Search

The purpose of the study was to examine whether disability acceptance, hope, and resilience mediate the relationship between functional disability and life satisfaction in people with a lived experience of an infectious viral disease (i.e., polio and postpolio syndrome [PPS]). Participants consisted of 157 individuals diagnosed with polio or PPS who were recruited from two community support organizations in Taiwan. Participants completed self-report questionnaires. Data were analyzed with a simultaneous regression analysis. The tri-mediation model indicated that disability acceptance, hope, and resilience were associated with life satisfaction, accounting for a large effect size of 46% of the variance in the life satisfaction scores. The direct effect of functional disability on life satisfaction became insignificant when the mediators were controlled for in the model. Hope, disability acceptance, and resilience were found to fully explain the association between functional disability and life satisfaction. This study demonstrated that positive psychosocial factors might help to buffer the indirect and direct negative effects of functional disability on life satisfaction. Implications of these findings for future research and clinical practice when supporting individuals with a lived experience of an infectious viral disease, including COVID-19, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study applied the social-ecological framework to explore factors associated with adolescents' experiences in bullying victimization in Taiwanese middle schools. Data include a random sample of 1,262 students, ages 13–15, from 43 middle schools in Taiwan's New Taipei City. Hierarchical generalized linear modeling was utilized to analyze the data, which included hierarchical and nested structures, such as individual and area level variables. Descriptive statistics and basic inferential analysis were conducted to test the hypotheses that individual (delinquency), family (parental monitoring), school (teacher support and teacher/staff punishment), community (community environment), and area levels (poverty rate) were associated with bullying victimization. Findings reveal that individual (Grade 7, conduct problems), school (teacher/staff punishment), community environment, and criminal activities had significant effects on bullying victimization in Taiwan. Implications for practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with a chronic psychiatric disorder (CPD) have low employment rates worldwide. This multicenter retrospective cohort study examined the employment outcomes of an innovative in-house vocational training program for people with CPD in Taiwan and explored which program parameters significantly predicted outcomes. Data were retrieved from the records of 323 participants who completed the training program. Satisfactory employment rates were found at 1 (52.9%), 3 (60.4%), and 6 (65.6%) mo posttraining, and 38.7% of participants demonstrated high employment sustainability (employed throughout the first 6 mo posttraining). Three program parameters significantly predicted employment outcomes: (1) occupational therapists' pursuit of additional training or short-term apprenticeship pertinent to clients' job interests, (2) posttraining vocational counseling provided by community-based occupational therapists, and (3) the duration of 6 mo posttraining to allow clients to prepare for competitive employment. Occupational therapist--led in-house vocational training is a promising alternative to traditional vocational training for people with CPD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses the risk of fractures among children with Tourette syndrome (TS), and identifies the effects of comorbidities and antipsychotics. We randomly sampled the claims data of 1 million enrollees in the National Health Insurance program of Taiwan, and identified 1258 children with TS diagnosed between 2000 and 2010. Additionally, 12,580 children without TS who were frequency matched for sex, age, residential area, parental occupation, and index year were identified for comparison. The children's cases were followed until December 31, 2010, or censored to ascertain incident fractures cases and associations with comorbidities of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and treatments with antipsychotics, antidepressants, or clonidine. The TS cohort had a 1.27-fold higher incidence of fractures than did the comparison cohort (190.37 vs. 149.94 per 10,000 person-years), with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 1.28 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06-1.55] based on multivariable Cox regression analysis. This increased risk of fractures was apparent for fractures of the skull, neck, and spine. Comorbid ADHD and OCD did not result in an additional risk of fractures. The children without both ADHD and OCD were also at a higher risk of fractures, indicating that TS alone increases the risk of fractures. The children taking antipsychotics had a reduced risk of fractures, and the adjusted HR decreased to 1.17 (95% CI 0.90-1.52). Children with TS have an increased risk of fractures. ADHD and OCD do not increase the risk further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rehabilitation counselor skills, knowledge, and training are significant predictors of quality of employment outcome. In the past decade, vocational rehabilitation (VR) and placement-related work settings in Taiwan have gone through a tremendous amount of change to reflect changing policies, types of disabilities, and global factors. VR professionals’ competencies also need to be addressed to keep pace with this transformation. The purpose of this study was to validate the Taiwanese version of the Systems Approach to Placement: Self-Assessment for Students and Counselors (SAP-SASC), designed to identify critical areas of knowledge, skills, and competencies possessed by practicing VR professionals. A total of 116 participants completed the instrument. The participants represent (a) rehabilitation counseling master’s students from National Changhua University of Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University, and National Taiwan Normal University and (b) job coaches, VR case managers, and other VR professionals from the Council of Labor Affairs in Taichung, Changhua, Nantou, and Taipei counties. Multi-trait scaling analysis revealed eight components of VR professionals’ competence (client, health, education, family, social, employer, placement, and funding). The respondents expressed the highest level of competence in providing job seeking and social skills training, addressing job modification needs, performing job analysis, and referring clients of community-based support services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kidney Disease Quality of Life–36 Questionnaire (KDQOL-36™), modified by RAND, has been widely used for measurement of quality of life among hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis patients. The purpose of this study was to refine and evaluate, by using confirmatory factor analysis, the structure of the KDQOL-36™ when the questionnaire was used to evaluate chronic kidney disease patients in Stages 1 to 5 in Taiwan. The psychometric properties of the translated version were determined among Mandarin-speaking adults (N = 428). Because the sample data did not fit the hypothetical model, one item was deleted and nine error terms were estimated. After improving the model fit, the modified model was presented as follows: χ2 = 1390.903, χ2/df = 2.711, p < .001, goodness-of-fit index = .833, adjusted goodness-of-fit index = .806, root mean square error of approximation = .063. According to the study results, the researchers suggest that because of content overlap, some items may be deducted from the KDQOL-36™. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]