BACKGROUND: Body image is the mental representation of the body and can be influenced by cognitive, biological, behavioral, sociocultural, and environmental factors. University students often encounter challenges related to it.
OBJECTIVE: This systematic review examined interventions aimed at holistically developing a positive body image within this population.
METHODS: The PRISMA 2020 guidelines and the PICO method were employed to identify, select, assess, and synthesize studies. The consulted databases included Scopus, Web of Science, and PsycINFO, with inclusion criteria targeting body image interventions for university students aged 18 to 39. Study quality was evaluated using the QATSDD tool.
RESULTS: Twenty-one relevant studies were identified, primarily from the United States, mostly employing quantitative methods, with a focus on female participants. Various intervention strategies were utilized, including cognitive-behavioral approaches, media literacy, and physical/resistance training, with a growing use of technology like mobile applications. The majority of studies reported effective outcomes, such as reduced body dissatisfaction and increased self-esteem following interventions. Nevertheless, literature gaps were identified, such as the scarcity of formative interventions and limited use of qualitative approaches.
CONCLUSIONS: While technology in interventions offers promising opportunities, careful assessments and judicious selection of evaluation instruments are fundamental for reliable results. Future research should focus on addressing identified gaps, such as exploring more formative interventions and incorporating qualitative methodologies to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the effectiveness of body image interventions among university students.

BACKGROUND: Persistent Physical Symptoms (PPS) include symptoms such as chronic pain, and syndromes such as chronic fatigue. They are common, but are often inadequately managed, causing distress and higher costs for health care systems. A lack of teaching about PPS has been recognised as a contributing factor to poor management.
METHODS: The authors conducted a scoping review of the literature, including all studies published before 31 March 2023. Systematic methods were used to determine what teaching on PPS was taking place for medical undergraduates. Studies were restricted to publications in English and needed to include undergraduate medical students. Teaching about cancer pain was excluded. After descriptive data was extracted, a narrative synthesis was undertaken to analyse qualitative findings.
RESULTS: A total of 1116 studies were found, after exclusion, from 3 databases. A further 28 studies were found by searching the grey literature and by citation analysis. After screening for relevance, a total of 57 studies were included in the review. The most commonly taught condition was chronic non-cancer pain, but overall, there was a widespread lack of teaching and learning on PPS. Several factors contributed to this lack including: educators and learners viewing the topic as awkward, learners feeling that there was no science behind the symptoms, and the topic being overlooked in the taught curriculum. The gap between the taught curriculum and learners\' experiences in practice was addressed through informal sources and this risked stigmatising attitudes towards sufferers of PPS.
CONCLUSIONS: Faculties need to find ways to integrate more teaching on PPS and address the barriers outlined above. Teaching on chronic non-cancer pain, which is built on a science of symptoms, can be used as an exemplar for teaching on PPS more widely. Any future teaching interventions should be robustly evaluated to ensure improvements for learners and patients.

Research about public health impacts of COVID-19 on post-secondary students is slowly beginning to emerge. This scoping review identified common public health challenges among post-secondary students in higher-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Five databases were searched to find relevant peer-reviewed literature up to March 2022. Results were categorized according to reported public health challenges and relevant socio-economic variables. After screening, 53 articles were reviewed. Most articles were from the USA (39/53). The seven main public health challenges identified were mental health (35/53), financial instability (25/53), physical health (13/53), food insecurity (12/53), social well-being (8/53), digital access (7/53), and housing or relocation (6/53). Students with low socioeconomic status experienced heightened public health challenges. This review offers insight and opportunities for the development of longitudinal tools to support social determinants of health in post-secondary populations in high-income countries and may offer insight into similar experiences for students in other settings.

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this review were to appraise the available literature regarding nursing students\' knowledge of and attitudes towards pain management; and secondly, to examine the instruments currently used to measure students\' knowledge of and attitudes towards pain management.
METHODS: This review was conducted using Whittemore and Knafl\'s five-stage framework for integrative reviews.
METHODS: A comprehensive search to retrieve relevant studies published in English between 1978 and 2022 was conducted using the databases: CINAHL, MEDLINE, Embase and Scopus databases. An updated search of the same databases was performed to identify studies published in 2023-2024.
METHODS: The initial search located 558 articles. One more relevant article was identified from an updated search test. Total of 244 duplicated records were removed. The remaining 315 studies were eligible for screening. After screening and checking for eligibility, 29 included articles were critically appraised using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tools.
RESULTS: Synthesis of the findings of the 29 included studies indicated that, internationally, nursing students have limited knowledge and often hold negative attitudes towards pain. Various instruments have been used to measure students\' knowledge and attitudes towards pain. Most studies used true/false or multiple-choice questions and Likert-type scales. The validity and reliability of most of the tools were reported to be acceptable. The most commonly used instrument was the Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this review suggest the need for refinement of pain education programs to improve nursing students\' knowledge of and attitudes towards pain management. Future research should focus on understanding the personal and environmental factors that impact students\' level of knowledge and attitudes so as to inform curriculum development and ultimately the quality of the care graduates provide.

