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Evidence-based practice is a professional standard for occupational therapists, but limited time, resources and knowledge challenge its implementation. This study aims to identify what free evidence summary sources (FESS) can be found through a simple online search, related to child/youth interventions surrounding cerebral palsy (CP), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), developmental coordination disorder (DCD), mental health or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (MH/ADHD). Evidence summaries share research in concise, time-efficient manners.

An internet-based scoping review was conducted between February 2022 and July 2022, using Google, and known evidence summary producers. Evidence summaries meeting the inclusion criteria were located and catalogued. Type of agency, target audiences, purpose and distribution of evidence summaries related to diagnosis were identified for each FESS.

Ten FESS were found, which produced 113 intervention-focused evidence summaries within the past 10 years. These FESS were aimed at a variety of target audiences: service providers, service users, parents/families, researchers and commissioners, and were produced primarily by non-profit/charity organisations (6 of 10) who were trying to fill a gap in evidence. Forty-eight evidence summaries were related to ASD, 34 to CP, 29 to MH/ADHD and two to DCD.

A catalogue of FESS that exist online was produced, to support evidence-based practice for paediatric occupational therapists with limited resources, and may support improved health promotion and informed decision-making for service users. No consistent framework for FESS evidence summaries exists at this time.

This study aims to evaluate the participation and satisfaction of learners with the brief “Mental health promotion in school health care” e-learning course, and to describe factors related to their participation and satisfaction.

A convergent mixed-method study with a descriptive, posttest-only design was conducted in Finland. Quantitative data was collected from the learning portal data and via an electronic feedback questionnaire and qualitative data in four focus group discussions.

The three modules of the course were opened altogether 12,922 times during the 21 months period. The identified factors influencing participation within the course were: favorite methods attracting attention, the relevance of additional information and postprocessing boosting diligence. The learners’ satisfaction with the course was high. The factors identified for improving satisfaction were: filling gaps in earlier education, clear and concise structure and content, inspiring and interesting design and suitability for clinical use. In addition to the primary target group (school nurses), the course was well-participated and evaluated as satisfying among other health and social care professionals as well as undergraduate students.

This study demonstrates demand for brief, fully online mental health trainings among school nurses, but also among other health and social care professionals and students. The results indicate that learners perceive such training as beneficial. This paper also presents a novel training intervention and its pedagogical base.

Environmental degradation resulting from human activities may adversely affect human health in multiple ways. Until now, policies aimed at mitigating environmental problems such as climate change, environmental pollution and damage to biodiversity have failed to clearly identify and drive the potential benefits of these policies on health. The conducted study assesses and demonstrates how specific environmental policies and instruments influence perceived human health in order to ensure input for a data-driven decision process.

The study was conducted for the 2004–2020 period in European Union (EU) countries with the use of dynamic panel data modeling. Verification of specific policies' impact on dependent variables allows to indicate this their effectiveness and importance. As a result of the computed dynamic panel data models, it has been confirmed that a number of significant and meaningful relationships between the self-perceived health index and environmental variables can be identified.

There is a strong positive impact of environmental taxation on the health index, and the strength of this relationship causes effects to be observed in the very short term, even the following year. In addition, the development of renewable energy sources (RES) and the elimination of fossil fuels from the energy mix exert positive, although milder, effects on health. The reduction of ammonia emissions from agriculture and reducing noise pollution are other health-supporting factors that have been shown to be statistically valid. Results allow to identify the most efficient policies in the analyzed area in order to introduce those with the best results or a mix of such measures.

The results of the authors' research clearly indicate the health benefits of measures primarily aimed at improving environmental factors, such as environmental taxes in general. The authors have also discovered an unexpected negative impact of an increase in the share of energy taxes in total taxes on the health index. The presented study opens several possibilities for further investigation, especially in the context of the rapidly changing geopolitical environment and global efforts to respond to environmental and health challenges. The authors believe that the outcome of the authors' study may provide new arguments to policymakers pursuing solutions that are not always easily acceptable by the public.

In response to growing concerns over the negative consequences of Internet addiction on adolescents’ mental health, coupled with conflicting results in this literature stream, this meta-analysis sought to (1) examine the association between Internet addiction and depressive symptoms in adolescents, (2) examine the moderating role of Internet freedom across countries, and (3) examine the mediating role of excessive daytime sleepiness.

In total, 52 studies were analyzed using robust variance estimation and meta-analytic structural equation modeling.

There was a significant and moderate association between Internet addiction and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, Internet freedom did not explain heterogeneity in this literature stream before and after controlling for study quality and the percentage of female participants. In support of the displacement hypothesis, this study found that Internet addiction contributes to depressive symptoms through excessive daytime sleepiness (proportion mediated = 17.48%). As the evidence suggests, excessive daytime sleepiness displaces a host of activities beneficial for maintaining mental health. The results were subjected to a battery of robustness checks and the conclusions remain unchanged.

The results underscore the negative consequences of Internet addiction in adolescents. Addressing this issue would involve interventions that promote sleep hygiene and greater offline engagement with peers to alleviate depressive symptoms.

This study utilizes robust meta-analytic techniques to provide the most comprehensive examination of the association between Internet addiction and depressive symptoms in adolescents. The implications intersect with the shared interests of social scientists, health practitioners, and policy makers.

This study aims to examine the relationship between medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) among pregnant individuals, referral source, mental health, political affiliation and substance use policies in all 50 states in the USA.

