Matt Mason

Background: Infection prevention and control (IPC) professionals played a vital role during COVID-19, yet their experiences remain largely unexplored. Understanding these experiences is crucial for strengthening health system preparedness for future outbreaks/ pandemic. This study investigates IPC professionals' preparedness, response capacity, knowledge base, and barriers/enablers during COVID-19 to inform future pandemic planning.

Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in 2024 among IPC professionals worldwide through WHO's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network partners and professional IPC organisations. The survey was translated into five languages, comprising 30 questions that covered demo-graphics, professional preparedness, response capacity, and pandemic experiences. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively using SPSS, while qualitative responses underwent thematic analysis.

Results: Eighty-six responses from 19 countries were analysed, with participants mainly from Australia (48.8 %), Canada (17.4 %), and the United Kingdom (8.1 %). Most worked in government hospitals (54.7 %) with dedicated IPC roles (57.0 %) and over five years of experience (73.2 %). Four interconnected themes emerged: establishing IPC as vital expertise, confronting the psychological toll of IPC work, navigating shifting guidance and policy, and managing resource scarcity and workforce strain. Participants reported a lack of recognition as " front-line " staff, significant psychological burdens including post-traumatic stress, challenges with rapidly changing guidance undermining staff trust, and overwhelming workloads without additional resources.

Conclusions: IPC professionals showed remarkable dedication despite facing structural neglect and emotional difficulties. Findings highlight the urgent need to formalise IPC leadership roles within health * Corresponding author. School of Health University of the Sunshine Coast Sippy Downs,

Background
Healthcare-associated infections are a significant burden in the Western Pacific Region, where diverse healthcare systems face challenges from emerging infectious diseases. Standard precautions form the basis of safe healthcare, and healthcare workers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices are critical to effective infection prevention. Evidence shows significant gaps in compliance, with rates varying across countries and settings. This scoping review aimed to map the evidence base, identify gaps, and inform policy and capacity-building initiatives for low- and middle-income Pacific Community member states.
Methods
The review followed Arksey and O'Malley's framework and the PRISMA-ScR checklist. Searches were conducted in CINAHL, Web of Science, Ovid, PubMed, Scopus, Global Index Medicus, and the Cochrane Library, alongside grey literature sources with no date limiters.
Results
Of 77 studies screened, two met the inclusion criteria. These were assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool and mapped to the Theoretical Domains Framework. Relevant domains included skills and competence, beliefs about capabilities, environmental context and resources, social influences, and behavioural regulation.
Conclusion
This review highlights a critical lack of evidence on healthcare workers’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and practices regarding standard precautions in the Pacific Community. Despite limited studies, findings emphasise the importance of education, organisational support, and targeted health system investment to strengthen infection prevention and control. The Theoretical Domains Framework provided a structured lens to identify behavioural determinants and barriers, reflecting challenges reported in other low-resource settings. Building contextually appropriate evidence is essential to inform tailored policy and capacity-building, particularly with the growing threats of emerging infectious diseases.