Information literacy skills are an important part of research skills for undergraduate science students. This case study presents a novel approach to developing these types of research skills. By deconstructing the research process into separate steps, explicitly defining, and practicing the skills involved, students can progressively develop these skills and apply them. In this course, systematic reviews are used as exemplars for the research process. We align the Research Skills Development Framework with the steps of a systematic review and present specific skills and accompanying activities for each step. This workshop-based course emphasizes skill development and can help overcome assessments that rely solely on a final paper, with no record or evidence of the student research process, that could be created by a generative artificial intelligence tool.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study presents a novel approach to teaching undergraduate science students rigorous research skills with scaffolded systematic review practice.

UNASSIGNED: Clinical teachers often struggle to record trainee underperformance due to lacking evidence-based remediation options.
UNASSIGNED: To provide updated evidence-based recommendations for addressing academic difficulties among undergraduate and postgraduate medical learners.
UNASSIGNED: A systematic review searched databases including MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, ERIC, Education Source, and PsycINFO (2016-2021), replicating the original Best Evidence Medical Education 56 review strategy. Original research/innovation reports describing intervention(s) for medical learners with academic difficulties were included. Data extraction used Michie\'s Behaviour Change Techniques (BCT) Taxonomy and program evaluation models from Stufflebeam and Kirkpatrick. Quality appraised used the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Authors synthesized extracted evidence by adapting GRADE approach to formulate recommendations.
UNASSIGNED: Eighteen articles met the inclusion criteria, primarily addressing knowledge (66.7%), skills (66.7%), attitudinal problems (50%) and learner\'s personal challenges (27.8%). Feedback and monitoring was the most frequently employed BCT. Study quality varied (MMAT 0-100%). We identified nineteen interventions (UG: n = 9, PG: n = 12), introducing twelve new thematic content. Newly thematic content addressed contemporary learning challenges such as academic procrastination, and use of technology-enhanced learning resources. Combined with previous interventions, the review offers a total dataset of 121 interventions.
UNASSIGNED: This review offers additional evidence-based interventions for learners with academic difficulties, supporting teaching, learning, faculty development, and research efforts.

OBJECTIVE: Loupe magnification is a commonly utilized tool within dental education due to its proposed benefits of improving working posture, visual acuity, and procedural quality. Although procedural quality has been researched at the graduate level, literature encompassing the undergraduate level remains scarce. Therefore, this systematic review aims to critically assess the available literature to ascertain the effects of loupe magnification on the performance of undergraduate dental students\' cavity preparations.
METHODS: A systematic search was conducted across electronic databases, including PubMed, MEDLINE via Ovid, The Cochrane Library for Cochrane Reviews, and Scopus, to identify relevant studies published from inception to February 15, 2023. We included English language studies that evaluated the effect of loupe magnification on the performance of undergraduate dental students in cavity preparations.
RESULTS: In total, six studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The outcomes assessed encompassed tooth preparation accuracy. Of these six articles, one was conducted on endodontic access cavity preparations, four on restorative cavity preparations, and one on nonstandard cavity preparation designs performed on acrylic blocs. Four articles determined that loupes positively impacted undergraduate students\' performance in cavity preparations, while two articles established no significant difference in performance between loupes and naked-eye cavity preparations.
CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review suggests that loupe magnification positively impacts undergraduate dental students\' performance in cavity preparations. However, the heterogeneity of the studies and the variations in methodologies limit the ability to draw definitive conclusions.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Background: The \'flipped classroom\' (FC) is a blended learning model in which educational material is delivered on-line prior to class, students then apply this knowledge through discussion and problem solving activities in class. Its effectiveness in medical education is debated. The aim of this systematic review is to assess the outcomes of studies which have compared the exam performance of traditional didactic teaching (DT) to the FC in medical education. Methods: A broad based literature search was performed in accordance with PRISMA protocol. MESH terms were \'flipped classroom\', \'flipped teaching\', \'blended learning\' and \'medical education\'. The outcomes of interest were test score results following FC compared to DT methods. Results: Eleven studies with a total of 2052 study participants were included in the review. Four studies demonstrated a significant improvement in test scores using FC compared to DT; four showed no significant difference and three demonstrated mixed results. Discussion and Conclusions: The results of this review are equivocal. Study heterogeneity in design, participants and subject covered may account for some of this disparity. Two studies provide evidence that the FC results in improved performance on higher cognitive tasks however further robust, in depth studies are required to demonstrate this conclusively.

