Background/Objectives: This exploratory secondary analysis described outdoor footwear among older adults with concern about falling (CaF), examined baseline associations, evaluated a nurse-led intervention, and explored associations with CaF and falls. Methods: Data came from 163 community-dwelling adults aged ≥ 65 years in the FEARFALL_CARE cluster-randomised trial across ten primary care centres. Footwear was observed at baseline and six months using an unvalidated four-criterion composite. Mixed-effects models were complemented by inverse probability weighting (IPW) and cluster-level sensitivity analyses. Results: At baseline, 37/163 randomised participants (22.7%; composite available for 158) wore footwear meeting all criteria. Female sex and dwelling type were associated with baseline classification in an exploratory model. The ground-level house category contained only six participants. At six months, 18/59 intervention participants (30.5%) and 12/69 controls (17.4%) met all criteria. The adjusted intervention estimate was imprecise (aOR = 1.92; 95% CI: 0.78–4.69; p = 0.151), as were the IPW estimate (aOR = 2.18; 95% CI: 0.91–5.24; p = 0.081) and the adjusted cluster-level difference (9.3 percentage points; 95% CI: −9.6–28.2; p = 0.290). Baseline classification was associated with follow-up classification (aOR = 4.24; 95% CI: 1.65–10.92; p = 0.002). No statistically significant association was detected between footwear classification trajectory and six-month Short FES-I scores (p = 0.808) or experiencing at least one fall (p = 0.884). Conclusions: Failure to meet predefined footwear criteria was common. Sensitivity analyses did not establish an intervention effect, and imprecision precludes concluding absence of benefit or of associations with CaF and falls. The prevalence of potentially modifiable characteristics supports considering footwear assessment within multifactorial fall-risk evaluation.
Background: The use of digital health technologies, such as chatbots and virtual assistants based on artificial intelligence, has grown significantly in maternal health. These tools have been applied at different stages of the pregnancy and postpartum cycle, with emphasis on health education, risk monitoring, breastfeeding support, and mental healthcare. Despite their potential, challenges remain regarding clinical effectiveness, equity of access, and ethical safety. The aim of this study was to map the available evidence regarding the applications of artificial intelligence in pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care, with particular emphasis on conversational agents, virtual assistants, machine learning models, and clinical decision support systems, as well as their potential benefits, limitations, ethical implications, and implementation challenges. Methods: A scoping review was conducted between August and September 2025 in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Nursing Database, Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences, and Google Scholar. Original articles, reviews, experience reports, and theoretical reflections published in Portuguese, English, or Spanish that addressed the use of digital tools based on artificial intelligence in the pregnancy and postpartum cycle were included. The analysis of the studies was organized into five thematic axes: applications in prenatal care; support during childbirth; postpartum monitoring and breastfeeding; perinatal mental health; and ethical, technical, and implementation challenges. Results: The search identified 6230 records, of which 13 studies were included. Findings indicate that chatbots and virtual assistants show good acceptability, promote health education, and contribute to the early detection of physical and emotional risks. However, most of the studies are exploratory, with methodological limitations, lack of clinical trials, and limited validation in socially vulnerable contexts. Conclusions: Chatbots and artificial intelligence tools are promising resources for perinatal care, particularly as a complement to face-to-face attention. Their consolidation requires robust studies, cost-effectiveness assessments, and public policies that ensure equity and digital inclusion.