Purpose and Rationale This project is a scoping review examining the empirical evidence on the relationship between extreme-right (ER) ideology, including Christo-fascist and Christian nationalist variants, and gender-based violence (GBV). The review addresses a significant and explicitly identified gap in the synthesised evidence base. Despite growing scholarly and policy interest in the intersection of ER ideology and GBV, no scoping review has previously attempted to map this dispersed literature, characterise its scope and methods, or synthesise its findings. The review is being conducted at a moment of considerable social and political urgency, given the documented resurgence of ER movements globally and their associations with rollbacks of women's rights, increases in politically-motivated hate crimes targeting women and gender minorities, and the mainstreaming of misogynist rhetoric in public and online discourse. Background Extreme-right political movements have experienced a substantial resurgence across Western democracies and globally since the early 2000s, with accelerated growth following the 2008 global financial crisis and intensifying through the 2010s and 2020s. These movements are broadly characterised by ultranationalism, authoritarianism, nativism, ethnic or racial hierarchies, and explicit hostility to liberal democratic norms, including gender equality and reproductive rights. A significant subset draws on Christian ideological frameworks, with Christian nationalism and its more radical variant, Christo-fascism, fusing religious fundamentalism with fascist political ideology to advance authoritarian governance and patriarchal social organisation. Gender-based violence encompasses a broad spectrum of harmful behaviours directed at individuals on the basis of their gender, including intimate partner violence, sexual violence, femicide, harassment, reproductive coercion, and the normalisation of misogynistic attitudes. It represents a significant global public health and human rights problem, with the World Health Organisation estimating that approximately one in three women globally has experienced physical or sexual violence in her lifetime. Misogyny has been reconceptualised in the literature not merely as a personal attitude but as a structural and ideological phenomenon functioning as the enforcement mechanism of patriarchal order, a framing directly relevant to understanding how ER ideology may generate, legitimise, or escalate GBV. Review Questions The review is guided by one primary and five secondary questions. The primary question asks what empirical evidence exists on the association between ER political ideology, including Christo-fascist and Christian nationalist variants, and GBV across any setting globally. Secondary questions address the forms of GBV examined in relation to ER ideology; the theoretical frameworks employed to explain the relationship; the research designs and methods used; the demographic and geographic characteristics of study populations; and the gaps in the existing evidence base. Methods The review will be conducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews and reported using the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews. The protocol is prospectively registered with the Open Science Framework. The review will proceed through six stages: preparation and protocol development; systematic searching; study selection; data extraction; data analysis and presentation; and evidence summarisation and gap identification. A comprehensive search strategy will be executed across six electronic databases: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Global Index Medicus, developed in consultation with an academic health sciences librarian and supplemented by hand-searching of reference lists and forward citation chasing. All citations will be managed in Covidence. Two independent reviewers will screen titles, abstracts, and full texts against predefined eligibility criteria, with disagreements resolved by consensus or third-party adjudication. A pilot screening phase will be conducted prior to formal screening to ensure consistent application of the criteria. Eligible studies include empirical primary research of any design: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, published in any language from 1980 to the present, that address both ER ideology and GBV without restriction on geographic or institutional setting. Methodological quality will be assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool to contextualise findings, though quality ratings will not be used to exclude studies. Data will be extracted using a structured tool that captures study characteristics, the operationalisation of ER ideology and GBV constructs, theoretical frameworks, key findings, and limitations. Analysis will proceed through descriptive mapping, thematic synthesis, and framework mapping across four dimensions: forms of ER ideology examined, forms of GBV examined, mechanisms linking ER ideology to GBV, and contextual moderating factors. Expected Outcomes The review is expected to produce the first comprehensive map of the empirical evidence base on the relationship between ER ideology and GBV globally. Anticipated outputs include a peer-reviewed publication, conference presentations, and a policy brief for government agencies, non-governmental organisations, and community stakeholders working in GBV prevention and ER radicalisation. All data extraction materials and the PRISMA-ScR flow diagram will be deposited in an open-access repository to facilitate transparency and reproducibility. The review will generate evidence directly informing policy, violence prevention programming, and future primary research, and will explicitly identify geographic, methodological, and population gaps warranting further investigation.

Objectives
To explore barriers and facilitators experienced by Australian organizational stakeholders in implementing COVID-19 vaccine rollout for health professional students.

Methods
A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with organizational stakeholders, including senior health department staff, university clinical placement coordinators, and clinical educators across Australia from November 21 to December 20, 2022, via ZOOM. An inductive and then deductive thematic analysis was conducted, guided by the Theoretical Domains Framework.

Findings
Nineteen participants were interviewed. Five key domains were generated: environmental context and resources, attention, decision-making, and goals, professional role and identity, emotion, and optimism. Barriers included top-down communication, inconsistent messaging, and limited vaccine access, leading to negative emotions. Enablers included teamwork, adaptability, and optimism.

Conclusions
The findings offer insights into operational challenges and support during the vaccine rollout. These lessons should inform strategies to overcome similar barriers in future large-scale health interventions or emergency responses.

This scoping review aims to identify and synthesise existing evidence on healthcare workers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) relating to standard precautions in low- and middle-income member states of the Pacific Community. Standard precautions are critical for preventing healthcare-associated infections and safeguarding both patients and healthcare personnel, particularly in resource-limited settings. Given the geographic diversity and healthcare challenges in the Pacific region, this review seeks to map the current state of KAP across member countries, highlight regional differences, and identify gaps in research and practice. The review will follow the Arksey and O’Malley framework, be guided by the PRISMA-ScR checklist, and include both peer-reviewed and grey literature. Findings will support future research, policy development, and targeted infection prevention strategies across the Pacific.

Cultural Safety in nursing education is a critical pedagogical and professional standard that ensures the provision of respectful, appropriate, and effective care to culturally diverse populations, particularly Indigenous and marginalised groups. First introduced in Aotearoa New Zealand by Maori nurse Irihapeti Ramsden in the 1990s, Culutral Safety moves beyond cultural awareness and sensitivity to an explicit focus on power imbalances, institutional discrimination, and practitioner reflexivity. It has since been recognised across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand as an essential educational and clinical standard.