JMIR Research Protocols

Addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) requires proactive and innovative approaches in the digital world. The absence of comprehensive AMR data in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) emphasizes the need for enhanced surveillance systems.

Major depressive and anxiety disorders affect 61 million adults in the United States. People living with mental illness, including depression and anxiety, experience stigma associated with the illness and receiving treatment for their illness. Stigma refers to negative attitudes or beliefs about mental illness or negative behaviors directed toward persons with mental illness. Stigma is a leading and fundamental cause of health inequities. Contact interventions, which are premised on the idea that positive and voluntary contact with persons with mental illness can effectively reduce mental illness stigma, are aimed at reducing stigma and improving health outcomes. Video-based interventions improve knowledge, attitudes, and behavior in the short term, and there is a need for randomized controlled trials of indirect contact or video-based contact interventions to address stigma and engagement in mental health services.

Nursing home (NH) residents have a high burden of multimorbidity and disability and are frequently hospitalized. Comprehensive geriatric assessment might reduce hospitalization. However, few geriatricians are working in NHs. Technology might be used to overcome this problem.

Pulmonary aspiration of gastric contents is a serious clinical complication, particularly in patients receiving enteral nutrition or undergoing anesthesia. Gastric residual volume (GRV) is a commonly used surrogate marker that can identify delayed gastric emptying and enteral nutrition intolerance, both of which may increase the risk of aspiration. Traditional methods for measuring GRV are invasive and lack standardization. Point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) has emerged as a promising, noninvasive bedside alternative. Despite its growing clinical use, there is still no consolidated guidance on PoCUS procedures for GRV assessment in adult patients.

Individuals with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder face a significantly elevated risk of obesity, primarily due to weight gain associated with psychiatric medications and lifestyle factors. While digital self-monitoring tools offer scalable solutions, their application remains underexplored in psychiatric populations. To address these gaps, this type 1 hybrid effectiveness-implementation study investigates the preliminary effectiveness and implementation feasibility of a mobile health-assisted weight management intervention for patients with severe mental illness.

Managing type 2 diabetes (T2D) requires ongoing attention to diet, physical activity, medication, and blood glucose monitoring. These cumulative demands can lead to diabetes distress, a common emotional strain that affects well-being, self-management, and clinical outcomes. Digital health interventions (DHIs) offer scalable, cost-effective support for both self-management and emotional well-being. However, many DHIs pay limited attention to the needs of underserved groups, who may experience higher distress, face additional barriers to engagement, and are often underrepresented in research. Evidence describing how DHIs are designed, delivered, and experienced across diverse populations remains fragmented, particularly from an equity perspective.

Women who are impacted by diverse forms of violence and structural disadvantage such as poverty, health inequities, and precarious housing experience significant barriers to health care. Outreach is a promising strategy to mitigate barriers to care. Until recently, outreach has focused on women’s behaviors, with less attention paid to the intersecting systemic inequities inclusive of stigma and discrimination, poverty, and compartmentalized health service delivery models that impact care engagement and access.

Shifting surgeries from the stationary to the outpatient setting is seen as a suitable way to increase efficiency in the health care system. A substantial increase in outpatient procedures can therefore be observed internationally—particularly in the field of orthopedics. However, the interests and needs of patients are often insufficiently taken into account in this process. The “Power-AOP” research project was initiated to identify the associated challenges in the area of patient empowerment and to develop solutions.

Tripterygium glycoside tablets (TGTs), a traditional Chinese medicine–based therapy and a type of conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (csDMARD), have shown promise as a cost-effective alternative for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, there is limited evidence regarding the most effective combinations with other csDMARDs, such as methotrexate, leflunomide, and hydroxychloroquine. This study evaluates the 12-week efficacy and safety of TGT-based regimens in patients with moderately active RA.

Unhealthy and unsustainable diets remain a major global challenge, contributing significantly to poor health outcomes, environmental degradation, and social inequalities. Despite growing awareness, individuals face persistent barriers to adopting sustainable dietary practices, including cost, availability, cultural norms, and low food literacy. While digital tools and artificial intelligence (AI) offer promising avenues to support dietary behavior change, few interventions target the household as a unit of change. The WiseFood project addresses this gap by developing AI-supported apps to promote healthier and more sustainable food choices at the household level through co-designed interventions in multisite Living Labs (LLs) across Europe.

Cognitive-communication disorders are pervasive following traumatic brain injury (TBI), disrupting communication at the level of discourse and social interaction. Discourse impairments impact functioning across major life domains, such as work and social relationships, and overall quality of life. Problems with discourse affect all severity levels of TBI and persist over time. Veterans may experience even greater functional decline due to comorbid health conditions (eg, posttraumatic stress disorder, pain). The functional impact and chronicity of discourse impairments following TBI underscore the importance of treating these impairments.

School health policies and practices are key components of health promotion for children and adolescents and play a central role in shaping healthy school environments, reducing health inequities, and fostering intersectoral collaboration between education and health systems. Despite their relevance, systematic and comparable assessments of how these policies and practices are implemented across different national contexts remain limited, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Internationally comparable data are essential to identify strengths, gaps, and priorities for investment in school health.