JMIR Research Protocols

While the onset of most mental health conditions occurs in later childhood or adolescence, the early years present an important window for prevention. Worldwide, universal school-based prevention interventions have been shown to be effective in promoting child mental health. Nevertheless, little is known about universal school-based prevention programs targeting children aged 6 to 9 years in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Despite medical advancements, preterm birth rates in the United States remain high and contribute substantially to infant mortality and long-term morbidity, with Black families disproportionately affected. Very preterm (VPT) infants—born between 24 and 30 weeks’ gestation—are frequently delivered at community hospitals that lack advanced neonatal care and therefore require postnatal transport to tertiary neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). While neonatal transport is essential for optimizing infant outcomes, it can create additional challenges for families, including geographic separation from the NICU, disruptions to early parent-infant bonding, and increased parental psychosocial stress. These challenges may be further intensified by social vulnerability and experiences of perceived discrimination in health care settings.

Early exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as parental substance use, elevates the risk of future substance use and drug overdose, and in the absence of intervention, could perpetuate a cycle of substance-related ACEs across generations. Although research suggests that effectively decreasing the prevalence and impact of ACEs and substance use can benefit from addressing both family- and community-level factors in tandem, there is a critical gap in the evidence base pertaining to interventions that effectively integrate these 2 factors to prevent substance use and ACEs.

Acute mountain sickness (AMS) poses a unique and formidable challenge to healthy personnel at high altitudes.

Increasingly, people are living with multimorbidity and long-term conditions or permanent impairments, which contribute substantially to health loss and additional health inequity. Critical to managing this health crisis is the appropriate support provided by health and social services. International research has informed the implementation of supported self-management knowledge into Aotearoa New Zealand. Meagre attention has been given to how New Zealand health care organizations can appropriately support people to self-manage their lifelong conditions within their own life contexts and cultures. Currently in New Zealand, those experiencing the greatest health inequities are Māori and Pacific peoples—Tāngata Whaikaha Māori (Māori living with disability) and people with learning (intellectual) disability who live with long-term health conditions or permanent impairments. This research aims to challenge and reframe supported self-management in New Zealand to enable our underserved populations and their whānau (families) to receive appropriate support to live well.

Childhood is a critical period for physical and cognitive development, in which nutrition plays a fundamental role. Dairy products, rich in calcium, vitamin D, and high-quality protein, are essential for bone health, body composition development, and cognitive performance. However, evidence on the long-term impact of dairy consumption on children’s growth and development, particularly in the Canadian context, is limited. Additionally, recent revisions to the Canadian Food Guide, which classify dairy as part of the protein group rather than as a separate food group, may influence caregiver perceptions and children’s dairy intake.

Interprofessional education (IPE) is essential for fostering collaboration and communication among health care professionals to improve patient outcomes. Early IPE training for prehealth undergraduate students has been shown to enhance teamwork, dismantle stereotypes, and build self-efficacy in health care settings. Self-efficacy is the belief that one can achieve their goals and succeed at tasks. These outcomes contribute to creating a cohesive and equitable health care environment focused on patient-centered care. Despite evidence supporting the benefits of IPE training, there is a lack of consistent implementation at the undergraduate level across institutions.

The rise of social media has drastically altered the landscape of health information dissemination. While these platforms can promote health literacy, they are also rife with skin care misinformation, often spread by nonexperts. This has led to harmful consequences, including improper product use and delayed treatment. Despite their potential to mitigate misinformation, dermatologists and health care professionals remain underrepresented on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

Bipolar disorder (BD) affects approximately 40 million people worldwide and is a chronic, potentially disabling mood disorder. Although effective treatments exist, access to evidence-informed psychosocial care remains limited, particularly for culturally and linguistically diverse populations, contributing to persistent global treatment gaps. Digital mental health interventions (DMHIs), such as smartphone apps, offer a promising means to improve access to self-management support and quality of life (QoL), an outcome prioritized by people with BD and in clinical guidelines. However, most apps for BD lack quality and are not culturally adapted or co-designed with people with BD, limiting relevance and engagement. PolarUs (mobile app) is an evidence-informed DMHI developed using co-design with people with BD. The app is structured on the core 14 domains from the Quality of Life in BD scale, the only BD-tailored scale, combined with psychoeducation on self-management strategies and QoL. A recent pilot study demonstrated promising QoL, clinical, and feasibility outcomes.

Stimulant use disorders (StimUDs), including cocaine and methamphetamine use disorders, remain a major public health concern in the United States with no US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)–approved pharmacological treatments. The early recovery period following stimulant use is marked by sleep disturbances, heightened stress reactivity, and dysregulated reward processing, contributing to high rates of resumption of use. Evidence from animal and human studies supports the orexin neuropeptide system as a promising therapeutic target for minimizing these disruptive mechanisms. Suvorexant, an FDA-approved dual orexin receptor antagonist for insomnia, has previously been shown to improve sleep, reduce stress, and attenuate craving in the first-in-human study with non–treatment-seeking individuals with cocaine use disorder.

Achilles tendinopathy (AT) is a common condition that limits activity participation in both active and sedentary populations. While exercise and education are well-established treatments for AT, information is lacking on the amount of intervention required and the prognostic factors associated with response to noninvasive treatments.

Approximately 60% of patients with advanced cancer experience the distress of cancer-related fatigue (CRF), which significantly worsens their daily function and quality of life. Baduanjin has been regarded as a promising nonpharmacological intervention for alleviating CRF, anxiety, and depression and improving quality of life. Owing to varying degrees of CRF in patients with advanced cancer, patients may have insufficient endurance, making it difficult to implement standing Baduanjin. However, relevant evidence on sitting Baduanjin for CRF in patients with advanced cancer is lacking.