ANZCTR search results

Health care professionals (HCP) working in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) experience high levels of physical and psychological stress. Nijland and colleagues investigated the ease of use and immediate effect of virtual reality relaxation/ VRRelax (360º immersive environments) to reduce perceived stress in intensive care nurses. After using VRelax, stress levels decreased by 40% and 62% of the ICU nurses thought VRelax was helpful in reducing stress. This study concluded that VR is easy to use and is an effective intervention to reduce immediate stress in ICU nurses. Given these potential benefits, we aim to conduct a pilot study to examine the use of VR to reduce perceived stress in our neonatal intensive care staff during their work shifts.

The study is a pharmacokinetic study on 20 volunteers assessing blood and urine pharmacokinetics and excretion for a 98% CBD product with no THC. The same product is available in a soft gel capsule and a liquid oil. Twenty participants will undergo 24 hour testing for each drug around 2-3 weeks apart. Blood and urine will be taken at 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,8 and 24 hours. They do not have to stay overnight but do need to come back to the clinic for their 24 hour testing.

This study aims to determine the effectiveness of a practice change intervention in increasing the provision of recommended smoking cessation care by antenatal services. Relative to usual antenatal appointments, it is hypothesised that the intervention will achieve increases in the proportion of post intervention appointments in which smoking cessation care is consistent with guideline recommendations: assessment using CO monitors (predicted 7.2% increase); brief advice (predicted 17.6% increase); referral (predicted 21.8% increase). The study will be conducted as a stepped-wedge controlled trial, with staggered implementation of the intervention across maternity services in three health sectors within Hunter New England Local Health District, New South Wales, Australia. The intervention will consist of evidence-based, locally tailored practice change strategies including guidelines and procedures, prompts and reminders, leadership support, training, and audit and feedback. The prevalence of woman-reported assessment, advice and referral for smoking will be the primary outcomes of interest. Cross-sectional measurement of outcomes will occur via telephone interviews with a random sample of women who attend the services each week. An intervention effect will be determined by an increase in recommended care delivery across the sites. Economic analyses will be undertaken to assess the cost, cost effectiveness and budget impact of the practice change intervention. Acceptability of the intervention to women will also be measured.

Babies often require help to breath from a breathing machine (mechanical ventilation with a ventilator). While this keeps babies alive, it may damage their lungs. To minimise this damage, we use gentle methods of mechanical ventilation. High frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) is an alternative type of mechanical ventilation thought to cause less lung damage. To use this type of breathing support safely, a baby’s lungs need to be properly inflated. We usually find out this information by using x-rays of a baby’s lungs, oxygen levels, and measurements we get from the ventilator. Babies whose lungs are not fully inflated need more pressure from the ventilator to open up their lungs, but it can be hard to know when we have given enough pressure. Lung x-rays give us some information about how well inflated the lungs are, but they use radiation and only provide a picture at one point in time. As a result, we rely on a baby’s oxygen levels and measurements from the ventilator to guide how we open the lungs with pressure. These are not very accurate. Ultrasound and electrical impedance tomography (EIT) are forms of imaging that do not use radiation. Ultrasound uses reflected sound to create an image of different parts of the body. EIT uses changes in electrical resistance to create images of the lung. Both are safe, painless and can be used to assess lung inflation over a period of minutes rather than a single time point like x-rays do. We are exploring whether a lung ultrasound performed during a procedure to inflate the lungs called a “recruitment manoeuvre” can help us find the best pressure to use to keep the lungs properly inflated. In this study, we will perform ultrasounds of a baby’s lungs at each step during a recruitment manoeuvre. We will compare the lung ultrasound findings to the usual ways we measure the lung inflation and also to measurements of lung inflation from EIT. These findings may help us better use HFOV in the future.

We aimed to show that a peanut-enriched weight loss diet would improve markers of diabetes compared with a standard low far weight loss diet. We expected given the same degree of energy restriction that both diets would provide a similar weight loss outcome

Hospitalised cancer survivors are very physically inactive, placing them at risk of weakness, medical complications and long hospital stays. This study is investigating if providing people with brief physical activity advice and a fitness tracker (Fitbit) to facilitate goal setting and provide feedback improves cancer survivor’s physical activity, reduces hospital stay and prevents complications. Who is it for? Participants will be patients with cancer who are admitted to the oncology/haematology ward at Box Hill Hospital who are medically stable to exercise. Study details Participants will be randomly allocated to one of two groups: 1) Physical activity advice with Fitbit in addition to usual inpatient care; or 2) usual inpatient care. At hospital discharge, and 30 days after, data relating to physical activity levels, physical function, confidence and hospital readmissions will be collected. It is hoped this study will determine the effectiveness of providing additional behavioural support including Fitbits on a hospital cancer ward.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether integrative approaches of exercise and psychosocial interventions may best address the needs of cancer survivors experiencing Cancer-Related Fatigue. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are aged 18 or over, have a fatigue score of greater than or equal to 4/10 and have completed definitive primary adjuvant cancer treatment (surgery and chemotherapy, targeted therapy and/or radiotherapy) for early stage cancer, within the previous 6–60 months, with no evidence of recurrence. Participants will be randomised to either a 12-week combined program of Physical Activity (PA) and standard Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), or PA alone. All sessions are delivered via Zoom by an Accredited Exercise Physiologist and Clinical Psychologist. The exercise will involve aerobic exercise (walking, cycling in the gym) or resistance training (weights). The mindfulness will involve group discussion, mindfulness practice, meditation and gentle yoga. Sessions will be in a group format. The mindfulness session is scheduled to occur after one of the Exercise sessions, for a total combined session of 3 hours. All sessions will be a group activity. You will be given resources to use at home, to help you practice. These resources may include: - handouts / audiorecording guides relating to mindfulness technique and practice (which you may keep) - wearable technology, such as a fitbit (which would be on loan from Concord Cancer Centre) - activity log for you to record your home practice Before and after the trial, participants will answer questionnaires about their quality of life, fatigue, fear of recurrence, sleep duration/quality, depression, physical fitness and patient experience. It is hoped this study will help improve Cancer related fatigue in cancer survivors, including their quality of life.

