Parental health belief model constructs associated with oral health behaviors, dental caries, and quality of life among preschool children in China: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Early childhood caries (ECC) is a prevalent health problem that negatively affects both overall health and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). This study investigated the association between health belief model (HBM) constructs and oral health behaviors, dental caries, and OHRQoL in preschool children in China.

Methods: A total of 1562 preschool children aged 3 to 6 years were recruited from six public kindergartens in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, by using stratified cluster sampling.

Dementia Training for Nurses in Acute Care Settings: Impacts and Barriers.

Background: The provision of consistent, high-quality dementia care training for healthcare professionals in acute care hospital settings has been largely overlooked until recent years.

Purpose: This study was designed to investigate the effect of current healthcare professional dementia care training courses on related knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy in hospital nurses and to understand their training-related experiences, willingness, and perceived barriers.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, 201 nurses were recruited from a teaching medical center in Taiwan.

Effectiveness of Exercise on Fatigue for Patients With Heart Failure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Exercise is the standard treatment for fatigue in heart failure (HF) patients. However, no study has investigated the effect of exercise on improving fatigue and HR-QoL in HF patients. Our study adhered to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions and followed the PRISMA statement.

[Rate of Correct Inhaler Usage and Related Factors in Elderly Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease].

Background: Poor disease control in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with suboptimal inhaler use.

Purpose: This study was designed to explore the accuracy of inhaler use and related factors in elderly patients with COPD.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used to recruit patients with COPD from a medical centre in southern Taiwan who were over 65 years old and used inhalers regularly.

Virtual reality-based simulation learning on geriatric oral health care for nursing students: a pilot study.

Background: There is a great need for training and education in the nursing curriculum to improve nurses' knowledge and skills to provide oral health care.

Methods: A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the use of a virtual reality (VR)-based Oral Health Care Learning System to train geriatric oral health care among nursing students. Fifty undergraduate nursing students were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 25) and control (n = 25) groups.

Trends and Changes in Intensive Care Use for Patients With Heart Failure in the Last Month of Life.

A good death is a human right. Unfortunately, patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) in the terminal stage still receive inappropriate life-sustaining treatment before death. There is limited understanding of the status of intensive care unit (ICU) admission, mechanical ventilation (MV), cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and even extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for patients with CHF before death, as well as their use of hospice-related services.

Efficacy of a Smartphone App in Enhancing Medication Adherence and Accuracy in Individuals With Schizophrenia During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Poor medication adherence or inaccuracy in taking prescribed medications plays an important role in the recurrence or worsening of psychiatric symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, and the COVID-19 pandemic impacted their medication adherence with exacerbated symptoms or relapse. The use of mobile health services increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their role in improving mental health is becoming clearer.

Objective: This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of a smartphone app (MedAdhere) on medication adherence and accuracy among patients with schizophrenia and to measure their psychiatric symptoms and cognitive functions.

Combining augmented and virtual reality simulation training to improve geriatric oral care performance in healthcare assistants: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Healthcare assistants (HCAs) are frontline caregivers for older adults. This study evaluated the effectiveness of combining augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to implement oral healthcare simulation training for HCAs.

Methods: An experimental design was adopted.

Supportive Care Needs Trajectories in Patients With Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy: A Longitudinal Study.

Background: The supportive care needs trajectories in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) during chemotherapy and the related factors have yet to be explored or addressed in the literature.

Purpose: This study was designed to investigate supportive care needs trajectories in patients with advanced NSCLC receiving chemotherapy and the association between the sociodemographic and disease characteristics of these patients over the four cycles of chemotherapy.

Methods: For this longitudinal study, 95 patients with advanced NSCLC were recruited using convenience sampling at a medical center in Taiwan.

Effectiveness of Virtual Reality-Based Training on Oral Healthcare for Disabled Elderly Persons: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

(1) Background: Virtual reality (VR) technology is a widely used training tool in medical education. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of VR training of oral hygiene students on providing oral healthcare to disabled elderly persons. (2) Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted.

The effects of caregiver characteristics on behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia of patients with dementia.

Objective: To determine the association between caregiver characteristics and behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) in patients with dementia (PWD) in a Taiwanese community-dwelling population.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted using the data of 190 patients with Alzheimer's disease/dementia and 190 informal matched caregivers in Taiwan. BPSD were examined using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Questionnaire (NPI-Q).

The Effect of Age, Gender, and Job on Skin Conductance Response among Smartphone Users Who are Prohibited from Using Their Smartphone.

The smartphone is a widely used and rapidly growing phenomenon worldwide, and problematic smartphone use is common in our society. This study's objective was to examine the gender difference of baseline and post-intervention skin conductance response (SCR) among smartphone users and explore the relationships among problematic smartphone use level, anxiety level, and SCR changes by evaluating SCR, the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale score, and the Chinese version of the Smartphone Addiction Inventory (SPAI) score in a one-group baseline and post-test design. Sixty participants were recruited from two communities, and data were collected from April to June 2017.

Emotional distress and quality of life during folinic acid, fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin in colorectal cancer patients with and without chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy: A cross-sectional study.

When the 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) chemotherapy regimen is used to treat colorectal cancer (CRC), chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) caused by oxaliplatin can substantially affect quality of life (QOL) in the CRC patients. This study compared emotional distress and QOL during FOLFOX in CRC patients with and without CIPN symptoms.This cross-sectional, descriptive, and comparative study recruited 68 CRC patients receiving FOLFOX at a local teaching hospital and at a medical center in southern Taiwan.

