JMIR Research Protocols

Clinical decision support (CDS) tools that provide patient-specific and evidence-based information to clinicians and care managers regarding patient risk for adverse outcomes have been a part of health care for decades. However, modern CDS, which consists of automated predictions based on complex machine learning models and hundreds of complex input variables, faces obstacles to adoption related to health care providers’ perceptions of lack of transparency and utility. Often, the expertise of data scientists and clinical end users is not well integrated, creating implementation gaps from CDS development to adoption and ongoing implementation.

Despite the growing emphasis on open science and equity in research, qualitative data capturing diverse human experiences and perspectives are rarely reused beyond the original study. Increasingly, data repositories are used to make these data publicly available, but it is unclear whether these data can be effectively identified by researchers interested in secondary data analysis.

As a prevalent side effect, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) imposes a burden on the daily lives of patients with breast cancer. Multiple clinical trials have suggested the validity of acupuncture in alleviating CINV; however, the optimal acupuncture modality remains unclear.

Children and adolescents presenting to emergency departments (EDs) with mental and behavioral health (MBH) concerns frequently exhibit agitation, which poses safety risks for patients and staff and strains ED resources. Validated tools for agitation risk stratification in pediatric MBH populations are lacking, and evidence-based, risk-informed management strategies remain underdeveloped. Addressing these gaps is critical to reducing the need for emergent interventions, enhancing safety, and optimizing care delivery.

As of June 2025, medical assistance in dying (MAiD) is allowed in over 25 jurisdictions across 12 countries, with varying rates of requests and provision. Hypotheses have been suggested to explain these variations, but they are rarely backed up by empirical evidence. As more jurisdictions consider legalizing MAiD, it is important to better understand what factors may explain the evolution of the use of MAiD worldwide with a systematic approach.

Venous ulcers have a prevalence of 1% in Western countries, with a tendency to become chronic and recur frequently. The lengthy periods of healing required for the treatment of these lesions result in increased costs. It is possible that patient education may enhance patients’ understanding of their health condition, which could potentially lead to a reduction in recurrence rates. Nevertheless, it is uncertain whether this constitutes the optimal educational strategy.

Mental health disorders (MHDs) remain a leading cause of the global burden of diseases. Early identification of neurobiological mechanisms mediating a risk for MHDs is key to reducing a lifetime burden. Recent findings emphasize the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system as a neuromodulator of arousal translating acute stress responses into neuronal excitability. We propose that individual differences in LC-NE functioning can explain a differential susceptibility to psychological adversity, which mediates the development of transdiagnostic psychopathology in early childhood.

Medication adherence and lifestyle modification remain key in the management of hypertension. Leveraging mobile technologies to improve patient adherence has been found to be effective in chronic disease management. Given the high mobile penetration and the opportunities it provides for encouraging lifestyle modification, an app such as WhatsApp, which is a free-to-use and real-time messaging platform, could facilitate patient-clinician interactions. We present a protocol for a WhatsApp-led mobile health (mHealth) intervention to improve adherence to medication and healthy lifestyles among adults aged 40 to 59 years in Kerala, India.

Research on dementia has primarily focused on adults, leaving a gap in understanding related to children’s attitudes toward dementia. This gap is relevant given the growing societal impact of dementia and the potential role of early education in shaping attitudes.

Despite high pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) awareness and willingness among Chinese men who have sex with men (MSM), actual uptake remains critically low. The health action process approach (HAPA) is a 2-phase theory that addresses both the motivational and volitional phases of health behavior change, making it suitable for tackling the intention-behavior gap in PrEP use. In China, where PrEP is not covered by national health insurance, financial barriers further hinder uptake. Group-based conditional economic incentives (GCEIs) represent an innovative strategy to address cost-related disincentives by leveraging peer influence.

Technology-enabled tasks to conduct financial transactions are ubiquitous around the world. In a recent survey, about 75% of the respondents endorsed the use of technology to perform financial activities such as reviewing bank statements and keeping track of money spent. However, assessment of financial decision-making (FDM) is limited by tasks that use traditional paper-and-pencil methods or by relying on self or informant reports. Furthermore, such tools have weak psychometric properties, are prone to biases, and are at times limited in scope. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop modern, technology-based tools that have strong psychometric properties and that can assess FDM comprehensively and accurately.

Cancer inequities among vulnerable populations in rural areas remain a public health challenge in Canada. Rural populations are defined as vulnerable due to geographic isolation, limited access to specialized oncology care, and socioeconomic barriers such as transportation and financial toxicity. Professional navigation offers a potential solution to bridge these gaps, yet there is a lack of evidence on the barriers to and facilitators of its adoption in breast cancer survivorship.