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Background: Postpartum depression is a common health problem for women following childbirth. Using effective social support to reduce postpartum depression has become an important issue. The current popularity of smartphones offers new possibilities for interventional methods., Purpose: To investigate the effects of mobile-application-based social support programs on perceived stress and postpartum depression in postpartum women., Methods: The present study employs an experimental research design. 126 smartphone users at 36 weeks' gestation were assigned randomly to the intervention (n = 61) or the control (n = 65) group. The intervention group received a social-support intervention via the mobile application Line twice per week for a period of 4 weeks after childbirth. The control group did not receive the intervention. The Perceived Stress Scale-Chinese version and Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale were used to evaluate the outcome., Results: Participants in the intervention group had significantly lower perceived stress (F = 27.25, p < .001) and postpartum depression (F = 35.73, p < .001) than their control group peers., Conclusions: Social-support programs that are delivered via mobile applications such as Line may significantly reduce the perceived stress and postpartum depression of women during the early postpartum period. The results support the implementation of mobile-application-based social support programs in postpartum care.

Background: The fatigue and symptom distress of cancer patients have been researched extensively. However, few studies have focused on the fatigue and symptom distress experienced by hepatic cancer patients following tran-scatheter arterial embolization (TAE) treatment., Purpose: This study explores the levels of symptom distress and fatigue in hepatic cancer patients and related factors., Methods: This cross-sectional study used purposive sampling to recruit 100 hepatic cancer patients who had received TAE treatment from a medical center in southern Taiwan. Structured questionnaires were used to collect the data from the first, second, and third days following the TAE treatment., Results: Notable reductions in fatigue and symptom distress levels were observed in post-TAE-treatment patients. The 5 main symptoms were abdominal pain, fatigue, sleeplessness, fever, and abdominal distention. Factors identified as influencing the level of fatigue were marital status, family members' accompaniment during the TAE treatment, physical performance status, age, and symptom distress., Conclusions / Implications for Practice: Physicians treating hepatic cancer patients should better explain to patients the symptoms and fatigue associated with TAE treatment. Physicians should also provide interventions that may reduce the related symptoms, fatigue levels, and mental distress.

Nursing education in Taiwan is currently facing an extensive reform toward student-centeredness. However, few articles were found in the Taiwanese nursing literature focusing on student-centered teaching and nurse educators in Taiwan may have different interpretations of it. Misinterpretation of the term 'student-centeredness' may lead educational reform into inconsistency or ineffectiveness. This study aims to expand student-centered teaching's application to nursing education, stressing that not only the teaching techniques but also a consistent thinking approach is essential for educational reform. The content of this article addresses the meaning of student-centeredness and the differences between teacher-centeredness and student-centeredness. The article also advocates Weimers' five key changes toward student-centered teaching: the balance of power, the function of content, the role of the teacher, the responsibility for learning, and the purpose and process of evaluation, and further expounds their application to nursing education. Hopefully this article can provide Taiwanese nursing educators and students with an explicit view of student-centeredness and facilitate a more effective application of it to educational reform in nursing.