This study describes MOUD receipt among pregnant people with an opioid use disorder (OUD) in 2018. The authors explored sociodemographic differences in MOUD receipt, referrals and co-occurring mental health disorders. The authors included a comparison of MOUD receipt among states that have varying substance use policies and examined the impact of these policies and the political affiliation on MOUD. The authors used multilevel binary logistic regression to examine effects of individual and state-level characteristics on MOUD.

Among 8,790 pregnant admissions with OUD, the majority who received MOUD occurred in the Northeast region (71.52%), and 14.99% were referred by the criminal justice system (n = 1,318). Of those who were self-referred, 66.39% received MOUD, while only 30.8% of referrals from the criminal justice system received MOUD. Those referred from the criminal justice system or who had a co-occurring mental health disorder were least likely to receive MOUD. The multilevel model showed that while policies were not a significant predictor, a state’s political affiliation was a significant predictor of MOUD.

The study has some methodological limitations; a state-level analysis, even when considering the individual factors, may not provide sufficient description of community-level or other social factors that may influence MOUD receipt. This study adds to the growing literature on the ineffectiveness of prenatal substance use policies designed specifically to increase the use of MOUD. If such policies are consistently assessed as not contributing to substantial increase in MOUD among pregnant women over time, it is imperative to investigate potential mechanisms in these policies that may not facilitate MOUD access the way they are intended to.

Findings from this study aid in understanding the impact that a political affiliation may have on treatment access; states that leaned more Democratic were more likely to have higher rates of MOUD, and this finding can lead to research that focuses on how and why this contributes to greater treatment utilization. This study provides estimates of underutilization at a state level and the mechanisms that act as barriers, which is a stronger assessment of how state-specific policies and practices are performing in addressing prenatal substance use and a necessary step in implementing changes that can improve the links between pregnant women and MOUD.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore individual-level factors that include mental health and referral sources to treatment that lead to MOUD use in the context of state-level policy and political environments. Most studies estimate national-level rates of treatment use only, which can be useful, but what is necessary is to understand what mechanisms are at work that vary by state. This study also found that while substance use policies were designed to increase MOUD for pregnant women, this was not as prominent a predictor as other factors, like mental health, being referred from the criminal justice system, and living in a state with more Democratic-leaning affiliations.

This study aims to deepen the understanding of the challenges and implications entailed by deploying mobile clinics in conflict zones to reach populations affected by violence and cut off from health-care services.

This research combines an integrated literature review and an instrumental case study. The literature review comprises two targeted reviews to provide insights: one on conflict zones and one on mobile clinics. The case study describes the process and challenges faced throughout a mobile clinic deployment during and after the Iraq War. The data was gathered using mixed methods over a two-year period (2017–2018).

Armed conflicts directly impact the populations’ health and access to health care. Mobile clinic deployments are often used and recommended to provide health-care access to vulnerable populations cut off from health-care services. However, there is a dearth of peer-reviewed literature documenting decision support tools for mobile clinic deployments.

This study highlights the gaps in the literature and provides direction for future research to support the development of valuable insights and decision support tools for practitioners.

Mainland Tanzania has seen two decades of significant social policy reforms and transformations in its social and economic structures, whilst the country continues to grapple with persisting gender inequalities. This article examines Tanzania's social policy developments from a gender perspective. The authors analyse the level, reach and quality of social policy delivery to working-age women across the areas of health policy, social protection and employment policy during 2000–2021.

The article draws on qualitative research deploying the scoping review method. The data consist of diverse secondary materials, including academic publications, government policy documents, relevant statistics and other types of “grey” literature.

Tanzania has made significant advancements in the legal frameworks around welfare provision and has instituted increasingly gender-responsive government policy plans. The health and social protection sectors, in particular, have witnessed the introduction of large-scale measures expanding social policy implementation. However, social policy delivery remains two-tiered, with differences in provisions for women in the formal and informal sectors.

Social policy delivery and implementation have increased and diversified in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) during the new millennium, with a growing integration of gender-specific policy objectives. However, limited social policy scholarship has focused on the gendered effects of broader social policy models in SSA. The article remedies the concomitant knowledge gaps by examining various social policies and their impacts on working-age women in Mainland Tanzania. The authors also engage with the theoretical welfare regime literature and present an analytical framework for gender-sensitive assessment of emerging social policy models in the Global South.

Online gaming has emerged as a popular activity providing a social outlet for millions. However, implications of online game networks for mental health remain disputed. Concepts of bridging social capital and bonding social capital may help characterize protective factors within social networks. This study aims to examine the associations between social capital derived from online versus in-person networks and mental health indicators among gamers.

Online gamers (n = 301) completed an online survey assessing their social networks (both in-person and through online gaming) and mental health indicators (depressive symptoms, anxiety, social isolation, perceived social support). Social network analysis was used to analyze bridging (network size, effective size, heterogeneity, weak ties) and bonding (closeness, frequent contact, confiding, connection quality) social capital. Separate linear regression models evaluated associations between bridging and bonding social capital for both online and in-person networks and depressive symptoms, anxiety, social support and social isolation.

In-person network characteristics showed the strongest associations with mental health outcomes. Greater average closeness and frequent confiding in the in-person network predicted lower isolation and fewer depressive symptoms. More diverse relationship types also correlated with lower depression. For online networks, closeness and confiding ties associated only with less isolation and greater support, not depressive symptoms, or anxiety.

While online gaming networks provide some degree of social support, in-person social capital exhibited stronger associations with mental health. This reinforces the importance of face-to-face relationships for emotional well-being. Findings suggest helping gamers cultivate close bonds offline. However, online connections still matter and should not be discounted.