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Introduction: Identifying the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) gaps of healthy eating can inform the design of effective interventions. This study aimed to test the validity and psychometric properties of a KAP of Healthy Eating Questionnaire (KAP-HEQ) tailored to the Chinese culture., Methods: The dimensions and potential items of each KAP scale were identified from published KAP and health literacy questionnaires, which were supplemented by the findings of a previous qualitative healthy eating study. Content validity of the KAP-HEQ was evaluated by eight experts and eight Chinese parent-adolescent dyads in Hong Kong through content validity ratio (CVR), content validity index (CVI), and qualitative feedback. The feasibility, construct validity, reliability, and sensitivity of the KAP-HEQ were evaluated in this pilot study among 60 adolescent-parent dyads (120 persons) through an online survey. The first 30 dyads who completed the KAP-HEQ were invited to repeat the KAP-HEQ 2 weeks later to assess the test-retest reliability., Results: The final 44-item KAP-HEQ was completed in 10-15 min by both adolescents and their adult parents. The CVR ranged from -0.38 to 1, and the CVI ranged from 0.56 to 1. Over 80% of the items achieved convergent validity (a significantly positive correlation with its hypothesized scale) and discriminant validity (a higher correlation with its hypothesized scale than with the other two scales). Cronbach's alpha for the internal consistency of the Overall, Attitude, and Practice scales was >0.7, while that of the Knowledge scale was 0.54. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) on test-retest reliability of the Overall and individual scales were all >0.75 except that of the Knowledge scale (ICC = 0.58). The significant differences in KAP scale scores with small to large effect sizes were found between known groups as hypothesized, except the Attitude score between groups by household income, which supported the sensitivity of the KAP-HEQ., Conclusion: The KAP-HEQ has shown good validity, reliability, and sensitivity among Chinese adolescents and adults, which can be applied to evaluate KAP status and gaps to inform the design and assess the effectiveness of healthy eating interventions., Competing Interests: CW was employed by the Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health Limited (D24H). The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Liu, Chen, Sun, Tsang, Ip, Wong and Lam.)

Healthy eating is vital in preventing obesity and long-term non-communicable diseases. This study explores potential family facilitators of, barriers to and strategies for healthy eating among adolescents in Chinese families to guide the development of effective interventions in the future. Parent-adolescent dyads were purposively sampled by age, gender, fruit and vegetable intake and household income. Key family factors were identified by thematic analysis. Fourteen themes under five domains were identified: family health with (1) illness experienced in the family; parental knowledge of (2) dietary recommendations, (3) the preparation of healthy food and (4) healthy food choice; parental attitudes towards (5) the importance of healthy eating and (6) the priority of family health; socioeconomic factors of (7) time concerns and (8) cost concerns; and food parenting practices in (9) nutritional education, (10) role modeling, (11) food provision, (12) child involvement, (13) parental supervision and (14) the cultivation of food preference. Useful strategies included incorporating healthy ingredients in adolescents' favorite recipes and providing a variety of fruit and vegetables at home. There is a need to empower parents with practical nutrition knowledge, to be more authoritative in food parenting practices, to discuss healthy eating with children and to acquire practical skills related to time- and cost-saving healthy cooking.

To tackle unhealthy eating among adolescents, it is crucial to understand the dietary knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) on which adolescent eating habits are based. This qualitative study identifies the gaps in KAP by exploring what Chinese adolescents know, perceive, and practice regarding healthy eating to better inform targeted interventions for this important health problem. Parent-adolescent dyads were purposively sampled based on, for example, the dietary intake, age, and gender of the adolescent and household income, and each completed a 30 to 60 min interview. Twelve themes were synthesized: knowledge: (1) dietary recommendations, (2) health outcomes of healthy eating, (3) nutrition content in food, and (4) access to healthy meals; attitudes: (5) outcome expectation for healthy eating, (6) food preferences, and (7) self-efficacy regarding adopting healthy eating; and practices: (8) going grocery shopping for healthy food, (9) eating home-prepared meals. (10) eating out in restaurants or consuming takeaway food, (11) fruit and vegetable consumption, and (12) snacking, perceived unhealthy eating to be low risk, made unhealthy choices regarding snacking and eating out, and had insufficient fruit and vegetable intake. Programs should emphasize the positive short-term health outcomes of healthy eating and empower adolescents to acquire food preparation skills to sustain healthy eating habits.