Background/Objectives: Compassion fatigue (CF), commonly discussed alongside burnout and secondary traumatic stress, is an important occupational concern in nursing. General and psychiatric hospital environments expose nurses to different combinations of organizational, emotional, and relational demands. This systematic review aimed to synthesize and compare the reported patterns, determinants, and consequences of compassion fatigue among nurses working in general and psychiatric hospital settings and to identify setting-specific factors relevant to nursing practice and workforce support. Methods: The review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA 2020. PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Scopus were searched for peer-reviewed studies published from 2020 to 2025. Quantitative and qualitative hospital-based nursing studies reporting CF or closely related professional-quality-of-life constructs were eligible. Methodological quality was appraised using Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tools, and findings were synthesized narratively because of heterogeneity in study designs, instruments, and reporting formats. Results: Eighteen studies were included after screening 302 records identified in the database searches. Moderate-to-high CF-related burden was reported across both general and psychiatric settings, but direct prevalence comparisons were not appropriate because instruments, definitions, and thresholds differed substantially. General-hospital studies more often emphasized workload, high acuity, staffing pressures, sleep disruption, and acute trauma exposure, whereas psychiatric studies more often emphasized moral distress, aggression or workplace violence, stigma, and prolonged emotionally demanding therapeutic relationships. Across settings, CF was associated with poorer psychological and occupational well-being. Conclusions: The available evidence supports setting-sensitive prevention and workforce-support strategies but does not establish that one hospital setting has a uniformly higher prevalence of CF. More consistent definitions, measurement tools, and reporting thresholds are needed to enable reliable cross-setting comparisons.
Background/Objectives: Nutrition knowledge is an important component of undergraduate nursing education, but greater knowledge does not necessarily translate into healthier personal behaviors. This study aimed to assess nutrition knowledge and health-related behaviors among undergraduate nursing students, compare these outcomes across academic years, and identify factors associated with both dimensions. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among students enrolled in the four-year nursing degree at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, during the 2025/2026 academic year. Participants completed a study-specific ad hoc questionnaire assessing sociodemographic characteristics, nutrition knowledge, dietary and health-related behaviors, self-rated dietary quality, and body mass index (BMI) perception. Bivariate analyses, multiple linear regression, ordinal logistic regression, and weighted Cohen’s kappa were used. Results: A total of 297 students participated (50.9% response rate); 81.1% were women. Mean nutrition knowledge was 22.51 ± 4.01/36 and differed across academic years, ranging from 21.56 ± 3.74 among first-year students to 24.64 ± 3.87 among fourth-year students (p < 0.001). The mean health-related behaviors score was 76.26 ± 7.01/105 and did not differ across academic years (p = 0.103). Behavior score increased from 68.33 ± 7.78 among students rating their diet as poor to 84.81 ± 4.32 among those rating it as very good (p < 0.001); each 10-point increase was associated with higher odds of reporting a better dietary-quality category (adjusted OR = 7.78; 95% CI: 4.99–12.13). Exact agreement between calculated and self-perceived BMI categories was 82.7% (weighted κ = 0.593). Conclusions: Nutrition knowledge was higher among students in later academic years, whereas health-related behaviors did not show a similar academic pattern. These findings suggest that undergraduate nursing education should reinforce practical and behavior-oriented nutrition learning alongside theoretical knowledge.
Background/Objectives: Caregivers play a central role in ensuring the safety of community-dwelling older adults receiving home-based care, yet gaps remain in ongoing educational support and communication with professionals. This protocol describes a two-phase study to customise an existing platform for use as a mobile health (mHealth) intervention supporting caregivers in delivering safer home-based care and Family and Community Nurses (FCNs) in supporting them, and to evaluate its feasibility, acceptability and usability. Methods: Phase 1 will apply a User-Centred Design (UCD) approach, articulated into four subphases, involving caregivers and a multidisciplinary panel of professionals from district-based health and social care services. Needs will be identified and prioritised through focus groups, informing the customisation and testing of the platform for use as an mHealth intervention. Phase 2 will adopt a convergent mixed-methods design within a Local Health Authority in Northern Italy, among a sample of at least 10 caregivers and a similar number of FCNs, over a 3-month data collection period. Acceptability and usability will be assessed as preliminary conditions for the adoption of a safety-oriented digital intervention, through quantitative self-reported measures, system-generated usage data, and semi-structured interviews. Conclusions: This study is expected to result in a customised platform for use as an mHealth intervention, together with preliminary evidence on its feasibility, acceptability and usability in supporting safer home-based care. Findings may inform future implementation strategies for digitally supported caregiving.
