Help-seeking attitudes and behaviours among youth with eating disorders: a scoping review.
Although early intervention is crucial in interrupting the development of eating disorders, little is currently known about help-seeking behaviours among individuals experiencing eating disorder symptoms. Given that eating disorders typically begin early in life, it is necessary to investigate the processes employed by children, adolescents, and emerging adults when seeking services for troubling symptoms. This is a growing concern as the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increase in the number of individuals engaging in disordered eating behaviours. This scoping review explores the current state of the literature for evidence on how youth with eating disorder symptoms seek help, with the aim of better understanding how to identify and treat more individuals earlier.
Using scoping review methodology, we searched seven databases for studies published from January 2000 to April 2021 that reported on help-seeking attitudes, behaviours, and healthcare utilization patterns for children and adolescents (< 18 years), emerging adults (18-25 years), and a mixture of these groups (< 25 years). Seven thousand, two hundred, and eighteen articles were identified for review. After duplicates were removed, three reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts and reviewed full-text articles. Findings related to help-seeking activity were extracted from the 62 articles that were ultimately included in this scoping review.
Study findings were summarized into help-seeking patterns (i.e., rates, types) as well as factors ranging from the individual level to society that influenced help-seeking behaviour. Many youth meeting eating disorder criteria were not seeking help. Notable barriers to help-seeking included poor mental health literacy, experiences with healthcare providers who failed to detect and lacked knowledge about eating disorders, minimal support from family and friends, and stigma surrounding eating disorders and help-seeking for mental health concerns.
The results of this scoping review can be used to inform early intervention and health promotion program development. Future research should focus on the help-seeking attitudes and activities among underrepresented groups with eating disorders (e.g., men, ethnic and gender minorities), the perspectives of family and other supporters in the help-seeking process for youth, and retrospective accounts from adults with lived experience of an eating disorder. Plain English summary Addressing and interrupting eating disorder-related thoughts and behaviours as soon as possible, with the help of a mental health professional, leads to better outcomes for youth struggling with an eating disorder. However, little is known about what prompts youth to talk about their weight, body, or eating concerns with someone-like their parent, friend, teacher, guidance counsellor, or primary care practitioner. This review explores the available published research on help-seeking patterns and preferences among youth with eating disorder concerns. Our team followed a standardized process to find 62 relevant articles for this paper. Of note, many young people who reported eating disorder concerns were not seeking help for themselves. Feeling supported by family and their primary care provider, understanding the signs of an eating disorder, and not feeling shame for reaching out for help reportedly led youth to speak up about their concerns. The findings have clinical implications for learning effective ways to help youth feel safe to speak freely about their eating disorder-related concerns, which enhances the chances of intervening early and catching symptoms before they worsen.
Nicula M
,Pellegrini D
,Grennan L
,Bhatnagar N
,McVey G
,Couturier J
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A scoping review of emotion regulation and inhibition in emotional eating and binge-eating disorder: what about a continuum?
Emotional eating is defined as a nonpathological eating behavior, whereas binge-eating disorder (BED) is defined as a pathological eating behavior. While different, both share some striking similarities, such as deficits in emotion regulation and inhibition. Previous research has suggested the existence of an "eating continuum" that might reflect the increased severity of overeating behaviors, that is, from nonpathological overeating to BED. The main aims of this scoping review were to explore in the literature the idea of a continuum between emotional eating and BED and to observe whether deficits in emotion regulation and inhibition follow this continuum in terms of severity. The other aims were to hopefully clarify the ill-defined concept of overeating, to question the potential role of positive emotions and to identify potential knowledge gaps.
A systematic scoping review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. Two databases (PubMed/Medline and PsycINFO) were examined in complete accordance with the beforehand sharply defined eligibility and exclusion criteria. The main criteria included adults (≥ 18) with emotional eating, BED or overeating and emotion regulation and inhibition as exposure criteria.
Thirty-two studies were included in this scoping review. If the results showed a link between emotional eating and BED, with the presence of inhibition and emotion regulation deficits in both eating behaviors, no mention of a continuum between emotional eating and BED was found.
In the absence of research directly comparing emotional eating and BED in the same studies and testing the potential increase in severity of emotion regulation and inhibition deficits along this continuum, there is currently no certainty that a continuum exists between emotional eating and BED. In the end, the idea of a continuum in terms of increased severity of overeating and in terms of emotion regulation and inhibition deficits between emotional eating and BED appears to be a gap in knowledge in the literature. This scoping review highlights the need for further research to identify knowledge gaps.
Arexis M
,Feron G
,Brindisi MC
,Billot PÉ
,Chambaron S
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Ethics of Procuring and Using Organs or Tissue from Infants and Newborns for Transplantation, Research, or Commercial Purposes: Protocol for a Bioethics Scoping Review.
