parent-child dyads experience and collectively navigate this journey.
The effects of a therapeutic immersive virtual reality programme on the mental health of residential care home residents living with physical disabilities: A multi-centre randomised controlled trial
Kwan RYC, Su JJ, Lee JLC, Ng F, Lai M, Lei C and Chan S
Older adults living with physical disabilities in residential care homes are at elevated risk for depression and loneliness, which negatively impacts their quality of life. Immersive virtual reality is an evolving modality that engages older adults in therapeutically oriented activities to address these mental health challenges.
Fatigue risk management in healthcare: A scoping literature review
Fox S, Dall'Ora C and Young M
Occupational fatigue among healthcare professionals is a complex, multifaceted issue associated with increased likelihood of medical error, compromised patient safety and negative impacts on staff mental and physical health. While safety-critical sectors such as aviation and rail have implemented formal systems to manage fatigue-related risks, it remains unclear whether similarly structured approaches exist or operate effectively within healthcare.
The impact of staffing structures in long-term care homes on the quality of work-life and work outcomes of care-workers: A narrative scoping review
Miller M, Almomani Y, Hopwood P, Haghighi P, Davis A, Littler E, Daly TJ, Foebel AD and MacEachen E
Chronic underfunding of the long-term care sector, coupled with increased complexity of care, has deteriorated working conditions and contributed to severe staffing shortages of healthcare workers globally. While previous reviews have examined the association between long-term care staffing and care outcomes for residents, none have examined specifically how staffing structures affect the care-workers themselves.
Associations between healthcare workers' substance use and quality of care: Findings from a one-year Swedish follow-up study
Peláez Zuberbuhler J, Aroub A, Thern E, Innstrand ST, Landstad BJ, Sjöström M and Brulin E
Problem drinking and illicit drug use among healthcare workers (i.e., physicians and nurses) may impair their attention and cognitive functioning, thereby increasing the risk of medical errors and diminishing the quality of patient care.
Children's experiences of functional constipation: A qualitative reflexive thematic analysis
Flankegård G, Rytterström P, Gustafsson BM and Mörelius E
Childhood functional constipation, a common concern within child healthcare, necessitates oral and rectal medical treatments, that are mostly administered by parents in the home environment. It is important to gather children's perspectives in child- and family-centred care. The private nature of toileting, bowel movements, and faecal incontinence are areas of taboo and stigmatisation. Research is scarce on how children perceive this common but private situation of oral and rectal constipation treatment.
Midwife continuity of care: A systematic review and meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies
Kuipers Y, Aitken-Arbuckle A, Jenkins H, Watson S, King M and Zemouri C
Randomised controlled trials demonstrated the effectiveness of midwife continuity of care. Further assessment can be achieved by extending causal inference to non-randomised data and study designs for comparative research.
Predictors of job turnover among home health versus hospital nurses: An observational study using the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses
Samson Z, Wagner LM, Hunt LJ and Muench U
The need for skilled in-home nursing care is growing, but the home health nursing workforce faces challenges with job turnover, fueling the concern that the supply of these nurses will be inadequate to meet demand.
Factors impacting caregiver burden in Parkinson's disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Sin WWF, Chan LML, Ng CTY, Choi EPH, Lok KYW, Fong DYT and Kwok JYY
Informal caregivers are integral to the long-term care of people with Parkinson's disease but often face substantial caregiving burden, which negatively affects both caregivers and care recipients. Despite its significance, there is no existing systematic review or meta-analysis that examines the significance of all potential factors using an appropriate conceptual framework.
Effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation in improving subjective and objective cognitive functions in cancer patients: A systematic review, pairwise, and network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Wang L, Ho MH, Choi EPH, Zhang Q, Xin G, He J and Lin CC
Cancer-related cognitive impairment is prevalent in adult cancer survivors, negatively impacting their quality of life. Cognitive rehabilitation has emerged as a potential intervention to improve cancer related cognitive impairment. While several systematic reviews have been published primarily focusing on qualitative analysis, a comprehensive pairwise and network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials is conducted to quantitatively synthesize and compare the effectiveness of various cognitive rehabilitation in improving cancer related cognitive impairment.
Refining the program theory of the nurse-led Rapid Response Team in acute care hospitals: A realist evaluation
Bunkenborg G, Frederiksen J, Hansen TCB and Bucknall T
Caring for unstable patients in a general ward is a challenging task for nurses and impacts patients' safety. To assist nurses in detecting and managing patient deterioration, the nurse-led Rapid Response Team has been implemented worldwide for over 25 years with divergent results regarding reduced patient mortality, cardiac arrest rates, and admissions for intensive care. To develop new initiatives targeting well-documented challenges embedded in using the nurse-led Rapid Response Team, research-based knowledge from a broader perspective on the Rapid Response Team is crucial. This study evaluated how and for whom the nurse-led Rapid Response Team works.
Navigating crisis: A qualitative study of nurse middle managers' role in building resilience during times of crisis
Golfenshtein N, Drach-Zahavy A, Sperling D, Fleishman TT, Hirschfeld M, Wagner N and Srulovici E
Global crises, such as pandemics and armed conflicts, highlight the need for resilient healthcare systems. Nurse middle managers play a critical meso-level role in bridging frontline staff and senior leadership, yet their crisis experiences remain underexplored.
Palliative care needs of adults severely affected by sickle cell disease: A mixed-methods systematic review
Alyami K, Bristowe K, Dzeng E, Afolabi O and Evans CJ
Sickle cell disease is one of the most common inherited monogenetic blood disorders. People living with sickle cell disease experience both acute pain and long-lasting complications, leading to co-morbidities which impact their quality of life. Palliative care is both under-reported and under-utilised for people living with sickle cell disease despite the profound impacts of this illness across their lives.
Nurse-involved hospital avoidance outreach interventions for aged care home residents: A mixed-method systematic review
Mari E, King J, Jeon YH and Jeong SY
Older people residing in aged care homes often have complex health needs that can lead to hospitalisations, some of which are potentially avoidable. To address this, nurse-led or nurse-involved interventions have been implemented to reduce unnecessary hospital presentations.
"The balance tilting towards helping behaviors"-The mechanisms influencing the behaviors of community residents in helping people with dementia: A mixed-methods study
Zhi S, Li R, Li J, Fang S, Zhong Q, Wu Y, Lang J, Zhang H, Li M, Chang C and Sun J
With the proposed "aging in place" and "dementia-friendly community" policies, communities have become key places in which to support people with dementia. As core members of a community, residents could play a significant role in making full use of community resources to help people with dementia.
A framework and practical approach to identify and address ethical issues arising in interventional health systems research
Mutua E, Oluoch D, Fuller S, Ngaiza G, Odinga N, Waithira C, Kagonya V, Onyango O, Nasir N, Grewal G, Imam A, Rababeh A, Maina M, Karumba K, Kelley M, English M and Molyneux S
Embedded, interventional health systems research is increasingly promoted to better understand and strengthen the performance of health systems. However, for these forms of research, boundaries between clinical care, quality improvement, and public health can be blurred, and ethical implications and frameworks to draw upon are unclear. While there is evolving ethical guidance, few health systems studies have documented ethical dilemmas experienced post ethics approval, and the value of support processes introduced to manage arising dilemmas. In this discussion paper, we share our approach to handling the ethical dilemmas that arose while conducting embedded interventional health systems research in public-sector newborn units in Kenya.