Pain is a major problem in sick newborn infants, especially for those needing intensive care. Pharmacological pain relief is the most commonly used, but might be ineffective and has side effects, including long-term neurodevelopmental sequelae. The effectiveness and safety of alternative analgesic methods are ambiguous. The objective was to review the effectiveness and safety of non-pharmacological methods of pain relief in newborn infants and to identify those that are the most effective. PubMed and Google Scholar were searched using the terms: “infant”, “premature”, “pain”, “acupuncture”, “skin-to-skin contact”, “sucrose”, “massage”, “musical therapy” and ‘breastfeeding’. We included 24 studies assessing different methods of non-pharmacological analgesic techniques. Most resulted in some degree of analgesia but many were ineffective and some were even detrimental. Sucrose, for example, was often ineffective but was more effective than music therapy, massage, breast milk (for extremely premature infants) or non-invasive electrical stimulation acupuncture. There were also conflicting results for acupuncture, skin-to-skin care and musical therapy. Most non-pharmacological methods of analgesia provide a modicum of relief for preterm infants, but none are completely effective and there is no clearly superior method. Study is also required to assess potential long-term consequences of any of these methods.

Our pilot study suggests that brain volumes of opioid-exposed babies may be smaller than population means and that specific regions, for example, basal ganglia, that are involved in neurotransmission, may be particularly affected. Larger studies including correlation with neurodevelopmental outcomes are warranted to substantiate this finding.

Objectives:The Future Proofing Study (FPS) was established to examine factors associated with the onset and course of mental health conditions during adolescence. This paper describes the design, methods, and baseline characteristics of the FPS cohort. Methods:The FPS is an Australian school-based prospective cohort study with an embedded clusterrandomized controlled trial examining the effects of digital prevention programs on mental health.Data sources include self-report questionnaires, cognitive functioning, linkage to health and education records, and smartphone sensor data. Participants are assessed annually for five years. Results:The baseline cohort (N=6388, M=13.9 years) is broadly representative of the Australian adolescent population. The clinical profile of participants is comparable to other population estimates.Overall, 15.1% of the cohort met the clinical threshold for depression, 18.6% for anxiety, 31.6% for psychological distress, and 4.9% for suicidal ideation. These rates were significantly higher in adolescents who identified as female, gender diverse, sexuality diverse, or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (all ps<.05). Conclusions:This paper provides current and comprehensive data about the status of adolescent mental health in Australia. The FPS cohort is expected to provide significant insights into the risk, protective, and mediating factors associated with development of mental health conditions during adolescence.

Background Depression frequently first emerges during adolescence, and one in five young people will experience an episode of depression by the age of 18 years. Despite advances in treatment, there has been limited progress in addressing the burden at a population level. Accordingly, there has been growing interest in prevention approaches as an additional pathway to address depression. Depression can be prevented using evidence-based psychological programs. However, barriers to implementing and accessing these programs remain, typically reflecting a requirement for delivery by clinical experts and high associated delivery costs. Digital technologies, specifically smartphones, are now considered a key strategy to overcome the barriers inhibiting access to mental health programs. The Future Proofing Study is a large-scale school-based trial investigating whether Cognitive Behaviour Therapies (CBT) delivered by smartphone application can prevent depression.Methods A randomized controlled trial targeting up to 20,000 Year 8 Australian secondary school students will be conducted. In Stage I, schools will be randomized at the cluster level to receive either the CBT intervention app (SPARX) or to a non-active control group comparator. The primary outcome will be symptoms of depression and secondary outcomes include psychological distress, anxiety and insomnia. At the 12-month follow-up, participants in the intervention arm with elevated depressive symptoms will participate in an individual-level RCT (Stage II) and be randomised to receive a second CBT app which targets sleep difficulties (Sleep Ninja) or a control condition. Assessments will occur at post-intervention (both trial stages), and at 6, 12, 24, 36, 48- and 60-months post-baseline. Primary analyses will use an intention-to-treat approach and compare changes in symptoms from baseline to follow-up relative to the control group using mixed effect models.Discussion This is the first trial testing the effectiveness of smartphone apps delivered to school students to prevent depression at scale. Results from this trial will provide much needed insight into the feasibility of this approach. They stand to inform policy and commission decisions concerning if and how such programs should be deployed in school-based settings in Australia and beyond.