Since the inception of transplantation, it has been crucial to ensure that organ or tissue donations are made with valid informed consent to avoid concerns about coercion or exploitation. This issue is particularly challenging when it comes to infants and younger children, insofar as they are unable to provide consent. Despite their vulnerability, infants' organs and tissues are considered valuable for biomedical purposes due to their size and unique properties. This raises questions about the conditions under which it is permissible to remove and use these body parts for transplantation, research, or commercial purposes. The aim of this protocol is to establish a foundation for a scoping review that will identify, clarify, and categorise the main ethical arguments regarding the permissibility of removing and using organs or tissues from infants. The scoping review will follow the methodology outlined by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI), consisting of five stages: (1) identifying the research question, (2) developing the search strategy, (3) setting inclusion criteria, (4) extracting data, and (5) presenting and analysing the results. We will include both published and unpublished materials that explicitly discuss the ethical arguments related to the procurement and use of infant organs or tissues in the biomedical context. The search will cover various databases, including the National Library of Medicine, Web of Science, EBSCO, and others, as well as grey literature sources. Two raters will independently assess the eligibility of articles, and data from eligible studies will be extracted using a standardised form. The extracted data will then be analysed descriptively through qualitative content analysis.
There has been debate about how to respect the rights and interests of organ and tissue donors since the beginning of transplantation practice, given the moral risks involved in procuring parts of their bodies and using them for transplantation or research. A major concern has been to ensure that, at a minimum, donation of organs or other bodily tissues for transplantation or research is done under conditions of valid informed consent, so as to avoid coercion or exploitation among other moral harms. In the case of infants and younger children, however, this concern poses special difficulties insofar as infants and younger children are deemed incapable of providing valid consent. Due to their diminutive size and other distinctive properties, infants' organs and tissues are seen as valuable for biomedical purposes. Yet, the heightened vulnerability of infants raises questions about when and whether it is ever permissible to remove these body parts or use them in research or for other purposes. The aim of this protocol is to form the basis of a systematic scoping review to identify, clarify, and systematise the main ethical arguments for and against the permissibility of removing and using infant or newborn (hereafter, "infant") organs or tissues in the biomedical context (i.e. for transplantation, research, or commercial purposes).
Our scoping review will broadly follow the well-established methodology outlined by the Joanna Briggs Institute ( Peters et al., 2020). We will follow a five-stage review process: (1) identification of the research question, (2) development of the search strategy, (3) inclusion criteria, (4) data extraction, and (5) presentation and analysis of the results. Published and unpublished bibliographic material (including reports, dissertations, book chapters, etc.) will be considered based on the following inclusion criteria: the presence of explicit (bio)ethical arguments or reasons (concept) for or against the procurement and use of organs or tissues from infants, defined as a child from birth until 1 year old (population), in the biomedical domain, including transplantation, research, and commercial development (context). We will search for relevant studies in the National Library of Medicine (including PubMed and MEDLINE), Virtual Health Library, Web of Science, Google Scholar, EBSCO, Google Scholar, PhilPapers, The Bioethics Literature Database (BELIT), EthxWeb as well as grey literature sources (e.g., Google, BASE, OpenGrey, and WorldCat) and the reference lists of key studies to identify studies suitable for inclusion. A three-stage search strategy will be used to determine the eligibility of articles, as recommended by the JBI methodological guidelines. We will exclude sources if (a) the full text is not accessible, (b) the main text is in a language other than English, or (c) the focus is exclusively on scientific, legal, or religious/theological arguments. All articles will be independently assessed for eligibility between two raters (MB & XL); data from eligible articles will be extracted and charted using a standardised data extraction form. The extracted data will be analysed descriptively using basic qualitative content analysis.
Ethical review is not required as scoping reviews are a form of secondary data analysis that synthesise data from publicly available sources. Our dissemination strategy includes peer review publication, presentation at conferences, and outreach to relevant stakeholders.
The results will be reported according to the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. An overview of the general data from the included studies will be presented in the form of graphs or tables showing the distribution of studies by year or period of publication, country of origin, and key ethical arguments. These results will be accompanied by a narrative summary describing how each included study or article relates to the aims of this review. Research gaps will be identified and limitations of the review will also be highlighted.
A paper summarising the findings from this review will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. In addition, a synthesis of the key findings will be disseminated to biomedical settings (e.g., conferences or workshops, potentially including ones linked to university hospitals) in the UK, USA, Türkiye, and Singapore. They will also be shared with the academic community and policy makers involved in the organ procurement organisations (OPO), which will potentially consider our recommendations in their decision-making processes regarding infant tissue/organ donation practice in these countries.
