As health researchers we need to investigate a wide range of topics to enhance our understanding of the many issues that affect health and well-being in today's society. Much of the health research undertaken today involves face-to-face encounters with participants using qualitative methodologies. There is a growing recognition that undertaking qualitative research can pose many difficulties for researchers. However, very little research has focused directly on the experiences of researchers while undertaking qualitative research and the issues that their involvement in the research raises for them. To explore these issues, one-to-one interviews were conducted with 30 qualitative health researchers. A grounded theory analysis revealed that researchers can face a number of challenges while undertaking qualitative research. These include issues relating to rapport development, use of researcher self-disclosure, listening to untold stories, feelings of guilt and vulnerability, leaving the research relationship and researcher exhaustion. These results are discussed and recommendations for researchers involved in qualitative research are made.

Qualitative health researchers immerse themselves in the settings that they are studying. This immersion involves personal interaction with their participants, with the result that the boundaries between the researcher and the group of people under study can easily become blurred. Although health researchers have been undertaking qualitative research for many years, recognition of boundary issues inherent in this type of research have received little attention. To investigate such issues, the authors conducted interviews with 30 qualitative health researchers. A grounded theory analysis of the interview transcripts revealed that researchers can identify a number of boundaries in their research, including the boundaries between researcher and friend, researcher and counselor or therapist, and professional boundaries. The authors discuss the findings and offer recommendations for qualitative health researchers involved in researching sensitive topics, including the need for researchers to consider the impacts that undertaking research might have on them.

Traditionally, risk assessments in research have been limited to examining the risks to the research participants. Although doing so is appropriate and important, there is growing recognition that undertaking research can pose risks to researchers as well. A grounded theory study involving a range of researchers who had undertaken qualitative health research on a sensitive topic was completed. Analysis of the in-depth, face-to-face unstructured individual interviews with 30 Australian public health researchers provided evidence that researchers do confront a number of physical and emotional risks when undertaking research. Training, preparation, and supervision must be taken into account so that the risk to researchers can be minimized. Researchers need to consider occupational health and safety issues in designing research projects that deal with physical and emotional risks. Recommendations for professional supervision, policy development, and minimum training standards for researchers are provided.

Analysis 2.1. Comparison 2 Stand-alone clinical pathway vs usual care, Outcome 1 LOS: invasive versus non-invasive. Analysis 2.2. Comparison 2 Stand-alone clinical pathway vs usual care, Outcome 2 LOS: hospital area.. .. .. Analysis 2.3. Comparison 2 Stand-alone clinical pathway vs usual care, Outcome 3 LOS: implementation process.. Analysis 2.4. Comparison 2 Stand-alone clinical pathway vs usual care, Outcome 4 LOS: country.. .. .. .. Analysis 2.5. Comparison 2 Stand-alone clinical pathway vs usual care, Outcome 5 LOS: year.. .. .. .. . Analysis 2.6. Comparison 2 Stand-alone clinical pathway vs usual care, Outcome 6 LOS: condition or intervention.. Analysis 2.7. Comparison 2 Stand-alone clinical pathway vs usual care, Outcome 7 Days to sitting out of bed.. .. Analysis 2.8. Comparison 2 Stand-alone clinical pathway vs usual care, Outcome 8 Duration of ventilation (TSA).. Analysis 2.9. Comparison 2 Stand-alone clinical pathway vs usual care, Outcome

Whilst gambling provides a source of enjoyment and entertainment for many people, it can be a source of hardship for others. The problems associated with gambling have been extensively studied with gamblers; however very few studies have been specifically undertaken to identify the impact that gambling has on spouses, partners, and family members. This qualitative study provided an opportunity for some partners and spouses of people affected by problem gambling to identify the outcomes that gambling had on their lives. It identified that excessive gambling has a number of significant effects on financial security, family relationships, and physical and emotional health. Problem gambling is a major social health problem that is negatively impacting the lives of many people in our community. Interventions that are designed to deal with problem gambling need to go beyond the gambler and consider those other people in their lives who are often overlooked.

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Background Insufficient consumption of fruits and vegetables in childhood increases the risk of future chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease. Objectives To assess the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and associated adverse events of interventions designed to increase the consumption of fruit and/or vegetables amongst children aged five years and under. Search methods The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) in The Cochrane Library Issue 2, 2010, MEDLINE (1950 to 2010 April week 4), EMBASE (1947 to 2010 week 18), CINAHL (up to 12 May 2010), PsycINFO (up to 12 May 2010) and Proquest Dissertations and Theses (up to February 2011) were searched to identify eligible trials, as well as electronic trial registers (also up to February 2011). The reference lists of included trials were reviewed and handsearches of three international nutrition journals were also performed. Authors of all included trials were contacted in order to identify further potentially relevant trials. Selection criteria We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), including cluster-randomised controlled trials, of any intervention primarily targeting fruit and/or vegetable consumption among children aged five years and under and incorporating a biochemical or dietary assessment of fruit and/or vegetable consumption. Two review authors independently screened the titles and abstracts of identified papers. A third review author with expertise in review methodology resolved any disagreements regarding study eligibility. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of the included studies. A third reviewer resolved disagreements between review authors. Fixed-effect models were used to perform meta-analysis for the primary review outcomes where a sufficient number of trials with suitable data and homogeneity were identified. Main results Five trials, with 13 trial arms and 3967 participants were included in the review. Two trials examined the impact of specific feeding practices (e.g. repeated food exposure) in increasing child intake of a target vegetable. Two trials assessed the effectiveness of home visiting programs implemented in disadvantaged communities and one trial investigated the effect of a preschool-based intervention in increasing child fruit and vegetable intake. Risk of bias of included studies was low although three of the five trials were judged to be at high risk of performance bias. Meta-analysis of two trials examining repeated food exposure versus a no intervention comparison found no significant difference in target vegetable consumption in the short term (mean difference (MD) 1.37, 95% confidence interval (CI) −2.78 to 5.52). Coupling repeated food exposure with a tangible non-food or social reward, was effective in increasing targeted vegetable consumption in the short term based on one trial. Home visiting programs provided to disadvantaged groups did not significantly increase overall fruit intake in the short term (sta...