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Background: Second-hand smoke is a severe health hazard for children. Clinical guidelines suggest that nurses advise smoking parents to quit when they accompany their sick children to paediatric settings, but the guidelines did not mention what nurses can do if the parents are not with the children. This study examines the effectiveness of a low-intensity, nurse-led health instructional initiative for non-smoking mothers, to motivate them to take action to help their husbands stop smoking., Methods: This was a randomised controlled trial and 1,483 non-smoking women, who were living with husbands who do smoke, were recruited when they accompanied with their sick children on hospital admission in general paediatic wards/outpatient departments of four hospitals in Hong Kong. The women were randomly allocated into intervention and control groups. The former received brief health education counselling from nurses, a purpose-designed health education booklet, a "no smoking" sticker, and a telephone reminder one week later; the control group received usual care. The primary outcome was the women"s action to help their smoking husbands stop smoking at 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-ups., Results: A higher proportion of women in the intervention than the control group had taken action to help their husbands stop smoking at the 3-month (76% vs. 65%, P < .001), 6-month (66% vs. 49%, P < .001) and 12-month (52% vs. 40%, P < .001) follow-ups. Women who had received the intervention, had better knowledge of the health hazards of smoking, higher intention to take action, perceived their husbands' willingness to stop/reduce smoking, had previously advised their husbands to give up smoking, were aware of their husbands' history of smoking and, were aware that their husbands had made an earlier quit attempt and intended to help them stop smoking at the follow-ups., Conclusions: A brief health education intervention by nurses in paediatric settings can be effective in motivating the mothers of sick children to take action to help their husbands quit smoking. We recommend adding the following to the clinical practice guidelines on treating tobacco use and dependence: 'Nurses should offer every non-smoking mother of a sick child brief advice to encourage their husbands to stop smoking'., Trial Registration: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN72290421.

Purpose: Assess the effectiveness of a two-step health education program by nurses delivered through nonsmoking mothers to help fathers of sick children quit smoking., Design: Randomized, controlled trial., Setting: General pediatric wards of four major hospitals in Hong Kong., Subjects: Nonsmoking mothers who had a live-in smoking spouse were recruited when they brought sick children to the hospital. A total of 752 mothers were randomized into the intervention arm and 731 into the control arm., Intervention: The intervention group received standardized health advice, behavior modification booklets, and a 1-week telephone reminder. The control group received usual care., Measurements: The main outcome measure was the quit rate (7-day point prevalence) of smoking fathers as determined by telephone follow-up with mothers at 3 and 12 months. Quit attempts and smoking reduction were secondary outcome measures., Results: At 3 months, more fathers in the intervention group had quit smoking (7.4% vs. 4.8%; p = .03), reduced daily cigarette consumption by 50% or more (30.6% vs. 22.6%; p < .001), and reported quit attempts (6.5% vs. 3.6%; p = .01). The differences were not statistically significant by 12 months., Conclusion: A simple health education intervention provided by nurses to mothers of sick children has a short-term effect in helping smoking fathers quit, reduce consumption, and trigger quit attempts. Future studies should confirm the longer-term sustainability of the effect.

Background: The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong posed many challenges for health promotion activities among a group of older adults with low socio-economic status (SES). With concerns that this vulnerable group could be at higher risk of contracting the disease or spreading it to others, the implementation of health promotion activities appropriate to this group was considered to be essential during the epidemic., Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of delivering a telephone health education programme dealing with anxiety levels, and knowledge and practice of measures to prevent transmission of SARS among a group of older adults with low SES., Design: Pretest/posttest design., Settings: Subjects were recruited from registered members of a government subsidized social service center in Hong Kong and living in low-cost housing estates., Participants: The eligibility criteria were: (1) aged 55 or above; (2) able to speak Cantonese; (3) no hearing impairment, and (4) reachable by telephone. Of the 295 eligible subjects, 122 older adults completed the whole study., Methods: The interviewers approached all eligible subjects by telephone during the period of 15-25 May 2003. After obtaining the participants' verbal consent, the interviewer collected baseline data by use of a questionnaire and implemented a health education programme. A follow-up telephone call was made a week later using the same questionnaire., Results: The level of anxiety was lowered (t=3.28, p<0.001), and knowledge regarding the transmission routes of droplets (p<0.001) and urine and feces (p<0.01) were improved after the intervention. Although statistical significant difference was found in the practice of identified preventive measures before and after intervention, influence on behavioral changes needed further exploration., Conclusion: The telephone health education seemed to be effective in relieving anxiety and improving knowledge of the main transmission routes of SARS in this group, but not the practice of preventing SARS. Telephone contact appears to be a practical way of providing health education to vulnerable groups when face-to-face measure is not feasible and may be useful in raising health awareness during future outbreaks of emerging infections.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a community-based health education program via a mobile van to promote the awareness of breast cancer and breast self-examination (BSE) practice among women in Hong Kong., Design: One group pretest/posttest design. SAMPLE AND MEASUREMENTS: Seven hundred and seventy-seven women in Hong Kong completed a self-administered questionnaire before and after a breast health education program from May 2002 to March 2003., Results: About half were aware of breast health and breast diseases (53.7%) and breast screening methods (48.6%) before the intervention. It was found that women who had received instruction on BSE practice, and those who were aware of breast screening methods, breast health, and breast diseases were more likely to have had prior BSE practice. Most indicated their willingness to practice BSE regularly (93.3%) and to pass on the BSE knowledge to their relatives and friends (92%) in the posttest., Conclusions: The outreach health education program has successfully reached women living in the 18 districts in Hong Kong. It appears to be useful in raising the awareness of breast health and BSE practice among the women, but longer term follow-up is required to ascertain its sustainability.