[Feasibility of the 'Uitblinkers' intervention to improve toothbrushing among children: a pilot study]. / Toepasbaarheid van de 'Uitblinkers-interventie' om tandenpoetsen bij kinderen te verbeteren: een pilotonderzoek.

In 2017, the 'Uitblinkers' intervention was developed to improve toothbrushing behaviour among young children. This interview method focuses on identifying parents' barriers to brushing their children's teeth, and promoting parenting strategies to tackle the identified barriers. Twenty-one trained dental therapists from twelve dental practices applied the 'Uitblinkers' intervention among parents of three-year-old children. Nine months after the training, focus group- and telephone interviews were conducted to evaluate the feasibility and appreciation of the intervention in dental practice. Findings of this study show that the 'Uitblinkers' intervention offers a feasible approach to improve children's toothbrushing behaviour. Dental therapists were generally positive about the interview method, the supporting materials and the reactions of parents. Some (logistic) barriers to adoption were identified which, if resolved, would improve the implementation of the intervention in dental practice.

Practitioner review: evidence-based practice guidelines on alcohol and drug misuse among adolescents: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Context-specific evidence-based guidelines on how to prevent and treat substance misuse among adolescents are currently lacking in many countries. Due to the time consuming nature of de novo guideline development, the ADAPTE collaboration introduced a methodology to adapt existing guidelines to a local context. An important step in this method is a systematic review to identify relevant high-quality evidence-based guidelines. This study describes the results of this step for the development of guidelines on adolescent alcohol and drug misuse in Belgium. METHODS: Rigorous systematic review methodology was used. This included searches of electronic databases (Medline, Embase, Cinahl, PsychInfo, and ERIC in June 2011), websites of relevant organizations, and reference lists of key publications. Experts in the field were also contacted. Included were Dutch, English, French, or German evidence-based practice guidelines from 2006 or later on the prevention, screening, assessment, or treatment of alcohol or illicit drug misuse in persons aged 12-18 years. Two independent reviewers assessed the quality of the guidelines using the AGREE II (Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation) instrument. SCOPE: This overview provides a framework of current knowledge in adolescent alcohol and drug misuse prevention and treatment. RESULTS: This systematic review identified 32 relevant evidence-based guidelines on substance misuse among adolescents. Nine guidelines were judged to be of high quality; of which four had recommendations specifically on adolescents: one on school-based prevention, one on substance misuse prevention in vulnerable young people and two on alcohol misuse with specific sections for the adolescent population. There were few commonalities as guidelines focused on different target groups, professional disciplines and type and level of substance misuse. Evidence to support the recommendations was sparse, and many recommendations were based on expert consensus or on studies among adults. Also, the link between evidence and recommendations was often unclear. CONCLUSIONS: There are a substantial number of guidelines addressing substance misuse in adolescents. However, only four high-quality guidelines included recommendations specific for adolescents. The current level of evidence that underpins the recommendations in these high-quality guidelines is low.

Towards a European health research and innovation cloud (HRIC).

The European Union (EU) initiative on the Digital Transformation of Health and Care (Digicare) aims to provide the conditions necessary for building a secure, flexible, and decentralized digital health infrastructure. Creating a European Health Research and Innovation Cloud (HRIC) within this environment should enable data sharing and analysis for health research across the EU, in compliance with data protection legislation while preserving the full trust of the participants. Such a HRIC should learn from and build on existing data infrastructures, integrate best practices, and focus on the concrete needs of the community in terms of technologies, governance, management, regulation, and ethics requirements. Here, we describe the vision and expected benefits of digital data sharing in health research activities and present a roadmap that fosters the opportunities while answering the challenges of implementing a HRIC. For this, we put forward five specific recommendations and action points to ensure that a European HRIC: i) is built on established standards and guidelines, providing cloud technologies through an open and decentralized infrastructure; ii) is developed and certified to the highest standards of interoperability and data security that can be trusted by all stakeholders; iii) is supported by a robust ethical and legal framework that is compliant with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR); iv) establishes a proper environment for the training of new generations of data and medical scientists; and v) stimulates research and innovation in transnational collaborations through public and private initiatives and partnerships funded by the EU through Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe.