Filial Piety and Dignity in End-of-Life Caregiving: Lived experience of Chinese families facing terminal cancer and receiving LTC care services in Hong Kong

Conference Theme: Clinical, Legal and Administrative ChallengesFree Paper Presentation 2published_or_final_versio

Liberating dying persons & bereaved families from the oppression of death and loss in Chinese societies

postprintThe 20th IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion, Geneva, Switzerland, 11-15 July 2010

Art Therapy Approach to Burnout Reduction for Hospice and Palliative Care Workers

Poster Presentation: no. SPP-P8.29Conference Theme: Enhancing Health - 協作同心‧醫澤社群published_or_final_versio

The effect of T'ai Chi exercise on immunity and infections: A systematic review of controlled trials

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A good time to dance? Differential effects of dance movement therapy for breast cancer patients during and after radiotherapy

Oral abstracts - Session H: Oncological rehabilitationThis free journal suppl. entitled: Special Issue: Abstracts of the IPOS 16th World Congress of Psycho-Oncology and Psychosocial Academy, 20 – 24 October 2014, Lisbon, PortugalConference Theme: Integrating Psycho-Oncology into Mainstream Cancer Care; From Research to ActionBACKGROUND: This study explored the beneficial elements of Dance-movement therapy (DMT) and how the intervention satisfied patient needs as they underwent radiotherapy. DMT was well-received by Chinese patients and this was among the first studies to explore how the intervention could be suitable for patients still under treatment. To better understand intervention or exercise preferences and needs unique to patients receiving radiotherapy, the study also drew comparisons with patients who received DMT after they completed radiotherapy. METHOD: 159 Chinese women with breast cancer were recruited from the radiotherapy department and patient service centers across Hong Kong. Participants undergoing radiotherapy were randomized into the Radiotherapy or Post-radiotherapy control groups. The treatment group received DMT (6 sessions across 3 weeks, 90 minutes each) as they were undergoing radiotherapy, while the control group was provided with the same DMT intervention 1–2 months after completing radiotherapy. All participants responded in writing whether or not they found DMT helpful and how. Codes were identified inductively from the responses and quantified. Proportions of responses were compared between the two groups with Chi-square. RESULTS: Five main categories of benefit were identified in both groups: (1) Coping with cancer, treatment and physical symptoms, (2) Mental well-being, Attention and appreciation for self and body, (3) Total functioning, (4) Bridging back to normal and better life (e.g., More exercise motivation, commitment to being happy, balancing life rhythm), and (5) Shared positive experiences. Two of the categories, namely (1) Coping with cancer, treatment and physical symptoms, and (2) Mental well-being, attention and appreciation for self and body, were more prominently reported by the Radiotherapy group compared with the Post-radiotherapy group (Coping: p = 0.0071, Mental: p = 0.034). There were no significant differences in the other categories. CONCLUSIONS: This exploratory study reinstated the benefits of DMT as they were felt and experienced by participants with breast cancer. Meanwhile, findings added a new perspective that the time when interventions are administered throughout cancer survivorship can bring about different or even additional benefits to patients. This rendered support to arguments that the timing of intervention delivery is important. Mental health improvements were by far the most mentioned by the Radiotherapy cohort, which corroborated with findings from an earlier study on the effectiveness of DMT on stress reduction. RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS: Findings replicated a study on the effectiveness of DMT for a mixed cancer type cohort. Themes were enriched in this study. Newer sub-themes associated with physical body and self-appreciation indicates the psychological insults that treatment had on patients. Another new sub-theme of integrating exercise to their lifestyles testified to the desire of patients near the completion of treatment to reconnect back to usual lifestyles. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The pleasurable experience of DMT, as well as the psychological and physical relief appeared to have helped patients significantly in coping with their daily radiation treatment. This may have great vastly applied in clinical settings. For both the Radiotherapy and Post-radiotherapy groups, better symptoms management and psychological wellbeing can help speed up recovery and support patients in resuming their normal lives after their treatments.link_to_OA_fulltex

Impact of Taichi on independent activities of daily living of adults with Schizophrenia: preliminary results from a randomized controlled trial

Congress Theme: Ying and Yang of Mental Health in Asia - Balancing PrioritiesBACKGROUND: The maintenance of instrumental daily functioning has long been recognised as the focus of psychosocial care for people with schizophrenia,1 and evidence of the efficacy of mind-body treatment methods was well-documented.2 The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of Taichi exercise, a Chinese form of mind-body exercise, on self-care ability of adults ...postprin

Dignity amidst liminality: Healing within suffering among Chinese terminal cancer patients

