Competing coalitions in alcohol policymaking in Malawi: a retrospective case study analysis of the alcohol sachet ban.

Background: Harmful alcohol consumption has significant public health implications across Africa and disproportionately affects vulnerable populations. In Malawi, the emergence of alcohol sachets - small, affordable plastic packets containing high-strength spirits - and their consumption, has raised substantial public health concerns. In particular, the resulting access and consumption amongst young people, led to a ban on those products by the Malawi Government in 2017.

Assessing qualitative data richness and thickness: Development of an evidence-based tool for use in qualitative evidence synthesis.

Background: Well-conducted qualitative evidence syntheses (QESs) can provide invaluable insights into complex phenomena. However, the development of an in-depth understanding depends on the analysis of rich, thick data from the included primary qualitative studies. Sampling may be needed if there are too many eligible studies.

Exploring the use of solid fuels for cooking and household air pollution in informal settlements through photovoice: The Fuel to Pot study in Ndirande (Malawi) and Mukuru (Kenya).

Introduction: Worldwide, 2.4 billion people rely on solid fuels such as wood or charcoal for cooking, leading to approximately 3.2 million deaths per year from illnesses attributable to household air pollution.

Understanding how children and young people with chronic non-cancer pain and their families experience living with pain, pain management and services: a meta-ethnography.

Background: Childhood chronic pain is a widespread public health issue. We need to understand how children with chronic pain and their families experience chronic pain and its management.

Objectives: To conduct a meta-ethnography on the experiences and perceptions of children with chronic pain and their families of chronic pain, treatments and services.

A meta-ethnography of how children and young people with chronic non-cancer pain and their families experience and understand their condition, pain services, and treatments.

Background: Chronic non-cancer pain in childhood is widespread, affecting 20% to 35% of children and young people worldwide. For a sizeable number of children, chronic non-cancer pain has considerable negative impacts on their lives and quality of life, and leads to increased use of healthcare services and medication. In many countries, there are few services for managing children's chronic non-cancer pain, with many services being inadequate.

Knowledge, Beliefs, and Behaviors Related to Secondhand Smoke and Smoking in the Home: A Qualitative Study With Men in Malaysia.

Introduction: Despite the health risks associated with secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure, smoking in the home is common in Malaysia, and almost exclusively a male behavior.

Aims And Methods: This study explored male smokers' knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors related to SHS exposure and smoking in the home, to guide future intervention development. Twenty-four men who smoked and lived in Klang Valley, Kuantan, or Kuala Terengganu took part in semi-structured interviews which explored knowledge and beliefs regarding SHS in the home, and associated home-smoking behaviors.

Measuring secondhand smoke in homes in Malaysia: A feasibility study comparing indoor fine particulate (PM) concentrations following an educational feedback intervention to create smoke-free homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: Extensive regulations have been introduced to reduce secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure among non-smokers in Malaysia. However, there is still a need to encourage behavior change of smokers in relation to making homes smoke-free. This feasibility study aimed to use low-cost air pollution monitors to quantify SHS concentrations in Malaysian households and to explore the practicality of using personalized feedback in educating families to make their homes smoke-free.

Lockdown and licensed premises: COVID-19 lessons for alcohol policy.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated unprecedented changes in alcohol availability, including closures, curfews and restrictions. We draw on new data from three UK studies exploring these issues to identify implications for premises licensing and wider policy.

Methods: (i) Semi-structured interviews (n = 17) with licensing stakeholders in Scotland and England reporting how COVID-19 has reshaped local licensing and alcohol-related harms; (ii) semi-structured interviews (n = 15) with ambulance clinicians reporting experiences with alcohol during the pandemic; and (iii) descriptive and time series analyses of alcohol-related ambulance callouts in Scotland before and during the first UK lockdown (1 January 2019 to 30 June 2020).

Managing COVID-19 Transmission Risks in Bars: An Interview and Observation Study.

Objective: Licensed premises face particular challenges to operating safely within COVID-19 restrictions. Following a U.K.

A Qualitative Study of Factors Influencing Adherence among Pregnant Women Taking Part in a Trial of E-Cigarettes for Smoking Cessation.

Use of e-cigarettes (vaping) has potential to help pregnant women stop smoking. This study explored factors influencing adherence among participants in the vaping arm of the first trial of vaping for smoking cessation in pregnancy. We conducted semi-structured telephone interviews (n = 28) with women at three-months postpartum.

A cluster feasibility trial to explore the uptake and use of e-cigarettes versus usual care offered to smokers attending homeless centres in Great Britain.

Smoking rates in the UK are at an all-time low but this masks considerable inequalities; prevalence amongst adults who are homeless remains four times higher than the national average. The objective of this trial was to assess the feasibility of supplying free e-cigarette starter kits to smokers accessing homeless centres and to estimate parameters to inform a possible future larger trial. In this feasibility cluster trial, four homeless centres in Great Britain were non-randomly allocated to either a Usual Care (UC) or E-Cigarette (EC) arm.

