The COVID-19/racial injustice syndemic and mental health among Black Americans: The roles of general and race-related COVID worry, cultural mistrust, and perceived discrimination.

This study explored intersecting concerns about COVID-19 and racial injustice against Black people in the United States using a syndemic perspective. Findings from a multistate COVID-19 needs assessment project examined the association of general and race-related concerns about COVID-19 and concerns about police violence against Black people with mental health symptoms in a sample of 2480 Black Americans. The role of cultural mistrust in vaccination status was also examined. Concerns about COVID-19 were positively associated with concerns about police violence and associated with worse mental health. Nonvaccinated individuals were higher in cultural mistrust but lower in perceived discrimination than vaccinated individuals. Perceived discrimination partially mediated the relationship between race-related concerns about COVID-19 and mental health symptoms. Findings can inform the development of culturally responsive strategies to address the syndemic effects of COVID-19 and racial injustice.

Commonly Reported Adverse Events Associated With Pediatric Immunotherapy: A Systematic Review From the Children's Oncology Group

BACKGROUND: Immunotherapy is a new and promising approach to treating pediatric cancers. These types of therapies have unique mechanisms of action for identifying and fighting cancer, as compared with traditional chemotherapy, and therefore are associated with different therapy-related adverse events (AEs). The purpose of this systematic review was to review available evidence to: (a) identify commonly reported AEs associated with immunotherapy agents frequently used in pediatric oncology and (b) generate recommendations for nursing practice. METHOD: A clinical question was developed and used to guide the systematic literature review. Five immunotherapy agents (dinutuximab, blinatumomab, rituximab, inotuzumab ozogamicin, brentuximab vedotin) were selected for inclusion secondary to their high relevance to pediatric oncology. A literature search was conducted to locate articles published between January 1, 2003 and October 31, 2018. RESULTS: Seventeen articles met eligibility criteria for inclusion and were evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria. The most commonly reported AEs for the selected immunotherapy agents were identified and summarized. Strong recommendations are made for nurses to become familiar with the unique AE profiles associated with individual immunotherapy agents. Agent-specific recommendations for nursing practice regarding AEs associated with dinutuximab and rituximab were generated. CONCLUSIONS: Immunotherapy is rapidly emerging as an effective therapy for pediatric cancers. Nurses need to be aware of the breadth of agent-specific, immunotherapy-related AEs to appropriately monitor and manage patients receiving these therapies. Additional work is needed to confidently profile immunotherapy-related AEs in pediatric oncology and to develop agent-specific educational materials for patients/families.