BACKGROUND: Teaching point-of-care ultrasonography (PoCUS) to medical students is resource intensive. Peer-assisted learning, where the teacher can be a medical student, may be a feasible alternative to expert-led learning. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to compare the PoCUS performance assessments of medical students receiving peer-assisted vs expert-led learning.
METHODS: This study was submitted to PROSPERO (CRD42023383915) and reported with PRISMA guidelines. MEDLINE, Embase, ERIC, Education Source, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched from inception to November 2022. Inclusion criteria were studies comparing peer-assisted vs expert-led PoCUS teaching for undergraduate medical students. The primary outcome was performance assessment of PoCUS skills. Two reviewers independently screened citations and extracted data. The Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials was used to assess study quality. Studies were included in the meta-analysis if mean performance assessment scores with standard deviations and sample sizes were available. A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the accuracy score of practical knowledge test for each group. A meta-regression evaluated difference in mean scores.
RESULTS: The search yielded 2890 citations; 1417 unique citations remained after removing duplicates. Nine randomized-controlled studies conducted in Germany, USA, and Israel, with 593 participants, were included in the meta-analysis. The included studies assessed teaching of abdominal, cardiac, thoracic, musculoskeletal, and ocular PoCUS skills. Most studies had some risk-of-bias concerns. The estimate accuracy score after weighting is 0.56 (95% CI [0.47, 0.65]) for peer-assisted learning and 0.59 (95% CI [0.49, 0.69]) for expert-led learning. The regression coefficient estimate is 0.0281 (95% CI [- 0.1121, 0.1683]); P value is 0.69.
CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis found that peer-assisted learning was a reasonable alternative to expert-led learning for teaching PoCUS skills to medical students.
RéSUMé: INTRODUCTION: L\'enseignement de l\'échographie au point d’intervention (PoCUS) aux étudiants en médecine nécessite des ressources importantes. L\'apprentissage assisté par les pairs, où l\'enseignant peut être un étudiant en médecine, peut être une alternative possible à l\'apprentissage dirigé par des experts. L\'objectif de cette revue systématique et de cette méta-analyse était de comparer les évaluations de performance PoCUS d\'étudiants en médecine bénéficiant d\'un apprentissage assisté par des pairs par rapport à un apprentissage dirigé par des experts. MéTHODES: Cette étude a été soumise à PROSPERO (CRD42023383915) et rapportée selon les directives PRISMA. MEDLINE, Embase, ERIC, Education Source, Scopus et Web of Science ont été recherchés depuis leur création jusqu\'en novembre 2022. Les critères d\'inclusion étaient les études comparant l\'enseignement du PoCUS assisté par des pairs à celui dirigé par des experts pour les étudiants en médecine de premier cycle. Le principal résultat était l’évaluation du rendement des compétences PoCUS. Deux évaluateurs ont indépendamment examiné les citations et extrait les données. L\'outil Cochrane d\'évaluation du risque de biais pour les essais randomisés a été utilisé pour évaluer la qualité des études. Les études ont été incluses dans la méta-analyse si les scores moyens d\'évaluation des performances avec les écarts types et la taille des échantillons étaient disponibles. Une méta-analyse à effets aléatoires a été réalisée pour estimer le score de précision du test de connaissances pratiques pour chaque groupe. Une méta-régression a évalué la différence dans les scores moyens. RéSULTATS: La recherche a donné lieu à 2890 citations ; 1417 citations uniques ont été conservées après suppression des doublons. Neuf études contrôlées randomisées menées en Allemagne, aux États-Unis et en Israël, avec 593 participants, ont été incluses dans la méta-analyse. Les études incluses ont évalué l\'enseignement des compétences PoCUS abdominales, cardiaques, thoraciques, musculo-squelettiques et oculaires. La plupart des études présentaient des risques de biais. Le score de précision estimé après pondération est de 0,56 (IC à 95 % : [0,47, 0,65]) pour l’apprentissage assisté par les pairs et de 0,59 (IC à 95 % : [0,49, 0,69]) pour l’apprentissage dirigé par des experts. L\'estimation du coefficient de régression est de 0,0281 (IC à 95 % : [-0,1121, 0,1683]) ; la valeur P est de 0,69. CONCLUSION: Cette méta-analyse a montré que l\'apprentissage assisté par les pairs était une alternative raisonnable à l\'apprentissage dirigé par des experts pour enseigner les compétences PoCUS aux étudiants en médecine.

UNASSIGNED: To identify and describe interventions that increase access to naloxone for undergraduate students.
UNASSIGNED: A systematic review across 4 databases identified interventions that expand access to naloxone at colleges in the United States from 2015-2023. Three reviewers extracted the following data to create a narrative synthesis and summary of program elements: setting, rationale for intervention, timeline, intervention components, study size, collaboration, sustainability, outcomes and results.
UNASSIGNED: Seven articles met inclusion criteria. Institutions\' implemented naloxone interventions due to concerns for student safety and/or student overdose fatalities. Three universities collaborated with their School of Pharmacy for program design and/or dissemination, while two partnered with state-based naloxone distribution programs. Most programs combined opioid-overdose/naloxone training; four distributed naloxone kits. Three studies included pre/post-outcomes, and all reported increases in participant knowledge, attitudes, and/or ability to respond to an overdose.
UNASSIGNED: Our results indicates an opportunity for wide-scale implementation of undergraduate naloxone programs within US colleges. However, more rigorous implementation research is needed to identify barriers and facilitators to program feasibility, acceptability, and participation.