JMIR Research Protocols

Advances in antiretroviral therapy (ART) have significantly improved the life expectancy of people living with HIV. However, maintaining retention in care—defined as ongoing engagement with medical services from diagnosis through regular follow-up—is essential for optimal clinical outcomes. Loss to follow-up (LTFU), commonly defined as the absence of ART prescription refills or medical visits for more than 90 days, has been associated with increased mortality, treatment failure, and continued community transmission. Although multiple individual and structural factors have been linked to LTFU, evidence from the Mexican context remains limited.

First responders (FRs) and frontline workers are frequently exposed to traumatic events within their professional roles. This exposure places them at risk of experiencing acute stress, posttraumatic stress disorder, burnout, and other adverse mental health outcomes. Despite growing awareness of these risks, there remains a lack of evidence-based digital interventions (DIs) tailored to meet their unique mental health needs.

Understanding interindividual variability in treatment response and toxicity is essential for optimizing outcomes in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Molecular and pharmacogenetic markers hold promise in predicting treatment efficacy and adverse effects, particularly in genetically diverse populations. This protocol outlines the methodology for a prospective, nonrandomized observational cohort designed to evaluate molecular and pharmacogenetic factors associated with treatment response and toxicity in Indian children diagnosed with ALL.

Hypertension is a chronic condition and a leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease, stroke, and premature mortality worldwide. While blood pressure (BP) monitoring—via clinical, home, or ambulatory measurements—remains the primary diagnostic tool, each method is limited by variability, device inaccuracy, and difficulties in detecting atypical BP patterns such as masked or white-coat hypertension. These challenges underscore the need for innovative, complementary diagnostic approaches.

Despite the availability of effective vaccines, flu and COVID-19 uptake remains suboptimal, including among Indigenous communities in California who face unique barriers to accessing public health information. While previous research has evaluated health communication message content and design, fewer studies have systematically compared different dissemination strategies for the same intervention, leaving gaps in understanding optimal approaches for reaching marginalized populations.

Across the United States, there are millions of informal (ie, unpaid) caregivers helping individuals with Alzheimer Disease/Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias (AD/ADRD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), or both. TBI is a risk factor for developing, and often co-occurs with, AD/ADRD. In the next decade, more informal caregivers will have to navigate the complexities of the dual diagnosis of TBI and AD/ADRD. Currently, there is a paucity of interventions for caregivers dealing with this dual diagnosis. Our team designed the TBI-AD/ADRD caregiver support intervention (TACSI) as a support program to meet the needs of those providing care to individuals with dual diagnoses of TBI and AD/ADRD.

People at greatest risk for poor HIV outcomes include young (13-34) people of color who have sex with men. Individuals in this population are least likely to be aware of their HIV status and are at the highest risk for disengaging from medical care and antiretroviral therapy. The Positive Peers mobile app (PPA) was designed to engage this population with real-time social support, HIV and healthy lifestyle information, and medical management tools. We expect that greater PPA engagement will predict key HIV care outcomes. Study predictions are grounded in a user-centric model of digital media use and the perceived affordances of the PPA.

Large language model (LLM)–based chatbots are rapidly being repurposed as patient-facing digital health tools. Their interactive, adaptive, and seemingly empathic behavior can heighten engagement and expectancy—nonspecific factors that complicate causal inference. Yet, comparator strategies in LLM trials are inconsistently defined and often undermatched (eg, minimal education vs highly engaging chatbots), risking biased effect estimates and poor reproducibility.

University students may remain sedentary for large parts of the day, spending >9 hours per day sitting. Prolonged sitting is associated with increased risk for adverse health outcomes in adulthood. Light-intensity physical activity (LIPA) can be integrated into university students’ daily routines to counteract the negative effects of prolonged sitting on cognitive function and musculoskeletal health.

In mixed methods research (MMR), researchers combine elements of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, methods of data collection and analysis, viewpoints, and integration procedures to gain a deeper understanding of what is being studied, design culturally specific tools, and explore the conditions under which health care interventions succeed or fail. Integration is considered the hallmark of MMR and can occur at various levels, such as sampling, data collection, and analysis. MMR is particularly useful for investigating complex, multilevel programs and interventions and is well-suited to address research problems involving knowledge translation, program evaluations, or comparisons of therapeutic interventions. Although there are many potential benefits of mixed methods in health research, the extent to which mixed methods studies implement integration remains limited, with this specific gap persisting for almost 20 years. The Good Reporting of a Mixed Methods Study (GRAMMS) reporting guidelines were developed in 2008 to help improve the quality of reporting in mixed methods reports and articles. Since then, the field of mixed methods has evolved rapidly, and the guideline no longer reflects current practices and innovations.

Total hip arthroplasty is a highly successful procedure for treating hip arthritis, improving patients’ pain, function, and quality of life (QoL). Scarce publications on total hip arthroplasty performance using Brazilian-manufactured materials report results comparable to those from other countries.

After a burn injury, the survivors have to manage and integrate the physical, psychological, and social consequences of their injury into their daily lives, such as functional limitations, aesthetic complaints, and fatigue. How successful survivors of burn injuries are at this depends on their self-management skills. Health care professionals play an important role in supporting the self-management of survivors of burn injuries. Currently, there are no burn-specific self-management support interventions. Therefore, we developed a self-management support intervention for survivors of burn injuries, called BreeZe (Brandwonden en Zelfmanagement).