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Background: With social transformation, rapid economic development and deepening awareness of psychological health in China, people's demand for psychological health services is becoming increasingly urgent. A key challenge for Chinese medical organizations is to train enough qualified psychological care nurses. A greater understanding of psychological care competences (PCC) can help in clinical nurse selection, training, and assessment. Objective: To develop a PCC framework for Chinese nurses and obtain a consensus on the framework among experts. Methods: A descriptive mixed methods study was designed consisting of a literature review and semi-structured interviews followed by three Delphi rounds. The experts (n = 16) involved were nurses, nursing managers and educators from nine Chinese provinces with a specific interest in psychological care. Descriptive statistics assisted in data analysis. Results: Using the Iceberg Model as a theoretical foundation, five main dimensions and associated subdomains were integrated from 39 chosen articles. The semi-structured interviews with 24 nursing managers and nurses confirmed all of the themes from the literature review while generating new themes, both of which were incorporated into the initial PCC framework. After three Delphi rounds, the experts reached consensus on the PCC framework, including five domains (knowledge, skills, professional ethics, personal traits, internal motivations) and 22 subdomains with connotations. The response rate (RR) values for the three rounds of consultation were 80.00%, 87.50% and 92.86%, the composite reliability (Cr) values were 0.89–0.90, and the Kendall coordination coefficients were 0.155-0.200 (P < 0.05). Conclusions: On the basis of the Iceberg Model, literature review and qualitative research methods along with Delphi technique were used to develop a scientific and systematic PCC framework. The research methods were feasible and the results were reliable, thereby providing a basis for adopting this framework into nursing education. A formal assessment tool should be developed to test the PCC of nurses in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Depression is the most common mental disorder in patients with advanced cancer, which may lead to poor prognosis and low survival rate. This study aims to explore the serial multiple mediating roles of social support and spiritual coping between hope and depression among patients with advanced cancer. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in China between May and August 2020. A total of 442 advanced cancer patients were investigated by the following self-reported questionnaires: Herth Hope Index (HHI), Spiritual Coping Questionnaire (SCQ, Chinese version), Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Results: Depression was negatively correlated with hope, social support, and positive spiritual coping (P < 0.01), and positively correlated with negative spiritual coping (P < 0.01). Hope explained 16.0% of the variance in depression. Bootstrap analyses of the hope--social support--positive spiritual coping--depression showed that there were direct [B = -0.220, 95%CI(− 0.354, − 0.072)] and indirect effects of hope on depression mediated solely by social support [B = -0.122, 95%CI(− 0.200, − 0.066)] and positive spiritual coping [B = -0.112, 95%CI(− 0.217,-0.025)], or by both together [B = -0.014, 95%CI(− 0.038,-0.003)]. Similarly, the hope--social support--negative spiritual coping--depression showed that there were direct [B = -0.302, 95%CI(− 0.404, − 0.190)] and indirect effects of hope on depression mediated solely by social support [B = -0.126, 95%CI(− 0.205, − 0.071)] and negative spiritual coping [B = -0.033, 95%CI(− 0.080,-0.002)], or by both together [B = -0.010, 95%CI(− 0.030,-0.001)]. Conclusions: This study proves the hypothesis that social support and spiritual coping play intermediary roles between hope and depression. Interventions established through hope, social support and spiritual coping can effectively prevent depression from occurring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Soil protection from heavy metal contamination requires scientific assessment on the linkage between site-specific pollutant discharge and environmental effects. However, this kind of linkage is usually disregarded due to the lack of assessment tools in environmental policies, e.g., some developed coastal cities in China have forced their highly polluting industries out to less developed interior areas without consideration of the impacts from pollution transfer. This paper developed a soil adsorption fraction (SAF) model to characterize the emissions-to-adsorption relationship between heavy metal emission and the adsorption by soil. Case studies were carried out for two adjacent southern cities in China, i.e., Guangzhou and Shaoguan. The results indicated that the average SAF of cadmium was 5.38×10−3 for Shaoguan and 1.28×10−3 for Guangzhou, i.e., cadmium released from Shaoguan threatened the soil environment 4.2 times of that from Guangzhou. Further analysis showed the polluting pathway and abundance of water resources were the main influencing factors on SAF. Soil contamination will be exaggerated by relocating heavy metal polluting industries from coastal areas to interior areas. The results should be useful to prompt site-specific policies on heavy metal pollution control. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives: This project aimed to identify and promote evidence-based practice in the management of cancer related fatigue (CRF) in the oncology unit of Nanfang Hospital, affiliated with the Southern Medical University in People's Republic of China., Introduction: Cancer-related fatigue is one of the most common symptoms in patients with cancer and significantly affects their functioning and quality of life. However, it is often inadequately addressed and evidence-based practices are not always followed., Methods: The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) has a validated audit and feedback tool to assist with best practice implementation audits. The JBI Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System (PACES) was used in this project. A three-phase project was undertaken: i) a pre-implementation audit of current practice against evidence-based audit criteria, ii) identification of barriers and implementation of strategies to improve practice using the JBI Getting Research into Practice (GRiP) tool and iii) a post-implementation audit., Results: The baseline audit results identified non-compliance to best practice in all areas of CRF. Strategies to improve practice involved relevant education for nurses, establishment of a CRF management routine and related documentation systems and displaying and distributing educational materials for the patients. Improved compliance was shown across all audit criteria in post-evaluation., Conclusions: The implementation of institution specific evidence-based resources demonstrated immediate improvement in CRF management and practice. Continuous effort is required to maintain changes and further improve practice. Future projects should focus on measuring the impact of changed practice on patient outcomes.