Background: The Hey Lemonade mobile app is in the development phase having attained initial seed investment to make the MVP (minimum viable product). The objective of the app is to tackle smaller mental health issues before they become bigger through the on demand delivery of situation-specific pep or motivational talks. The app contains a series of 2–3-minute talks designed to circuit break and help people alleviate common everyday stress. The content of the talks have been developed by the Hey Lemonade team in collaboration with professional writers and two clinical psychologists. The app developers have also drawn on design, user experience and user interface research to identify the most effective means of delivering the app content. The app currently has 30-40 uniquely written talks recorded by well-known voice actors or public figures such as Zoe Terakes, Susie Youssef, Dylan Alcott, Chief Brabon and Tony Armstrong. Aims / Objectives: While commercial mobile apps designed to promote health and well-being are becoming more and more popular, few are subject to rigorous testing to support the benefits they claim to deliver. The current project aims to quantify how engagement with the Hey Lemonade mobile app effects mood and stress in a real world setting as well as evaluate user experience. To do this the research team are proposing an uncontrolled two-arm randomized control trial recruiting participants identified by the Hey Lemonade app developers as their key demographic targets (women aged 25 – 50 years). Outcomes from the research would be used to refine the mobile app to maximize impact and usability. Key Research question(s): 1. Does use of the Hey Lemonade app (intervention condition) result in a significant improvement in coping self-efficacy or well-being in users compared to participants who do not use the app (control condition)? 2. How do participants in the intervention condition engage with and rate the user features or functions of the Hey Lemonade app? This includes objective components such as page views for specific app components and any in-app ratings of this content. It may also include duration of interaction within these. Hypothesis: Use of the Hey Lemonade app results in improvement in mood and perceived stress levels.

This study is being undertaken to understand the feasibility of generating clinically meaningful patient reported outcome measures using app-based approaches in a population of HR+, HER2– advanced or metastatic breast cancer patients. As well as for assessing virtual decentralised approaches for recruitment. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are aged 18 years or older, you have been diagnosed with HR+, HER2– advanced or metastatic breast cancer, you have recently started taking palbociclib as a treatment for your cancer and you are able to use a smartphone or other compatible device for the duration of the study. Study details All participants who choose to enroll in this study will be directed to download the Pippa study app (aka ClaimIt) to their smartphone or other compatible device, where participants can consent if they want to take part of the study. Immediately after enrolment, participants will be asked to provide demographic and clinical information related to breast cancer. Participants will then be asked to complete three questionnaires about their treatment regime and their health and abilities using the study app, at 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months post-recruitment. It is anticipated that it will take 10-15 minutes for participants to enter these details at each timepoint. Participants may also be asked to complete a survey about their experience using the app at the completion of the study, or if they withdraw from the study at an earlier time. It is hoped this research will determine whether it is practical and acceptable to collect patient health-related information via a specially designed app. If the app is found to be useful, it may be made available on a larger scale so that all breast cancer patients can report their health status regularly and without needing to attend face-to-face appointments.

Elevated lipids called ceramides are associated with poorer outcomes in men with prostate cancer. Statins, a class of drug that reduces lipid levels, have been shown to be somewhat helpful in reversing this poor prognostic lipid signature, however only in a subset of men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) (i.e. those that are resistant to anti-androgen treatment). Therefore, other more potent or targeted lipid lowering drugs such as the anti-proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) monoclonal antibody (PCSK9) inhibitor evolocumab may be required. This study aims to assess whether evolocumab reduces ceramide levels in men with mCRPC commencing chemotherapy or androgen receptor signaling inhibitors (ARSI) therapy. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are aged 18 years or over, have been diagnosed with mCRPC, and are planned to commence chemotherapy (docetaxel or cabazitaxel) or ARSI therapy (abiraterone or enzalutamide). Study details All participants will receive 420mg of evolocumab administered subcutaneously (i.e. injected under the skin) every 4 weeks for 12 weeks, commencing on day 1 of the first dose of chemotherapy or ARSI therapy. After each dose of evolocumab, participants will be monitored for any side effects. Blood samples will also be taken at baseline and after 12 weeks of treatment to assess for changes in the circulating lipid profile (i.e. ceramide levels) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. It is hoped that this study may show that evolocumab reduces ceramide levels associated with poor prognosis in men with mCRPC.