ANZCTR search results

The negative attitudes and beliefs towards people living with overweight or obesity exhibited by healthcare students have the potential to impact the care they provide to this population in future practice. Therefore, it becomes increasingly important to develop interventions that aim to reduce weight bias in healthcare students. This study aims to investigate whether evoking empathy towards people living with overweight or obesity or providing education about the multifactorial causes of obesity will be the most effective in reducing Australian healthcare students' explicit weight bias. Students will view one of 3 videos (about empathy evoking, multifactorial causes of obesity, and smoking) and answer several questionnaires. It is hypothesised that the empathy evoking video and the video about the multifactorial causes of obesity will be more effective in reducing students' explicit weight bias compared to the smoking video. We will also explore whether one of the two main videos (empathy evoking and multifactorial causes of obesity) is more effective in reducing students' explicit weight bias.

To compare whether use of a dermal allopatch graft in rotator cuff repair leads to improved functional and structural outcomes over a 2-year period compared to no graft. It is expected the use of these grafts will improve functional shoulder outcomes and reduce the re-tear rate following surgery. If successful these grafts can be potentially considered a gold standard of care moving forward. We will also be monitoring for any changes in adverse event profile.

Shogaols are biologically active constituents of ginger which have a chemical structure similar to gingerols. The most common constituent is 6-Shogaol which has been shown to be a promising anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory agent that also possesses strong hepatoprotective effects (Zhang et al., 2019). In a small investigative study among six early-stage, transfusion-independent patients with MDS, Golombick et al. (2017) found that 6-Shogaol caused a decrease in the serum ferritin (SF) levels of three patients who had elevated SF at baseline. Upregulation of hepcidin levels was observed in two of these three patients, possibly through an improvement in liver function with 6-Shogaol supplementation. Hence, 6-Shogaol, a natural food derivative, may lower the iron overload by decreasing iron absorption. Such promising findings call for a more extensive study to confirm the potential beneficial effect of 6-Shogaol in low-risk MDS patients with SF levels greater than or equal to 100ug/L due to ineffective erythropoiesis. Furthermore, whether the lowering of SF levels in this group of patients can translate into improvements in cytopenias and QoL also requires investigating.

This multicentre, randomised trial aims to determine whether a single preoperative dose of intrathecal morphine with local anaesthetic in patients undergoing elective minimally invasive major abdominal surgery improves quality of recovery as measured by the QoR-15 score on post operative day 1 where a difference of 6 is deemed clinically important. Patients will be randomised into the intervention group (preoperative injection of intrathecal morphine 200 mcg with local anaesthetic + multimodal analgesia) or the control group (multimodal analgesia). A dose increase of intrathecal morphine to 300mcg will occur after recruiting the first 100 patients and following review of safety data. Secondary outcomes of interest include cumulative opioid consumption over the first 3 postoperative days, dynamic and rest pain scores, return of bowel function, opioid related adverse events, hospital length of stay, persistent opioid use and pain at day 90.

This study aims to determine if we can train maternity staff in Healthy Conversation Skills to support them to provide pregnancy weight gain care to pregnant women. We hypothesise that after receiving the Healthy Conversation Skills intervention, antenatal care providers will have higher competence and confidence, and report less barriers, to having behaviour change conversations about weight gain with pregnant women. This study will be conducted as a single-arm, pre-post study with staggered implementation of the 2-month Healthy Conversation Skills intervention in three health sectors within the Hunter New England Local Health District, New South Wales, Australia. The intervention will consist of evidenced-based strategies including leadership support, service champions, community of practice meetings, clinician training, educational materials and prompts and reminders. Study outcomes include changes in antenatal care provider’s competence, confidence and barriers to having behaviour change conversations with patients, and adoption of Healthy Conversation Skills. Implementation processes of fidelity, reach, acceptability and appropriateness of the intervention will also be measured. A cost analysis will be undertaken to assess the cost of the Healthy Conversation Skills intervention.

Older adults who receive aged care services within their own home commonly experience depression. Physical health is often prioritised in this population and mental health concerns can remain overlooked and undertreated. A new mental health model of care, Enhanced Management of home-Based Elders with Depression (EMBED) has been developed to meet the growing need for accessible and tailored psychological care for home aged care recipients. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the EMBED intervention, as well as the costs and benefits of this approach.

This randomised controlled trial of 120 pregnant people aims to evaluate the efficacy of a gut health-focused, smartphone-delivered, prenatal dietary program (Bugs & Bumps), compared to a smartphone-delivered program focused on the Australian Dietary Guidelines, for: (1) improving diet quality during pregnancy, (2) altering microbial or inflammatory biological pathways that may underpin neurodevelopment, and (3) influencing mental health-related outcomes in children.

Steroid-Reducing Options for ReLapsING PMR (STERLING-PMR): a pragmatic, randomised trial to compare the clinical and cost-effectiveness of adding immunomodulation to steroid-tapering treatment for patients with relapsing PMR, versus steroid-tapering alone. This is a Multi-centre, Phase III, parallel-group, open-label, randomised controlled trial with internal pilot. Internal Pilot: A 12-month internal feasibility phase will determine the likelihood of achieving i) opening of centres, ii) planned recruitment rate, and iii) achieving the recruitment target of 200 participants (41). An internal review will also be conducted after 8 months, corresponding to one-third of the total recruitment phase (42). At the end of the internal pilot phase, if Amend (amber) criteria are met, then a recovery plan detailing remedial actions will be submitted to the funder. If this is approved, the trial will proceed with caution This study aims to determine the clinical and cost-effectiveness of adding a disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) to prednisolone-tapering treatment in relapsed PMR patients. The primary objective to test whether adding a DMARD to usual-care prednisolone reduces patient-reported cumulative steroid dose requirements over 18 months, compared with usual-care alone; within a pragmatic RCT design. The secondary objectives will be assessment of PMR symptom severity and disease activity; time to stopping steroids and to steroid-free remission; cumulative steroid dose; AE; quality of life; work participation; diagnosis of adrenal insufficiency or GCA; and the impact of increased referrals on Rheumatology service capacity.

The primary aim of this study is to test the effectiveness of an online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (iCBT) intervention (called CarersCanADAPT) for carers of people with cancer in reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression compared to carers in the wait list control condition. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are an adult who is a primary carer for an adult diagnosed with cancer. Study details Participants will be asked to complete the CarersCanADAPT 6 week online cognitive behavioural therapy program. You will be randomly allocated to join either the immediate access group or the waitlist group. Either way you will receive access to the CarersCanADAPT program, however those people in the waitlist group will get access to the program in 14 weeks’ time. You will also be asked to complete an online initial (baseline) questionnaire, and 2 more questionnaires at 6 and 14 weeks after beginning the trial. If you are allocated to the waitlist group, you will also be asked to complete an additional 2 questionnaires at 20 and 28 weeks after beginning the trial. This research offers an opportunity to test the effectiveness and implementation of an evidence-based online support module for carers, which if found to be effective can be broadly disseminated and potentially implemented into routine care.

Missing a diagnosis of primary aldosteronism (PA) leads to adverse patient outcomes above and beyond hypertension. A simple blood test is available to screen for this common and potentially curable condition, but is severely under-utilised. Interventions including education and clinical decision support are likely to increase PA screening in primary care where the vast majority of hypertensive patients are managed. A well-powered trial that incorporates strong implementation strategies and health economic analyses is what we are proposing to address the issue.