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This paper examines the relationship between corporate integrity and accrual earnings management. We explore whether managers of firms that publicize corporate culture of integrity engage in accrual earnings management. Using hand-collected data on a sample of publicly listed firms in Taiwan and considering the endogeneity of the choice of corporate integrity, the results from two-stage Heckman (1979) estimation procedures show that firms publicizing information about integrity activities in the corporate social responsibility report or on their own webpages have a smaller magnitude of discretionary accruals. The evidence is consistent with firms that publicize the culture of integrity engaging in less aggressive earnings management using accruals. Building on prior research, this paper contributes to address the issue of earnings quality in the context of corporate integrity. All else being equal, the evidence suggests the decision usefulness of financial statements in terms of earnings quality of socially responsible firms. The evidence provides policy implication for the need to regulate corporate integrity practices in accordance with the Ethical Corporate Management Best Practice Principles in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Understanding the predictors of glycemic control in adolescents of various age groups with type 1 diabetes (T1D) is crucial for nurses to cultivate developmental-specific interventions to improve glycemic control in this age group. However, research has rarely addressed this issue, particularly in the context of Asian populations. Purpose: We explored the predictive influence of demographic characteristics, self-care behaviors, family conflict, and parental involvement on glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C) levels 6months after the baseline measurement in adolescents of various age groups with T1D in Taiwan. Methods: A prospective survey design was applied. At baseline, adolescents with T1D completed a self-care behavior scale. Parents or guardians finished scales of parental involvement and family conflict. The HbA1C levels 6 months after baseline measurement were collected from medical records. Two hundred ten adolescent--parent/guardian pairs were enrolled as participants. Multiple stepwise regressions examined the significant predictors of HbA1C levels 6 months after the baseline measurement in the three adolescent age groups: 10-12, 13-15, and 16-18 years. Results: Family conflict was a significant predictor of HbA1C level within the 10-12 years of age group 6 months after the baseline measurement. Self-care behaviors were a significant predictor of HbA1C level within the 13-15 years of age group 6 months after the baseline measurement. Being female and self-care behaviors were each significant predictors of HbA1C level in the 16-18 years of age group 6months after the baseline measurement. Conclusions/Implications for Practice: Nurses should design specific interventions to improve glycemic control in adolescents of various age groups with T1D that are tailored to their developmental needs. For adolescents with T1D aged 10-12 years, nurses should actively assess family conflict and provide necessary interventions. For adolescents with T1D aged 13-18 years, nurses should exert special efforts to improve their self-care behaviors. In addition, female adolescents aged 16-18 years should be considered an at-risk group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of information technology has changed the world and allowed the innovation of nursing-care services. In recent years, the development of nursing informatics in Taiwan has been catching up with international trends and has been regarded positively by the international medical informatics community. The integration of information technology into medical care system has created the new nursing role of "informatics nurse." Although the certiication system and job descriptions for these nurses have become increasingly comprehensive in many nations, Taiwan remains in the early development stage in these regards. Taiwan informatics nurses continue to face unclear and inadequately stated role responsibilities and job titles, undeined training requirements, and a lack of a clear qualiication / certiication system. This paper introduces the role functions and professional growth of informatics nurses and introduces the framework for a certiication system in order to give to various medical and paramedical staffs a better understanding of informatics nursing and to recognize the important role played by informatics nurses in the process of healthcare informatics development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-fidelity patient simulation teaching represents one of the most important innovations in healthcare education in the past two decades. In Taiwan, many medical centers and medical colleges now have clinical skill centers equipped with a high-fidelity patient simulator. Practicing clinical scenarios in this simulated environment can help strengthen students' professional essentials and competencies outside of classroom and clinical teaching settings. High-fidelity simulation teaching is an integrated teaching strategy that is continuing to receive greater attention. This article describes the historical development of high-fidelity patient simulation teaching, its current status, and applications in nursing education as a reference for nursing educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to explore nursing staff's attitudes and use of music for older people with dementia in long-term care facilities. Music has shown positive outcomes in managing behavioural symptoms of older people with dementia. Older people living in long-term care facilities often do not have access to trained music therapists. Nursing staff provide the majority of direct care for institutionalised older people with dementia, therefore, will be the most appropriate personnel to learn and implement music therapy for those with dementia. To date, no studies have explored nursing staff's attitudes and use of music for those with dementia. A cross-sectional research design was used. A convenience sample of 285 nursing staff caring for those with dementia in long-term care facilities in Taiwan were recruited. Participants received a self-administered questionnaire consisted of items exploring nursing staff's attitude and use of music for those with dementia. A total of 214 participants completed the questionnaires, giving a response rate of 75·1%. Most nursing staff held positive attitudes towards use of music for older people with dementia (mean = 84·89, range 23-115), but only 30·6% ( n = 66) had used music for those with dementia in practice. The majority perceived that they had limited knowledge and skills about use of music (72·9%). Over half of the participants reported that