The use of a rigorous, well-established methodological framework will ensure the production of a high-quality scoping review that will contribute to the bioethics literature.A comprehensive search of disciplinary and cross-disciplinary databases will be undertaken to ensure coverage of all possible sources that meet the inclusion criteria for the review.This review will focus exclusively on infant tissue/organ procurement/use in biomedical contexts, providing a comprehensive and reliable source of ethical arguments for future debates on this sensitive topic.The review will be limited to articles published in English, which increases the risk of missing relevant sources published in other languages.The review will be limited to articles for which the full text is available, which increases the risk of missing relevant sources that otherwise may have been included in the scoping review had the full text been accessible.
Barış M
,Lim X
,T Almonte M
,Shaw D
,Brierley J
,Porsdam Mann S
,Nguyen T
,Menikoff J
,Wilkinson D
,Savulescu J
,Earp BD
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Oocyte activation for women following intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), a type of assisted reproductive technology (ART), is offered as a treatment option for male factor infertility. Over the years, the indications for ICSI have been expanded, despite uncertainty about its benefits and harms compared to the conventional method of achieving fertilisation. Artificial oocyte activation (AOA), which can be performed by chemical, electrical or mechanical intervention, has been employed during ART ICSI treatment where there has been a history of low fertilization rate or total fertilization failure, and it has been reported to improve reproductive outcomes. It is important to evaluate the clinical effectiveness and safety of AOA in women undergoing ART ICSI treatment.
To evaluate the benefits and harms of artificial oocyte activation in women affected by infertility undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment.
We searched the following electronic databases: the Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility Group Specialised Register, CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, ClinicalTrials.gov and WHO international Clinical Trials Registry Platform (8 August 2024). We also searched reference lists of relevant articles and contacted experts in the field.
Randomized controlled trials comparing artificial oocyte activation (AOA) (chemical, electrical or mechanical interventions) versus no intervention, placebo or another method of AOA in women undergoing ART.
We used methodological procedures as per Cochrane recommendations. We assessed the risk of bias in the included studies using ROB 2. The primary outcomes were live birth and miscarriage rates. We analyzed data using the risk ratio (RR) and a fixed-effect model. We assessed the certainty of the evidence by using GRADE criteria. We restricted the primary analyses to studies at low risk of bias.
We included a total of 20 studies, four of which were participant-based randomized trials with 743 participants. The remaining 16 were sibling-oocyte-model randomized studies. We based the main clinical findings of the current review on the participant-based RCTs, and we restricted our primary analysis to studies with a low risk of bias. Based on the one trial with 343 participants that we included in our primary analysis, the evidence is very uncertain about the effect of AOA on the live birth rate when compared to conventional ICSI without AOA in women undergoing ART ICSI (RR 1.97, 95% CI 1.29 to 3.01; one trial; 343 participants). For a typical clinic with a live birth rate of 18% following ART, the addition of AOA may result in live birth rates between 24% and 55%, but this evidence is very uncertain. The evidence is very uncertain about the effect of AOA on the miscarriage rate compared to conventional ICSI without AOA in women undergoing ART ICSI (RR 0.99, 95% CI 0.48 to 2.04; one trial; 343 participants). If the miscarriage rate was 9% following ART, addition of oocyte activation may result in miscarriage rates between 4% and 18%, but this evidence is very uncertain. The evidence is very uncertain about the effect of AOA on the clinical pregnancy rate compared to conventional ICSI without AOA in women undergoing ART ICSI (RR 1.67, 95% CI 1.20 to 2.32; one trial; 343 participants). The evidence is very uncertain about the effect of AOA on the multiple pregnancy rate per participant compared to conventional ICSI without AOA in women undergoing ART ICSI (RR 1.91, 95% CI 0.48 to 7.67; one trial; 343 participants). The evidence is very uncertain about the effect of AOA on the total fertilization failure rate compared to conventional ICSI without AOA in women undergoing ART ICSI (RR 0.05, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.40; one trial; 343 participants). When we stratified our analysis according to various infertility factors, we found low-certainty evidence that in couples undergoing ICSI treatment who have had a history of low or no fertilization, AOA may help improve the live birth rate while making little or no difference to the miscarriage rate. Further research is needed to confirm or refute this finding. None of the trials reported congenital anomalies (birth defects) as an outcome. Lack of short- or long-term safety data is an important limitation of the review and of the trials in this field. We did not find any trials that compared two different methods of oocyte activation.
We are uncertain about the effect of AOA on the live birth and miscarriage rates in women undergoing ART ICSI. In the subpopulation of those who have had a previous history of low or no fertilization, AOA may result in an increase in the live birth rate when compared to conventional ICSI without AOA, while making little or no difference to the miscarriage rate. There was considerable variation in the protocols used for chemical AOA, which affects the generalizability of the findings. Due to the very low to low certainty of evidence, the results should be interpreted with caution.
Kamath MS
,Vogiatzi P
,Sunkara SK
,Woodward B
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《Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews》