Ashley Stewart-Tufescu

While early childhood remains a formative period for healthy child development, it is simultaneously a time when parents experience increased mental health challenges. Such increased challenges (e.g., heightened parental stress, anxiety, depression, etc.) can lead to a variety of adverse child outcomes, including increased risk of externalizing and internalizing disorders. Despite the well-documented effects of parental mental health on child development, Canadian families face a plethora of barriers to accessing services in a timely manner, and as such, low-barrier, accessible mental health supports are needed. In an effort to increase available services to Canadian families, the current study translates the BEAM program (Building Emotional Awareness and Mental Health; thebeamprogram.com), a previously established online parenting and mental health app, into LightBEAM a massive open online intervention (MOOI). By translating an efficacious intervention into a MOOI format, we hope to increase accessibility, scalability, and reach of the program in an effort to better support Canadian families. To investigate the efficacy of translating BEAM into LightBEAM, a pilot waitlist control design will be utilized. Canadian families who are parenting a child between the ages of 1.5 and 8 years old and who are experiencing elevated symptoms of parenting stress, anxiety, depression, and/or anger will be recruited. When moving through the intervention arm of the trial, participants will have access to an app that houses 12 weeks of parenting and mental health videos, a group forum, and weekly exercises to reinforce key skills learned. A combination of Multilevel modeling and mediation models will be utilized to assess changes in participants' elevated mental health scores across the 12-week program and the 6-month follow-up period. Additionally, post-program focus groups will be conducted to further explore the feasibility and acceptability of the program. The translation of BEAM into LightBEAM, a national MOOI, has the potential to increase the scalability of this intervention to ensure that Canadian families have access to timely mental health and parenting supports. Results will be used to inform future iterations of the program. This trial was retrospectively registered with ClinicalTrial.gov NCT07026838 on June 10th, 2025{4}. Protocol Version 1, August 2025 {2}.

Background: The Rohingya refugee crisis is one of the largest humanitarian emergencies of the 21st century, with nearly one million Rohingya residing in overcrowded camps in southern Bangladesh. Women and children face the greatest vulnerabilities, including inadequate access to education and healthcare, which exacerbates their risks and limits opportunities for personal and community development. While international organizations continue to provide aid, resources remain insufficient, particularly in maternal and child healthcare, highlighting the urgent need for sustainable interventions. Objectives: The Hope Foundation for Women and Children in Bangladesh launched a pilot project for the Health Assistant Training (HAT) program to address critical gaps in healthcare and education for the Rohingya community. This nine-month training program equips young Rohingya women with essential knowledge and skills to support maternal health services in both clinical and community settings. Design: We conducted a qualitative evaluation of the HAT Program to explore its acceptance and anticipated benefits for both participants and the community. Methods: The research team used semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and field observations to explore the HAT Program’s impact on young Rohingya women and their community. They analyzed data through thematic analysis, developing a coding framework and identifying key themes to uncover patterns and insights. Results: The results were categorized into four themes: (1) community acceptance of the HAT Program, (2) the HAT Program’s impact on the health assistant trainees, (3) the impact of the HAT Program on the community, and (4) the potential ways to expand the HAT Program. Conclusions: This research underscores the program’s impact on improving healthcare access, enhancing women’s empowerment, and promoting community resilience. By situating this initiative within the broader context of refugee health, education, and capacity-building, this research highlights the HAT program’s potential as a replicable model in Bangladesh and in other humanitarian settings.

Background: A substantial proportion of Veterans experience mental and physical health difficulties, including post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain, for which cannabis is sometimes medically authorized. However, relatively little is known about cannabis use among Canadian Veterans. Information on the prevalence of use, as well as the mental health profiles and help-seeking behaviours of Veterans who use cannabis, is important for developing more targeted prevention and intervention services and supports. Methods: The current study used data from Veteran respondents ( n = 1992) of the 2018 Canadian Armed Forces Members and Veterans Mental Health Follow-up Survey. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression models were used to examine associations between past 12-month cannabis use and concurrent mental disorders, chronic pain conditions, use of other substances, suicide behaviours, perceived need for care, and help-seeking behaviours. Results: Several participating Veterans (16.7%) reported using cannabis in the past 12-months. Infrequent use of cannabis in the past 12 months was associated with statistically significantly increased odds of current smoking, binge drinking, and post-traumatic stress disorder in fully adjusted models (Adjusted odds ratios [AOR-2] = 1.93, 2.58, and 2.37, respectively). Regular use of cannabis in the past 12 months was associated with statistically significantly increased odds of current tobacco smoking, arthritis and any chronic pain condition, several mental health disorders, and suicide ideation in fully adjusted models (AOR-2 ranged from 1.61 to 3.99). Veterans who used cannabis both infrequently and regularly were also statistically significantly more likely to perceive a need for care (AOR-2 = 2.15 and 4.85, respectively) and report professional help-seeking (AOR-2 = 2.25 and 5.56, respectively) in the past 12-months compared to Veterans who did not use cannabis. Conclusions: The strong association of past 12-month cannabis use with nicotine, chronic pain, mental disorders, and suicide ideation suggests that Veterans who use cannabis regularly may represent a population with complex needs who may benefit from additional services and supports. Cannabis using Veterans were also more likely to perceive a need for and seek professional help, which provides opportunities for more timely identification and intervention.

There is a paucity of evidence informing our understanding of how the COVID-19 pandemic affected pediatric trauma in Manitoba, Canada. The aim of this retrospective cohort study was to analyze the effect of the pandemic on pediatric trauma and its association with patients’ demographic characteristics. Pre-pandemic and pandemic patient cohorts were created, and the rates of these injuries were compared by patients’ sex, age, and area of residence. During the pre-pandemic period, ED presentations with an MSK or head injury were lower in patients from rural communities compared to urban communities (RR: 0.68, p < 0.001, RR: 0.51, p < 0.001). Hospitalizations with an MSK or head injury were higher in patients from rural communities (RR: 1.78, p < 0.001, RR: 1.14, p = 0.62). During the pandemic, MSK injury ED presentations (RR: 1.14, p = 0.037) and hospitalizations (RR: 1.78, p < 0.001) were higher in patients from rural communities. Patients from rural communities had a lower rate of head injury ED presentations (RR: 0.81, p < 0.001), but higher hospitalization rate (RR:1.96, p = 0.001). Differences in the rates of pediatric MSK and head injuries could be attributed to the limited healthcare resources in underserved rural communities. Efforts should be made to rectify these inequities to ensure fair access to healthcare for these patients.

Physical punishment is the most common form of violence against children worldwide and is associated with an increased risk of long-term adverse outcomes. Interventions targeting parents/caregivers are frequently implemented to prevent and reduce the use of physical punishment. This scoping review aimed to map the existing literature on evidence-informed parenting interventions targeting physical punishment. A scoping review following the World Health Organization (WHO) Review Guide, the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) 2020 Guide for scoping reviews, was conducted to address the objective of this review. An academic health sciences librarian systematically searched electronic databases (EBSCO, MEDLINE, EMBASE, SCOPUS) for peer-reviewed journal articles. Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts, followed by a full-text review according to inclusion and exclusion criteria following the Participants, Concept, and Context framework. Eighty-one studies were included for full-text eligibility. The results suggest that most interventions examined were conducted in North America, targeted mothers and fathers, and were delivered in person. The results from this scoping review describe the state of evidence-informed parenting interventions to prevent and reduce physical punishment. This review found opportunities for future research to implement effective parenting interventions on a larger societal scale and use mixed methods approaches to evaluate parenting interventions.