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The following reports are currently under development. If you would like to provide comments about a particular topic, serve as a peer reviewer for the draft report, or know the timeline for completion, please contact the ESP Coordinating Center.
To review the most up-to-date protocols, please visit the PROSPERO or OSF websites. Protocol registration details for individual projects can be found along with the brief abstract for the project, below.
PROSPERO registration number: CRD420251101842
KQ1: Among adults with metastatic tumors in the lungs, what is the safety of percutaneous ablation compared to stereotactic body radiation therapy?
KQ2: Among adults with metastatic tumors in the lungs, what is the effectiveness of percutaneous ablation compared to stereotactic body radiation therapy?
PROSPERO registration number: CRD420251145073
KQ1: Among adults who have undergone radiation therapy for head and neck cancer, what interventions are effective for management of chronic xerostomia?
KQ2: Among adults who have undergone radiation therapy for head and neck cancer, what interventions have been used for management of chronic xerostomia?
The scope of this report is an update of Evidence Map of Yoga for High-Impact Conditions Affecting Veterans from 2014 and will include the following: an evidence map that provides a visual overview of the distribution of evidence (both what is known and where there is little or no evidence base) for yoga for certain high-impact conditions affecting Veterans, and an accompanying narrative that helps stakeholders interpret the state of the evidence to inform policy and clinical decision-making. This update will include more conditions of interest to VA stakeholders.
Participants/population: Adults
Intervention(s)/exposure(s): Yoga-based interventions commonly used in health care research including breathing practices, movement practices, and/or meditative components.
Comparator(s): Comparators include sham, placebo, usual care, other active therapies.
Context: Any health care setting
Outcome(s): Health outcomes and adverse events
PROSPERO registration number: CRD420251180370
KQ1: What are the benefits and harms of interventions for co-occurring opioid use disorder (OUD) or prescription opioid dependence syndrome (PODS) and chronic pain?
KQ2: What are the reported health systems outcomes of interventions for co-occurring OUD or PODS and chronic pain?
KQ1: What is the effectiveness of nutritional counseling/education* interventions for non-dialysis dependent CKD when delivered by a dietitian?
KQ1a: What is the comparative effectiveness of nutritional counseling/education* interventions for non-dialysis dependent CKD delivered by a dietitian compared to other professionals?
*Dietitians providing some sort of education, training, nutritional counseling, medical nutrition therapy, nutritional classes, precision nutrition, or similar interventions, to patient (individual or group).
Participants/population: Adults with CKD, G2 - G5ND (prior to dialysis initiation or transplantation).
Intervention(s)/exposure(s): Nutrition interventions for management of CKD with tailored counseling/education* delivered by a dietitian.
Comparator(s):
KQ1: Interventions without dietitian involvement, different modes of nutritional counseling, different timing of involvement, standard care, or no intervention.
Examples may include:
KQ1a: Interventions delivered by other healthcare professionals with the same nutrition intervention as the exposure.
Outcome(s):
CKD disease progression
KQ1: What is the quantity, distribution, and characteristics of the evidence on the impacts of opioid overdose prevention education among adults at elevated risk for opioid overdose?
Participants/population: Adults at elevated risk of opioid overdose, their family caregivers, and/or clinicians of adult patients. Elevated risk of opioid overdose is defined as individuals with:
Intervention(s)/exposure(s): Educational interventions focused on knowledge, attitudes and/or practices/behaviors related to opioid overdose prevention.
Comparator(s): Usual care/standard of care, waitlist control, historical controls
Context:
Outcome(s): Changes in overdose prevention, recognition or response across these 3 domains:
Key Questions
KQ1: Among current and former members of the military service, what is the association between military-related exposures (ie, deployment, combat injury, and environmental substances) and the development of key neurologic diseases?
Participants/population: Current or former active-duty military personnel, Prisoner of War, National Guard reservists or otherwise described as military veterans
Intervention(s)/exposure(s):
Comparator(s): No history of eligible exposure
Context: Exposure may have occurred within the United States or abroad
Outcome(s): Multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease (including Parkinsonian conditions such as progressive supranuclear palsy, multiple systems atrophy, corticobasal degeneration) functional neurological disorders (eg, psychosomatic, conversion disorder, functional tremors), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, primary lateral sclerosis, epilepsy, diagnosed headache disorder (eg, any headache, migraine, post whiplash, posttraumatic, and cluster), primary brain cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia, Lewy Body dementia
KQ1: What are the benefits and harms of clinical hypnosis to treat adults with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, or substance use disorders?
KQ2: What are the benefits and harms of clinical hypnosis to treat adults with chronic pain?
Participants/population: Adults 18+
Intervention(s)/exposure(s): Clinical hypnosis (also “hypnotherapy”), alone or as adjunct to other therapies
Comparator(s): Any
Context: Any setting
Outcome(s):
KQ1: Symptom severity, treatment response or recovery, quality of life, social functioning, adverse events
KQ2: Pain severity, pain-related interference or functioning, change in pain medication use, treatment response or recovery, quality of life, social functioning, adverse events
The overarching aim is to develop and refine a causal logic model explaining how and why RN transition-to-practice programs work, for whom, and in what health system contexts, as well as how their components and functions influence organizational-, nurse-, and patient-level outcomes. Within the model, we will be specifically addressing 2 key questions:
KQ1: Are RNTTPs for entry-to-practice registered nurses (RNs) effective for improving patient-level outcomes (eg, clinical outcomes measured at the patient level, patient satisfaction)?
KQ2: What is the return on investment (ROI) for RNTTPs for entry-to-practice RNs?
Participants/population: Entry-to-practice RNs in the first 12 months of employment following graduation and/or licensure for entry to practice
Intervention(s)/exposure(s): Transition to practice or nurse residency programs specifically designed for entry-to-practice RNs to provide support or preceptorship during the first 12 months of employment following graduation and/or licensure for entry to practice
Comparator(s): Any comparator (eg, usual care, active comparator, historical controls)
Context: Any health care setting; programs implemented in countries listed on the 2022 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development to approximate US health care delivery context.
Outcome(s):
Aim: Develop logic model
KQ1:
KQ2:
KQ1: What are the benefits and harms of the therapeutic use of psilocybin as a primary or adjunct treatment for depressive disorders?
KQ2: Do the benefits or harms of psilocybin for depression vary based on patient, intervention, or setting characteristics?
KQ3: What evidence is available to inform implementation of psilocybin treatment?
Participants/population: Adults diagnosed with a depressive disorder (eg, Major Depressive Disorder or Bipolar Disorder). Studies of patients with depression secondary to other health conditions (eg, terminal cancer, end-stage renal disease) will be ineligible.
Intervention(s)/exposure(s): Psilocybin used as a primary treatment or as an adjunct to psychotherapy or another treatment
Comparator(s): Any (eg, placebo, other treatments)
Outcome(s):
KQ1 & 2: Clinical outcomes (eg, depression severity), functioning/quality of life, health care utilization, retention in treatment, patient satisfaction
KQ3: Implementation outcomes (barriers, facilitators, effectiveness of implementation strategies, etc)