Psychometric Evaluation of the Chinese Version of the Knowledge and Beliefs About Pain in Elderly Patients With Dementia Questionnaire.

Background: The quality of pain management in hospitalized older adult patients with dementia is a crucial issue in healthcare. The knowledge and beliefs of nurses are known to predict their pain management intentions toward this particularly vulnerable patient population.

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Knowledge and Beliefs About Pain in Elderly Patients With Dementia (KBPED-C) questionnaire using a sample of hospital nurses.

Associations among knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward palliative care consultation service in healthcare staffs: A cross-sectional study.

Background: The palliative care consultation service (PCCS) of the National Health Insurance payments has been promoted in Taiwan since 2011, although few studies have been conducted on healthcare staffs' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding PCCS in Taiwan; consequently, the main objective of this study was to explore any correlations regarding the above by cross-sectional design using convenience sampling.

Methods: A total of 210 healthcare staff members were enrolled from a regional hospital from June 1, 2018, to September 30, 2018. Questionnaire items on the Palliative Care Consultation Service Inventory (KAP-PCCSI) were used to measure healthcare staff's knowledge, attitudes, and practices of PCCS.

Primary diagnoses and outcomes of emergency department visits in older people with dementia: a hospital-based retrospective study in Taiwan.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to investigate the primary diagnoses and outcomes of emergency department visits in older people with dementia and to compare these parameters with those in older adults without dementia.

Design And Setting: This hospital-based retrospective study retrieved patient records from a hospital research database, which included the outpatient and inpatient claims of two hospitals.

Participants: The patient records were retrieved from the two hospitals in an urban setting.

Current Status and Changes in Pain and Activities of Daily Living in Elderly Patients with Osteoarthritis Before and After Unilateral Total Knee Replacement Surgery.

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a very common disease in the elderly, and total knee replacement (TKR) surgery is currently considered the most effective treatment. A prospective, observational, repeated measures study was performed to explore the current status and changes in pain and activities of daily living (ADL) in 58 OA elderly patients undergoing unilateral TKR. The Wong⁻Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale (WBS) for pain and the self-reported Barthel Index for ADL were measured on the day before surgery, 48 hours after surgery, and the day before discharge.

Prevalence of pain-related diagnoses in patients with dementia: a nationwide study.

Purposes: To investigate the prevalence of pain-related diagnoses in patients with dementia and evaluate the association of pain-related diagnoses with demographic characteristics and dementia subtypes.

Patients And Methods: In this population-based retrospective cohort study, participants were recruited from a cohort of 2 million people randomly sampled from the general population in the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan from 2000 to 2013. The index year was defined as the period of 1 year from the date of the first diagnosis of dementia.

Geographic diversity in genotype frequencies and meta-analysis of the association between rs1801282 polymorphisms and gestational diabetes mellitus.

Aims: To derive a better understanding of the association between peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ) rs1801282 polymorphisms and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in general and in racial and ethnic subgroups and to illustrate geographic distribution of the protective of G allele of rs1801282 in women with and without GDM.

Methods: ProQuest, PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, and Wanfang Data were systematically searched. Case-control studies on association between rs1801282 polymorphisms and GDM were selected.

Knowledge gap regarding dementia care among nurses in Taiwanese acute care hospitals: A cross-sectional study.

Aim: The quality of dementia care in hospitals is typically substandard. Staff members are underprepared for providing care to older people with dementia. The objective of the present study was to examine dementia care knowledge, attitude and behavior regarding self-education about dementia care among nurses working in different wards.

The risk factors for gestational diabetes mellitus: A retrospective study.

Objective: To investigate the risk factors for developing GDM among Taiwanese pregnant women.

Design: A retrospective cohort and case-control study.

Setting: At a medical centre in Southern Taiwan.

Transcription Factor 7-Like 2 (TCF7L2) rs7903146 Polymorphism as a Risk Factor for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Meta-Analysis.

Background: There are racial and ethnic differences in the prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Prior meta-analyses included small samples and very limited non-Caucasian populations. Studies to determine the relationship between transcription factor 7 like-2 (TCF7L2) rs7903146 polymorphism and risk of GDM in Hispanics/Latinos are recently available.

Predictors of type 2 diabetes among Taiwanese women with prior gestational diabetes mellitus.

Aim: The aims of this study were to determine the blood glucose screening rate of Taiwanese post-partum women with gestational diabetes (GDM) and to identify the predictors of type 2 diabetes among Taiwanese women with GDM.

Methods: The medical records of 130 women with GDM, who were delivered at a hospital in southern Taiwan between 1997 and 2010, were retrospectively reviewed. The GDM diagnosis was performed according to the National Diabetes Data Group and Expert Committee Criteria.

Mental health trajectories and related factors among perinatal women.

Aims And Objectives: To investigate Taiwanese women's mental health trajectories from the third trimester of pregnancy to four weeks postpartum and the correlations of these trajectories with perceived social support and demographic characteristics.

Background: Previous studies have reported differences between prenatal and postpartum mental health status.

Design: A repeated design study was conducted in a medical hospital in Southern Taiwan.

Health empowerment among immigrant women in transnational marriages in Taiwan.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop, implement, and evaluate a theory-based intervention designed to promote increased health empowerment for marriage migrant women in Taiwan. The rapid increase of international marriage immigration through matchmaking agencies has received great attention recently because of its impact on social and public health issues in the receiving countries.

Design And Methods: A participatory action research (PAR) and in-depth interviews were adopted.