Background: Up-to-date and accurate information about the health problems encountered by primary care doctors is essential to understanding the morbidity pattern of the community to better inform health care policy and practice. Morbidity surveys of doctors allow documentation of actual consultations, reflecting the patient's reason for seeking care as well as the doctor's diagnostic interpretation of the illness and management approach. Such surveys are particularly critical in the absence of a centralized primary care electronic medical record database., Objective: With the changing sociodemographic profile of the population and implementation of health care initiatives in the past 10 years, the aim of this study is to determine the morbidity and management patterns in Hong Kong primary care during a pandemic and compare the results with the last survey conducted in 2007-2008., Methods: This will be a prospective, practice-based survey of Hong Kong primary care doctors. Participants will be recruited by convenience and targeted sampling from both public and private sectors. Participating doctors will record the health problems and corresponding management activities for consecutive patient encounters during one designated week in each season of the year. Coding of health problems will follow the International Classification of Primary Care, Second Edition. Descriptive statistics will be used to calculate the prevalence of health problems and diseases as well as the rates of management activities (referral, investigation, prescription, preventive care). Nonlinear mixed effects models will assess the differences between the private and public sectors as well as factors associated with morbidity and management patterns in primary care., Results: The data collection will last from March 1, 2021, to August 31, 2022. As of April 2022, 176 doctor-weeks of data have been collected., Conclusions: The results will provide information about the health of the community and inform the planning and allocation of health care resources., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04736992; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04736992., International Registered Report Identifier (irrid): DERR1-10.2196/37334., (©Julie Yun Chen, David Chao, Samuel Yeung-shan Wong, Tsui Yee Emily Tse, Eric Yuk Fai Wan, Joyce Pui Yan Tsang, Maria Kwan Wa Leung, Welchie Ko, Yim-chu Li, Catherine Chen, Wan Luk, Man-Chi Dao, Michelle Wong, Wing Mun Leung, Cindy Lo Kuen Lam. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 22.06.2022.)

Aims: Our aim was to compare health-related quality of life (HRQOL) between end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and the Hong Kong general population to identify how the mode of dialysis and other factors were associated with HRQOL., Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 253 hemodialysis (HD) patients and 103 peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients recruited in 2014-2015. Their HRQOL was evaluated using Kidney Disease and Quality of Life-36 (KDQOL-36) sub-scale scores and the Short Form-6 Dimensions (SF-6D) health preference score. One-way analysis of variance was used to analyze the difference in mean KDQOL-36 and SF-6D scores among PD patients, HD patients, and an exact age- and sex-matched general population. Multiple linear regressions were conducted to evaluate factors associated with the KDQOL-36 and SF-6D scores., Results: The physical HRQOL of ESRD patients on dialysis was worse than that of the age- and sex-matched general population (38.4 vs. 49.6), but mental HRQOL was similar (50.7 vs. 52.0). After adjusting for all baseline characteristics, male subjects was associated with higher physical component summary (PCS), SF-6D, and symptom scores. A higher level of education (secondary or tertiary) was associated with higher mental component summary (MCS), SF-6D, symptom, and effects scores. Patients who were female, younger, married, and less educated and had a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and did not achieve target hemoglobin and albumin levels were associated with poorer HRQOL outcomes., Conclusions: HD was associated with a greater negative impact of ESRD on daily lives than was PD, which may be a consideration when deciding on the dialysis modality for first-line renal replacement therapy. To improve HRQOL among patients on maintenance dialysis, more attention should be paid to those with demographic risk factors, preventing CVD, and meeting clinical dialysis outcome targets such as hemoglobin and albumin levels.