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Introduction: Family functioning, particularly among primary family caregivers for patients with schizophrenia, is a global concern that poses unprecedented challenges. The family unit is a pivotal agent for the preservation of the integrity of individual members. Little attention has been paid to the changes in family functioning and their predictors in primary family caregivers. This study aimed to examine the changes in and the correlates of family functioning in primary family caregivers of individuals with schizophrenia over a 6‐month post‐discharge period. Design: A prospective, longitudinal study was conducted. Methods: A total of 58 primary family caregivers of patients with schizophrenia were recruited from two psychiatric hospitals in Taiwan. Data were collected four times, including 1 week before hospital discharge and at 1‐, 3‐, and 6‐month intervals post‐discharge. Demographic and clinical questionnaires, the Affiliate Stigma Scale, the Family Empowerment Scale, and the General Functioning subscale were used to collect data. Generalized Estimating Equations were applied for data analysis. Results: Approximately 59.6%–77.6% of primary family caregivers presented unhealthy family functioning during the 6‐month post‐discharge period. Significant reductions in family functioning of primary family caregivers were noted in the group with unhealthy family functioning; however, family functioning of primary family caregivers remained unchanged in the group with healthy family functioning over 6 months. Affiliate stigma and family empowerment significantly accounted for the changes in family functioning of primary family caregivers in the groups with unhealthy and healthy family functioning, respectively. Conclusion: This study highlights affiliate stigma and family empowerment as long‐term predictors of changes in family functioning for primary family caregivers and as pivotal targets of mental health care. Clinical Relevance: Family‐centered interventions with a focus on ameliorating affiliate stigma and enhancing family empowerment are recommended to improve family functioning for primary family caregivers of patients with schizophrenia at different periods after hospital discharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To develop and test a mobile application that supports the disease self‐management of adolescents with type 1 diabetes during their transition to early adulthood. Design: A sequential mixed‐methods design was employed. Methods: The application content was designed according to previously identified care needs and expectations, followed by application development on the Android operating system. From the outpatient clinic of the Department of Paediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism at a medical centre in northern Taiwan, 35 individuals aged between 16–25 years participated in application testing. Results: The overall median score of the QUIS was 4–5, most of the 25% quartile was 4–5, and all of the 75% quartile was 5, indicating adequate user interaction satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intravenous injection is the most common medical treatment and the main cause of pain in hospitalized children. If there is no appropriate health care for pain relief, the proportion of moderate and severe pain often exceeds 70%. With nonpharmaceutical-based pain management, Buzzy is recognized as an effective device for rapidly relieving injection pain in hospitalized children. However, Buzzy is not widely used in Asia and very few experimental studies in Asia have addressed the effectiveness of the Buzzy device at treating needle pain in hospitalized children., Objective: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the Buzzy device for diminishing pain levels among hospitalized children in Taiwan., Methods: We applied a quasiexperimental design with random assignment. According to the time of admission, child participants were randomly assigned to treatment and nontreatment groups. The Buzzy device was applied as an intervention in this study. The samples size was 30 per group. The study participants were recruited from the pediatric ward of a medical center in northern Taiwan. The research data were collected longitudinally at three time points: before, during, and after intravenous injection. Three instruments were used for assessment: a demographic information sheet, the Wong-Baker Face Scale (WBFS), and the Faces Legs Activity Cry Consolability (FLACC) scale. The data were analyzed by descriptive analysis, the Mann-Whitney U test, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and the χ 2 test., Results: A total of 60 hospitalized children aged 3 to 7 years participated in this study, including 30 participants in the treatment group and 30 participants in the nontreatment group. The average age of children in the treatment and nontreatment groups was 5.04 years and 4.38 years, respectively. Buzzy significantly mitigated pain in children during intravenous injection with a significant difference between the two groups in pain-related response (FLACC) and actual pain (WBFS) (Z=-3.551, P<.001 and Z=-3.880, P<.001, respectively). The children in the treatment group had a significantly more pleasant experience than those in the nontreatment group (Z=-2.387, P=.02). When Buzzy was employed, the children experienced less pain than they did during previous intravenous injections (Z=-3.643, P<.001)., Conclusions: The intervention of using the Buzzy device was effective in reducing pain levels of intravenous injection among hospitalized children. The specific focus on children in Asia makes a valuable contribution to the literature. For clinical application, the reliable pain relief measure of Buzzy can be used in other Asian children to help health care providers improve noninvasive care among children. For future applications, researchers could integrate Buzzy into therapy-related games and a technology-based app to increase the efficiency of use and provide more data collection functions., (©Yen-Hua Cho, Yi-Chien Chiang, Tsung-Lan Chu, Chi-Wen Chang, Chun-Chu Chang, Hsiu-Min Tsai. Originally published in JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting (https://pediatrics.jmir.org), 29.04.2022.)