The reliability of medication and death recording in electronic health records among people with schizophrenia in Hong Kong.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the reliability of death and medication records among individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia between two widely-used electronic health record (EHR) databases in Hong Kong: the Clinical Management System (CMS) and the Clinical Data Analysis and Reporting System (CDARS).

Methods: A cohort of patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders enrolled in public psychiatric services in Hong Kong between 1998 and 2003 was identified from the CMS. The unique IDs, vital status, and clozapine prescription information of these patients were extracted from both the CMS and CDARS.

Collaborative community mental health and aged care services with peer support to prevent late-life depression: study protocol for a non-randomised controlled trial.

Background: Late-life depression is common, modifiable, yet under-treated. Service silos and human resources shortage contribute to insufficient prevention and intervention. We describe an implementation research protocol of collaborative stepped care and peer support model that integrates community mental health and aged care services to address service fragmentation, using productive ageing and recovery principles to involve older people as peer supporters to address human resource issue.

The relationship between insomnia symptoms and frailty in community-dwelling older persons: a path analysis.

Background: The relationship between sleep and frailty in older age is complex. Most previous studies focused on sleep duration, while insomnia, a common sleep problem in older adults, has not been adequately examined and the factors implicated in its association with frailty were under-explored.

Methods: A community-based sample of 345 prefrail and frail older adults were recruited and completed the measures on insomnia symptoms (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) and frailty status (FRAIL Scale).

Effectiveness of a Two-Tier Family-Oriented Intervention in Enhancing the Family Functioning and Care Capacity of the Family Caregivers of Stroke Survivors: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Stroke has profound impacts on families. Often, family members, including stroke survivors and the person who takes up the role of the primary caregiver, would encounter demands on finances, rehabilitation arrangement, and even conflicts. Hence, a family-oriented intervention is expected to enable families to rebuild internal and external resources to achieve optimal rehabilitation and community reintegration.

Cognitive changes associated with mentally active lifestyle and structured cognitive programs: a 2-year longitudinal study.

Mentally stimulating leisure activities and cognitive interventions are associated with delayed cognitive decline, although evidence has not been unequivocal, possibly due to differential contribution of the two types of activities. This study aimed to examine the respective contributions of mentally active lifestyle and structured cognitive programs on cognitive changes in older adults. This was a 2-year prospective cohort study of 1,793 healthy older adults.

Early-Stage Negative Symptom Trajectories and Relationships With 13-Year Outcomes in First-Episode Nonaffective Psychosis.

Negative symptoms are a key treatment target in early psychosis intervention. There is a paucity of research examining longitudinal course of negative symptoms across the initial years of treatment for first-episode psychosis using individual-based trajectory analysis. No study has been conducted investigating differential relationships of early-stage negative symptom trajectories with long-term distal outcomes.

Older Adults' Perceptions of Age-friendliness in Hong Kong.

Background And Objectives: There is little understanding about how rapid urban development has affected the extent to which communities are able to optimize health and participation opportunities for older adults in Hong Kong. Our objective was to examine what older residents perceive to be the shortcomings of their communities in meeting their psychosocial and physical needs as they age.

Research Design And Methods: In reference to the WHO Age-Friendly Cities Project Methodology: Vancouver Protocol, we conducted nine focus groups comprising 65 participants for an Age-Friendly City baseline assessment in two districts in Hong Kong, China.

Social support as a predictor of diet and exercise self-efficacy in patients with coronary artery disease.

Objectives: This study examined the role of social support and other factors in relation to exercise and diet self-efficacy in Chinese patients with coronary heart disease in Hong Kong.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a convenience sample identified from two cardiac rehabilitation centers. Eighty-five participants joined the study.

Validating a Cantonese short version of the Zarit Burden Interview (CZBI-Short) for dementia caregivers.

Objectives: The present study aimed to develop and validate a Cantonese short version of the Zarit Burden Interview (CZBI-Short) for Hong Kong Chinese dementia caregivers.

Methods: The 12-item Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) was translated into spoken Cantonese and back-translated by two bilingual research assistants and face validated by a panel of experts. Five hundred Chinese dementia caregivers showing signs of stress reported their burden using the translated ZBI and rated their depressive symptoms, overall health, and care recipients' physical functioning and behavioral problems.

Clinical and cognitive predictors of vocational outcome in first-episode schizophrenia: a prospective 3 year follow-up study.

Schizophrenia is associated with pronounced vocational impairment. Previous research has mostly focused on chronic patients and few studies were conducted to investigate predictors of work outcome in first-episode populations. The impact of cognitive dysfunction on employment outcome in early psychosis was under-studied.

Correlates of insight with symptomatology and executive function in patients with first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorder: a longitudinal perspective.

The present study aimed to examine the relationships of insight with symptomatology and executive function, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally in patients with first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Ninety-two medication-naïve patients were recruited and 71 completed the assessments. Insight, symptoms and executive function were assessed at baseline, 6 months and 1 year.

Prospective relationship between duration of untreated psychosis and 13-year clinical outcome: a first-episode psychosis study.

Background: The adverse effects of a long duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) have been explored in numerous short-term studies. These studies support the development of early interventions that reduce treatment delay and promote recovery. However, the enduring impact of DUP is largely unknown, partly due to the paucity of prospective long-term studies.

Clinical and social correlates of duration of untreated psychosis among adult-onset psychosis in Hong Kong Chinese: the JCEP study.

Aim: Understanding factors that contribute to treatment delay would inform early detection and intervention strategies in psychotic disorders. However, existing data were mixed and primarily conducted among early-onset young patients. We examined duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) and its clinical and sociodemographic correlates in a large cohort of adult-onset patients with psychosis.

Reliability and validity of the life functioning assessment inventory (L-FAI) for patients with psychosis.

Purpose: Functioning level is one of the major indicators of recovery in schizophrenia. It is important that the assessment of functioning is performed accurately. However, functioning evaluation is difficult due to the absence of specific anchor points in the widely used functioning assessment scales.

The relationship of early premorbid adjustment with negative symptoms and cognitive functions in first-episode schizophrenia: a prospective three-year follow-up study.

Premorbid adjustment is an important prognostic factor of schizophrenia. The relationships between sub-components of premorbid adjustment and outcomes on symptoms and cognition in first-episode schizophrenia were under-studied. In the current study, we prospectively followed up 93 patients aged 18-55 years presenting with first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorder.

Longitudinal changes in semantic categorization performance after symptomatic remission from first-episode psychosis: a 3-year follow-up study.

Semantic categorization abnormalities have been observed in schizophrenia, but studies have rarely focused on the longitudinal trajectory. In this study, we consider semantic performance and the relationship with symptomatic changes during recovery from a first-episode of schizophrenia over a period of 3 years. Thirty-seven first-episode patients with schizophrenia were compared to thirty-seven matched controls in a categorization task.

Duration of untreated psychosis: relationship with baseline characteristics and three-year outcome in first-episode psychosis.

Duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) has been considered as one of the few potentially malleable prognostic factors in psychotic illness. The literature demonstrated that prolonged DUP predicted the level of positive symptoms, but its relationships with negative symptoms and functional outcome were less clear-cut. Thus far, most first-episode studies have been conducted in western countries.

Random number generation deficit in early schizophrenia.

Random number generation with a written response mode provides a potentially appealing marker for executive processes. Impaired performance on written random number generation tasks has been reported in chronic schizophrenic patients. However, no study has investigated whether such a deficit occurs in early schizophrenia and whether its profile and severity are similar to those in patients with chronic illness.