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Many low-income adults who smoke also have unmet social needs, such as food insecurity, which can serve as a barrier to smoking cessation. We developed a novel intervention to jointly address smoking cessation and food insecurity and assessed its feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes. We enrolled participants who screened for food insecurity, reported smoking daily, and were ready to quit. All participants received 3 months of resources navigation from a community health worker through monthly telephone calls for referrals and check-ins for smoking cessation and food access resources. Participants randomized to the intervention group received an economic intervention equivalent to the cost of 1 week of groceries/month for 3 months. We randomized 55 participants who were smoking on average 13 cigarettes/day. The trial was feasible and acceptable based on 3-month retention rates (80%) and end-of-study qualitative feedback (91% would recommend the study to others). At 3 months, participants in the intervention versus control group reported a longer length of abstinence from smoking and had a higher proportion of serious quit attempts. Results from this pilot study suggest the importance of attending to social needs, particularly food insecurity, as a strategy to promote smoking cessation among low-income adults who smoke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Community members may provide useful perspectives on manuscripts submitted to medical journals. Objective: To determine the impact of community members reviewing medical journal manuscripts. Design: Randomized controlled trial involving 578 original research manuscripts submitted to two medical journals from June 2018 to November 2021. Participants: Twenty-eight community members who were trained, supervised, and compensated. Interventions: A total of 289 randomly selected control manuscripts were reviewed by scientific reviewers only. And 289 randomly selected intervention manuscripts were reviewed by scientific reviewers and one community member. Journal editorial teams used all reviews to make decisions about acceptance, revision, or rejection of manuscripts. Main Measures: Usefulness of reviews to editors, content of community reviews, and changes made to published articles in response to community reviewer comments. Key Results: Editor ratings of community and scientific reviews averaged 3.1 and 3.3, respectively (difference 0.2, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.1 to 0.3), on a 5-point scale where a higher score indicates a more useful review. Qualitative analysis of the content of community reviews identified two taxonomies of themes: study attributes and viewpoints. Study attributes are the sections, topics, and components of manuscripts commented on by reviewers. Viewpoints are reviewer perceptions and perspectives on the research described in manuscripts and consisted of four major themes: (1) diversity of study participants, (2) relevance to patients and communities, (3) cultural considerations and social context, and (4) implementation of research by patients and communities. A total of 186 community reviewer comments were integrated into 64 published intervention group articles. Viewpoint themes were present more often in 66 published intervention articles compared to 54 published control articles (2.8 vs. 1.7 themes/article, difference 1.1, 95% CI 0.4 to 1.8). Conclusions: With training, supervision, and compensation, community members are able to review manuscripts submitted to medical journals. Their comments are useful to editors, address topics relevant to patients and communities, and are reflected in published articles. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03432143 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental health professionals' exposure to clients' traumatic experiences can result in elevated stress, including compassion fatigue and burnout. Experiencing symptoms of these types of stress can hinder workers' ability to provide effective services. If a tool can reduce these symptoms, there is potential benefit for workers as well as those receiving their services. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of prerecorded guided imagery (GI) on compassion fatigue and state anxiety. A total of 69 employees of a mental health nonprofit organization participated in this two-arm randomized controlled trial. Participants completed the Professional Quality of Life Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, and question 6 from the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index at baseline and follow-up, and completed State Trait Anxiety Inventory short form before and after each activity (GI or taking a break). Results revealed statistically significant differences in change scores between the control and experimental groups for state anxiety and sleep quality. The results suggest that GI may be useful for reducing stress for mental health professionals, which could have positive implications for quality of service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Low organ donation rates remain a major barrier to organ transplantation.Objective: We aimed to determine the effect of a video and patient cueing on organ donation consent among patients meeting with their primary care provider.Design: This was a randomized controlled trial between February 2013 and May 2014.Setting: The waiting rooms of 18 primary care clinics of a medical system in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.Patients: The study included 915 patients over 15.5 years of age who had not previously consented to organ donation.Interventions: Just prior to their clinical encounter, intervention patients (n = 456) watched a 5-minute organ donation video on iPads and then choose a question regarding organ donation to ask their provider. Control patients (n = 459) visited their provider per usual routine.Main Measures: The primary outcome was the proportion of patients who consented for organ donation. Secondary outcomes included the proportion of patients who discussed organ donation with their provider and the proportion who were satisfied with the time spent with their provider during the clinical encounter.Key Results: Intervention patients were more likely than control patients to consent to donate organs (22 % vs. 15 %, OR 1.50, 95%CI 1.10-2.13). Intervention patients were also more likely to have donation discussions with their provider (77 % vs. 18 %, OR 15.1, 95%CI 11.1-20.6). Intervention and control patients were similarly satisfied with the time they spent with their provider (83 % vs. 86 %, OR 0.87, 95%CI 0.61-1.25).Limitation: How the observed increases in organ donation consent might translate into a greater organ supply is unclear.Conclusion: Watching a brief video regarding organ donation and being cued to ask a primary care provider a question about donation resulted in more organ donation discussions and an increase in organ donation consent. Satisfaction with the time spent during the clinical encounter was not affected.Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01697137. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background We sought to determine the accuracy of dialysis medical records in identifying patients' interest in and suitability for transplantation. Study design Cluster randomized controlled trial. Setting and participants A total of 167 patients recruited from 23 hemodialysis facilities. Intervention Navigators met with intervention patients to provide transplant information and assistance. Control patients continued to receive usual care. Outcomes Agreement at study initiation between medical records and (i) patient self-reported interest in transplantation and (ii) study assessments of medical suitability for transplant referral. Measurements Medical record assessments, self-reports, and study assessments of patient's interest in and suitability for transplantation. Results There was disagreement between medical records and patient self-reported interest in transplantation for 66 (40%) of the 167 study patients. In most of these cases, patients reported being more interested in transplantation than their medical records indicated. The study team determined that all 92 intervention patients were medically suitable for transplant referral. However, for 38 (41%) intervention patients, medical records indicated that they were not suitable. About two-thirds of these patients successfully moved forward in the transplant process. Conclusion Dialysis medical records are frequently inaccurate in determining patient's interest in and suitability for transplantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a randomized controlled trial which examined the effect of limiting the intake of phosphorus-containing food additives on serum phosphorus levels in patients with end-stage renal disease. 279 patients with elevated baseline serum phosphorus levels at 14 long-term hemodialysis facilities were included in the trial. Participants in the intervention group received education on avoiding foods with phosphorus additives. The control participants received usual care. Researchers found modest improvements in hyperphosphatemia with education for patients with end-stage renal disease.

Background: The efficacy of video interventions to increase organ donation willingness remains unclear. Methods: Three‐arm web‐based randomized controlled trial involving 2261 students at 3 northeastern Ohio universities. Intervention students watched a live‐action (n = 755) or animated (n = 753) donation video. Control students (n = 753) viewed wellness information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The primary outcome was proportion of students who visited their state electronic donor registry to consent. The secondary outcome was intervention quality. Logistic regression assessed the effects of interventions on visiting the state registry to provide donation consent while controlling for baseline variables. Results: Students in the live‐action video arm visited their state registry more frequently than students in the CDC arm (OR = 1.86, 95% CI = 1.20‐2.88). There was no difference between students in the animated video and CDC arms (OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 0.69‐1.76). The quality of the live‐action video was rated lower than the animated video and the CDC text (75% ± 18, 84% ± 16, 80% ± 16, respectively; P < 0.001). Conclusion: Students who watched the live‐action video were more willing to visit their electronic donor registry to register as organ donors, but rated it lower in satisfaction. Future work should identify the most potent components of organ donation interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]