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A Randomized Waitlist-Controlled Trial of an Intergenerational Arts and Heritage-Based Intervention in Singapore: Project ARTISAN

Loneliness has become a global major public health concern, with detrimental effects to the young and old. ARTISAN (Aspiration and Resilience Through Intergenerational Storytelling and Art-based Narratives) is a 5-week, 15-h participatory art and group-based intervention that focuses on resilience building and loneliness alleviation among the young and old through a structured multimodal framework held at a museum space. Developed with a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach, this intervention is evaluated using an open-label waitlist randomized controlled trial design (RCT) comprised of community-dwelling youth and older adults randomized into an intervention group (n = 35) or a waitlist-control group (n = 33). Participants were assessed on standardized self-reported psychometric measures including loneliness, resilience, quality of life, social support, life satisfaction and national identity at three time points. Qualitative data generated during each intervention session as well as acceptability focus groups were recorded and transcribed. Linear mixed modeling analyses revealed that participants in the intervention group experienced improvements in life satisfaction compared to participants in the waitlist-control group (95% CI: 0.22 to 0.77, p &amp;lt; 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.53) immediately after the completion of ARTISAN. Subgroup analyses for youth participants indicated improvements in quality of life (95% CI: 0.16 to 0.52, p &amp;lt; 0.001, d = 1.31) and national identity (95% CI: 0.18 to 0.80, p = 0.002, d = 0.43) in comparison to the waitlist-control group. At 5-weeks follow-up, the intervention group participants continued to experience high levels of life satisfaction (95% CI: 0.04 to 0.42, p = 0.017, d = 0.47), enhancements in resilience (95% CI: 0.07 to 0.55, p = 0.011, d = 0.46), as well as a significant reduction in loneliness (95% CI: −0.34 to −0.08, p = 0.001, d = 0.61) compared to baseline, reflecting the effectiveness and positive residual effects of the ARTISAN intervention. Similarly, the qualitative findings provided support for the intervention and additional insights to the quantitative findings. This holistic intervention framework that integrates stories, arts and heritage for bridging and empowering lives fills a critical gap in knowledge and practice between the arts, health and citizenship, paving the way for further research in creating a more caring and inclusive society with the arts.Clinical Trials Registration:www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT03048708.</jats:p

Gender difference in schizophrenic symptomatology and subjective stress of Chinese adults with schizophrenia in a long-stay residential setting

Congress Theme: Ying and Yang of Mental Health in Asia - Balancing PrioritiesOral Presentation 3.3 – Severe Mental Illness (III)OBJECTIVES: Males showed a higher risk of schizophrenia.1 This study aimed to explore the manifestation of schizophrenia between genders, focusing on schizophrenic symptomatology and perceived stress in Chinese adults with schizophrenia at long-term care residential setting. Results of the present study yield implications for effective health care strategies for this ...postprin

Retrospective cohort analysis of real-life decisions about end-of-life care preferences in a Southeast Asian country

Objective To describe the end-of-life care preferences of individuals, and to examine the influence of age and gender on these preferences.Design, setting and participants A retrospective cohort study was conducted. Participants included all adults (>=21 years old) (n=3380) who had completed a statement of their preferences as part of a national Advance Care Planning (ACP) programme in Singapore. Data were extracted from the national and Tan Tock Seng Hospital ACP database.Main measures End-of-life care preferences were obtained from the ACP document and differentiated by health status (healthy, chronically ill or diagnosed with advanced illnesses). To analyse the data, descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used.Results Across healthy and chronically ill patients, the majority did not opt for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or other life-sustaining measures. Among individuals with advanced illnesses, 94% preferred not to attempt CPR but 69% still preferred to receive some form of active medical treatment. Approximately 40% chose to be cared for, and to die at home. Age and sex significantly predict preferences in those with advanced illnesses. Older age (&gt;=75 years) showed higher odds for home as preferred place of care (OR 1.52; 95% CI 1.23 to 1.89) and place of death (OR 1.29; 95% CI 1.03 to 1.61) and lower odds for CPR (OR 0.31; 95% CI 0.18 to 0.54) and full treatment (OR 0.32; 95% CI 0.17 to 0.62). Being female was associated with lower odds for home as preferred place of care (OR 0.69; 95% CI 0.57 to 0.84) and place of death (OR 0.70; 95% CI 0.57 to 0.85) and higher odds for full treatment (OR 2.35; 95% CI 1.18 to 4.68).Conclusion The majority preferred to not proceed with life-sustaining treatments, but there was still a strong preference to receive some form of limited treatment. Better understanding of end-of-life care preferences through ACP can better guide end-of-life care programme planning, and resource allocation decisions