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Aims and objectives: To examine the psychological well‐being and quality of life of Hong Kong Chinese adolescents with congenital heart disease. Background: Congenital heart disease (CHD) in adolescents is associated with having negative psychological impact and impairment to quality of life. A literature review revealed that most studies on the impact of CHD on the psychological well‐being and quality of life of adolescents to date have been conducted in Western populations. Method: A cross‐sectional design was employed. Adolescents aged 12–18 with CHD attending an outpatient clinic in an acute public hospital were invited to participate. Another similar age group of healthy Chinese adolescents was also invited to participate for comparison purposes. Subjects were asked to respond to the Chinese version of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Core Scales, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for Children, Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Scale and a demographic sheet. A STROBE checklist was completed. Results: Adolescents with CHD exhibited more depressive symptoms, lower self‐esteem and poorer quality of life than their healthy counterparts. Disease severity might affect the self‐esteem, depressive symptoms and quality of life of adolescents with CHD. Disease severity, depressive symptoms, self‐esteem level and types of treatment received were associated with the quality of life of adolescents with CHD. Conclusions: Hong Kong Chinese adolescents suffering from CHD experience negative impacts on their psychological well‐being and quality of life. In this group, disease severity may affect psychological well‐being and quality of life. Specifically, quality of life of adolescents with CHD was associated with disease severity, depressive symptoms, self‐esteem level and the type of treatment received. Relevance to clinical practice: The findings contribute to clinical care guidelines and serve as a reference in developing nursing intervention to adolescents with CHD so as to uphold quality of care. Clinical trial registration: NCT03255850 (Clinical trial.gov). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: To evaluate (a) the perceived effects of the training provided to nurses under a standardised Connect, Ask, Respond and Empathise (CARE) protocol; (b) the ability to enhance the effectiveness of the ISBAR checklist; (c) any increase in nurses' spoken interactions and/or improved comprehension of the patient conditions upon the transfer of responsibility. Background: Nursing handover is a pivotal act of communication with effects on both patient safety and risk management. Previous studies of critical incidents have highlighted ineffective communication, including a lack of interaction and incomplete and unstructured handovers, as a major contributor to patient harm. Design: A pre‐ and post evaluation study involving a questionnaire survey before and after the 3‐hours training. Methods: Forty‐nine randomly selected bilingual nurses with no previous professional development experience in handover communication were trained according to the CARE protocol, and their perceptions of nursing handovers were assessed before and after training using questionnaire. The STROBE checklist is used (See File S1). Results: Training of the CARE protocol improved key areas of the handover process. All participating nurses exhibited significant improvements in their perceptions of effective handover from before to after training. Particularly, improvements were observed in the interactive frequency and quality and completeness of the presented patient information per handover. Conclusions: The nurses reported a deeper understanding of their perceptions of handover after a patient‐centred intervention, a better quality of interactions (e.g., querying and checking by incoming nurses), a greater focus when managing handovers and a more complete and comprehensive transfer of information between nurses. Relevance to clinical practice: CARE protocol‐based training yielded significant improvements in nursing handover practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives The aim of this study was to assess a community-women health ambassadors programme and report the areas that were successful and those that required improvement. The objectives were to assess the feasibility, effectiveness, implementation and sustainability of the programme. Background Health promotion for the prevention of chronic diseases has always been the top priority in the health sector. To ensure that the relevant health messages are well received in local communities, a health promotion programme must be accessible, acceptable and culturally relevant. Design We conducted and evaluated a women health ambassador programme based on the lay health advisor model for health promotion in Hong Kong during November 2014 to February 2015. Health needs and the subsequent focus of the programme were determined by underprivileged Chinese women. Methods University health educators from different disciplines trained the women ( N = 80) to be health ambassadors through mini-lectures and training workshops. The trained women raised awareness about the importance of health within their families and social networks. The programme was evaluated through attendance rates, questionnaires and quizzes, changes in knowledge and behaviour, as well as qualitative discussion. Results While the majority of participants found the programme valuable and useful, retention rates were unideal. A statistically significant improvement was found in eating habits, but no significant change was identified for other knowledge and behaviour assessments. Conclusions The programme empowered underprivileged women to reflect on the importance of health, take responsibility for their own health and actively promote health to their families and personal communities. Relevance to clinical practice Our study supports that health promotion programmes based on the lay health advisor model are effective and encourage large-scale programmes of this nature. Our results also support that future health promotion efforts should deliver brief, clear and simple content as opposed to intricate information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examines the adequacy of introducing multiple-choice test version of the Chinese Health Literacy Scale for Diabetes (CHLSD). Various phases of the study involved the preparation, modification and testing of the original open-ended (OE) questions to multiple choice (MC) version where 179 Chinese patients with diabetes were tested. The result showed the acceptable consistency of the MC version as reflected in the overall scores.

Aim. To establish the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the State Self-Esteem Scale in stroke patients. Background. Self-esteem is seen to enhance peoples' ability to cope with disease: low self-esteem may inhibit participation in rehabilitation and thus result in poor health and social outcomes. Although the Chinese version of the State Self-Esteem Scale has been used as an outcome measure for stroke rehabilitation, no study has examined its factor structure in this patient group. Design. A cross-sectional design. Methods. A convenience sample of 265 Chinese stroke patients (mean age 71·4, SD 10·3 years), with a minimum score of 18 out of a possible 30 for the Mini Mental State Exam recruited from two regional rehabilitation hospitals in Hong Kong. An exploratory factor analysis and an internal consistency analysis of the State Self-Esteem Scale were conducted. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated between the State Self-Esteem Scale and the Geriatric Depression Scale to determine convergent validity. Results. The final factor solution comprised a three-factor model with correlated constructs and accounted for 49·5% of the total variance. Significant negative correlations were found between the Geriatric Depression Scale and the State Self-Esteem Scale subscale scores ( r−0·31 to −0·55, p < 0·01), indicating that the State Self-Esteem Scale had acceptable convergent validity. The new three-factor structure had higher Cronbach's alphas when compared with the original three-factor structure. Relevance to clinical practice. The State Self-Esteem Scale appears to be a useful measure for assessing state self-esteem in stroke patients. To establish the concurrent, discriminative and construct validities, the factor structure of the SSES could be further developed and tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]