they lacked resources and time to implement music therapy in practice. Nursing staff need more formal training to use music for those with dementia. Nursing staff can be the suitable personnel to learn easily and implement music therapy as a part of routine activity programmes for those with dementia. Appropriately trained nursing staff in long-term care facilities who use music therapy may help improve the mental health of older people with dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine the relationship between selected developmental assets and health-promoting behaviours of adolescents. Developmental assets can be considered as potential health assets for adolescents. Understanding the relationship between developmental assets and health-promoting behaviours among adolescents could provide nurses with a new approach to design intervention programmes for adolescent health-promoting behaviours. A cross-sectional study design. Anonymous questionnaires were administered to 453 adolescents aged between 13-16 years. Canonical correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between selected developmental assets and health-promoting behaviours. Canonical correlation analysis indicated two significantly meaningful variate pairs between selected developmental assets and health-promoting behaviour sets. The first pair variate accounted for 51·3% of the total variance, which showed that adolescents who had better self-esteem, future aspirations, responsible choices, family communication, non-parental adult role models, peer role models and community involvement had better behaviours of life appreciation, health responsibility, social support, stress management, nutrition and exercise. The second pair variate accounted for 9·6% of the total variance, which showed that adolescents who had better responsible choices had better stress management behaviours. Developmental assets are important to adolescents' health-promoting behaviours. Interventions focusing on strengthening developmental assets can potentially provide an innovative approach for nurses to improve health-promoting behaviours of adolescents. Strengthening developmental assets can potentially improve the health-promoting behaviours of adolescents. Individual and sociopolitical domains should be incorporated into programmes for enhancement of developmental assets. School nurses can cooperate with family and community and provide environments improving adolescents' developmental assets. Nurses should actively engage in developmental asset programmes for adolescents. The tools for measuring developmental assets modified and developed in this study were valid and reliable. They can be used for further examination of the developmental assets for adolescents in various subset populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Most senior veterans who live in veterans' homes in Taiwan are single and have few intimate, interpersonal relationships. Aging is often accompanied by solitude and illness, which causes senior veterans to doubt the meaning of life and to lose confidence in the value of life. Purpose: This study investigated the personal characteristics that influence interpersonal intimacy and the meaning of life as well as the relationship between interpersonal intimacy and the meaning of life among senior veterans living in veterans' homes. Methods: A cross-sectional design was used, and 120 senior male veterans were convenience sampled from three veterans' homes in southern Taiwan. Three structured questionnaires were used in this study: personal characteristics questionnaire, interpersonal intimacy scale, and purpose in life test. Results: (a) Interpersonal intimacy was influenced by source of income or funds, type of residence institution, religious affiliation, and the quality of the participant's relationships with family, friends, and fellow residents. Educational level and self-perceived health status correlated positively with interpersonal intimacy, and period of residence correlated negatively with interpersonal intimacy. (b) Meaning of life was influenced by the quality of relationships with family and friends. Educational level and self-perceived health status correlated significantly and positively with meaning of life, and period of residence correlated negatively with meaning of life. (c) Significant, positive correlations were found among interpersonal intimacy, the four domains of interpersonal intimacy, and meaning of life. Conclusions/Implications for Practice: Health professionals involved in the care of senior veterans in institutions may use the results of this study to develop and implement interventions that promote a higher degree of interpersonal intimacy and a higher appreciation of the meaning of life, thus enabling senior veterans to confront old age in a more positive manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

S. aureus bacteremia (SAB) is a severe systemic illness, which is associated with high mortality and healthcare cost. It has been reported that older age per se is a poor prognostic factor of SAB, but little is known whether poor clinical outcomes is related to conservative attitudes of treating physicians. A retrospective cohort of 126 patients (mean age: 73.7 ± 13.6 years, 72.2% males) with community-onset SAB during 2004-2008 in a tertiary medical center in Taiwan was obtained for study. Demographic data, clinical characteristics, primary infectious focus, metastatic lesions, access to critical care units, performance of invasive procedures, Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) and in-hospital mortality for all study subjects were collected. The overall in-hospital mortality was 32.5%, which was not significantly different between adult and elderly groups. SAB of elderly patients was more likely to be primary than that of the adult patients (20.4% vs. 3.6%, p=0.043). Deep-seated abscess, osteomyelitis and metastatic lesion with central nervous system (CNS) involvement were more common infection foci in the adult patient group. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cerebrovascular accident were more common underlying conditions of the elderly group. Chances of patients admitted to intensive care unit and employment of invasive procedures were not different between groups although elderly patients were supposed to be of a greater risk of mortality. In conclusion, the overall in-hospital mortality of community-onset SAB was 32.5%, which was not different between age groups. In general, older patients were of similar chance to receive critical care and invasive procedures except arterial line and non-tunneled central venous catheters. Further prospective investigation is needed to clarify whether physicians hold different attitudes to older patients with SAB and the differences in treatment attitude resulting in poorer clinical outcomes., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)