Implementing pelvic floor muscle training for women with pelvic organ prolapse: a realist evaluation of different delivery models.

Background: Pelvic Floor Muscle Training (PFMT) has been shown to be effective for pelvic organ prolapse in women, but its implementation in routine practice is challenging due to lack of adequate specialist staff. It is important to know if PFMT can be delivered by different staff skill mixes, what barriers and facilitators operate in different contexts, what strategies enable successful implementation and what are the underlying mechanisms of their action. PROPEL intervention was designed to maximise the delivery of effective PFMT in the UK NHS using different staff skill mixes.

Solid fuel users' perceptions of household solid fuel use in low- and middle-income countries: A scoping review.

Almost half of the global population is exposed to household air pollution (HAP) from the burning of biomass fuels primarily for cooking, and this has been linked with considerable mortality and morbidity. While alternative cooking technologies exist, sustained adoption of these is piecemeal, indicating that there is insufficient knowledge of understandings of HAP within target communities. To identify potential gaps in the literature, a scoping review was conducted focused on solid fuel users' perceptions of HAP and solid fuel use in low- and middle-income countries.

Vaping for weight control: Findings from a qualitative study.

Introduction: Smokers have expressed concern about weight gain once they stop smoking and weight gain is a risk factor associated with smoking relapse. Nicotine in e-cigarettes, as well as vaping behaviour, may support smoking cessation by reducing weight gain. This study explored the factors that influence attitudes towards, and awareness of, e-cigarettes and weight control post smoking cessation.

The smoking cessation in pregnancy incentives trial (CPIT): study protocol for a phase III randomised controlled trial.

Background: Eighty per cent of UK women have at least one baby, making pregnancy an opportunity to help women stop smoking before their health is irreparably compromised. Smoking cessation during pregnancy helps protect infants from miscarriage, still birth, low birth weight, asthma, attention deficit disorder and adult cardiovascular disease. UK national guidelines highlight lack of evidence for effectiveness of financial incentives to help pregnant smokers quit.

From Global Rights to Local Relationships: Exploring Disconnects in Respectful Maternity Care in Malawi.

Widespread reports of "disrespect and abuse" in maternity wards in low- and middle-income countries have triggered the development of rights-based respectful maternity care (RMC) standards and initiatives. To explore how international standards translate into local realities, we conducted a team ethnography, involving observations in labor wards in government facilities in central Malawi, and interviews and focus groups with midwives, women, and guardians. We identified a dual disconnect between, first, universal RMC principles and local notions of good care and, second, between midwives and women and guardians.

Vaping for weight control: A cross-sectional population study in England.

Introduction: Concern about weight gain is a barrier to smoking cessation. E-cigarettes may help quitters to control their weight through continued exposure to the appetite-suppressant effects of nicotine and behavioural aspects of vaping. This study explored the views and practices of smokers, ex-smokers and current e-cigarette users relating to vaping and weight control.

Weighing the options for delivery care in rural Malawi: community perceptions of a policy promoting exclusive skilled birth attendance and banning traditional birth attendants.

To address its persistently high maternal mortality, the Malawi government has prioritized strategies promoting skilled birth attendance and institutional delivery. However, in a country where 80% of the population resides in rural areas, the barriers to institutional deliveries are considerable. As a response, Malawi issued Community Guidelines in 2007 that both promoted skilled birth attendance and banned the utilization of traditional birth attendants for routine deliveries.

Women's experiences of receiving care for pelvic organ prolapse: a qualitative study.

Background: Pelvic organ prolapse is a common urogenital condition affecting 41-50% of women over the age of 40. To achieve early diagnosis and appropriate treatment, it is important that care is sensitive to and meets women's needs, throughout their patient journey. This study explored women's experiences of seeking diagnosis and treatment for prolapse and their needs and priorities for improving person-centred care.

A methodological systematic review of meta-ethnography conduct to articulate the complex analytical phases.

Background: Decision making in health and social care requires robust syntheses of both quantitative and qualitative evidence. Meta-ethnography is a seven-phase methodology for synthesising qualitative studies. Developed in 1988 by sociologists in education Noblit and Hare, meta-ethnography has evolved since its inception; it is now widely used in healthcare research and is gaining popularity in education research.

Improving reporting of meta-ethnography: the eMERGe reporting guidance.

Aims: The aim of this study was to provide guidance to improve the completeness and clarity of meta-ethnography reporting.

Background: Evidence-based policy and practice require robust evidence syntheses which can further understanding of people's experiences and associated social processes. Meta-ethnography is a rigorous seven-phase qualitative evidence synthesis methodology, developed by Noblit and Hare.