Life satisfaction of Chinese grandmothers: The impact of grandparenting role changes

This article examines the impact of grandparenting role changes on life satisfaction among Chinese grandmothers in Hong Kong. Study participants included 166 grandmothers whose youngest grandchildren were older than 12 years. The grandmothers were recruited from elderly service users in different geographic areas in Hong Kong. Trained research assistants conducted face-to-face interviews using standardized scales. It was found that a reduced advisory role for grandmothers had a negative impact on their life satisfaction after controlling for their demographic characteristics, social support, and health status. Implications for policies on intergenerational program and future research in a Chinese context are discussed. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.postprin

Ageing under the one-child policy: Long-term care needs and policy choices in urban China

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Person-centered care in Chinese residential care facilities: a preliminary measure

OBJECTIVES: Person-centered care (PCC) is one of the most desirable approaches for elderly with dementia. However, it has not been initiated and systematically studied in China, on which lacking of reliable and valid measurement tools is one of the key barriers. This paper aims to validate person-centered care assessment tools (P-CAT) in a Chinese context. METHOD: The original 13-item was translated and back translated. And 11 items were added based on literature review and expert consultation. The resulting 24-item P-CAT-C was validated among a sample of formal caregivers (n = 330) in all 34 residential care facilities in urban Xi'an, a representative city in north-western China. Chinese versions of staff-based measures of individualized care for institutionalized persons with dementia (IC) and caregiver psychological elder abuse behavior (CPEAB) scale were used to test the criterion validity. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that a three-factor 15-item solution provided adequate fit indices to the data (chi(2) = 145.691, df = 81, p < 0.001, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.926, Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) = 0.905, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.050). Four new items were identified and two original items were excluded. The three factors are named as (1) individualized care (6-item); (2) organizational support (6-item); and (3) environmental accessibility (3-item). The internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach's alpha = 0.684) is satisfactory. The interscale correlation among P-CAT-C, IC, and CPEAB showed good criterion validity. CONCLUSION: P-CAT-C is a culturally adapted version of the original P-CAT, which showed satisfactory reliability and validity for evaluating PCC in Chinese residential care facilities. It also provides insight to other developing countries.postprin

Humanitarian welfare values in a changing social environment: A survey of social work undergraduate students in Beijing and Shanghai

• Summary: Internationally accepted social work values are based on ideas about rights, social justice and equitable resource distribution. Does social work education in China embody similar values? Are these values influenced by culture and the current political/economic environment? The research posed three questions. Do social work students studying in metropolitan China support humanitarian welfare values? Are values affected by demographic backgrounds? Does social work education enhance humanitarian values? A self-administered, standardized questionnaire was distributed in 26 classes of social work students studying in seven universities in Beijing and Shanghai (n = 1328).• Findings: Students do not support humanitarian welfare values strongly; and a decrease in these values was observed in senior students. Significant differences in values were found based on gender and on rural/urban origins. Female students were more likely to agree with humanitarian value statements; rural and urban students tended to agree more with values from which they had potential to benefit.• Applications: Social work knowledge and skills rather than values maybe more immediately relevant to Chinese society. However, independent professional practitioners need a solid foundation of professional values to inform practice and standardize the social work role. There needs to be an ongoing debate in China involving social work educators and practitioners about values and their relation to Chinese society, the ways in which they are influenced by non-Chinese cultures; and how to infuse these consistently into social work curricula in Chinese universities. © The Author(s) 2010.postprin

Psychosocial risk factors associated with falls among Chinese community-dwelling older adults in Hong Kong

This study examined the relationship between psychosocial factors and falls among community-dwelling older adults in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China. The study included 1573 adults aged 60 or above who lived at home and who were applying for long-term care services. These participants were part of a large cross-sectional survey carried out between 2003 and 2004 in which they completed the Hong Kong Chinese version of the Resident Assessment Instrument-Home Care (RAI-HC) assessment. Of those persons who were surveyed, 516 (32.8%, 95% CI 30.5% to 35.2%) had fallen in the previous 90 days. Bivariate analyses showed that five psychosocial factors (depressive symptoms, fear of falling, a decline in social activities, the number of hours of informal care support during weekdays and living alone) were significantly associated with falls (. P <. 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed living alone (odds ratio (OR) = 0.62; 95% CI 0.44 to 0.86) was the only psychosocial factor significantly associated with falls, after adjusting for the known significant factors related to falls. It was also found that more elders who lived with others had environmental hazards than those who lived alone (71.0% vs 29.0%, 2 = 4.80, . P = 0.028). These findings suggested that living with others may not be as safe as we assume. Interventions to increase awareness of home safety and to seek co-operation with family members in falls prevention are recommended. Fall preventive strategies should be educated to family members who are living with frail older adults. On the other hand, Chinese older adults who live alone often receive support from relatives or friends. Social support seems to be crucial to prevent them from falls and this measure is recommended to be continued in the community. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.postprin

Development and validation of Chinese Health Literacy Scale for Diabetes

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To develop and to test the psychometric properties of the Chinese Health Literacy Scale for Diabetes. BACKGROUND: Patients with diabetes encounter many challenges when making health decisions in their daily lives, as they have access to many different kinds of health information. Health literacy issues are new topics in Chinese society. Without a valid and reliable instrument in Chinese, it is difficult to measure the level of health literacy and promote the concept of health literacy in Chinese societies. DESIGN: A methodological study with a sample of 137 patients with type 2 diabetes aged 65 years or older. METHOD: Chinese Health Literacy Scale for Diabetes was developed with reference to the revised Bloom's taxonomy model. Psychometric tests (content validity, item analysis, construct validity, discriminative ability and test-retest reliability) were conducted. Correlations between Chinese Health Literacy Scale for Diabetes and four relevant measures were tested. Cronbach's alpha and alpha if item deleted were calculated to assess internal consistency. RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha for Chinese Health Literacy Scale for Diabetes and its four subscales (remembering, understanding, applying and analysing) were 0.884, 0.885, 0.667, 0.654 and 0.717, respectively. The Chinese Health Literacy Scale for Diabetes was significantly correlated with the Diabetic Knowledge Scale (r = 0.398, p < 0.001), the Diabetic Management Self-Efficacy Scale (r = 0.257, p < 0.001), the Preschool and Primary Chinese Literacy Scale (r = 0.822, p < 0.001) and the Chinese Value of Learning Scale (r = 0.303, p < 0.001). It took an average of seven minutes to complete this 34-item instrument. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study support the Chinese Health Literacy Scale for Diabetes as a reliable and valid instrument for measuring the health literacy of Chinese patients with diabetes. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: We recommend that clinicians use this tool to assess patients' health literacy before conducting any kind of health promotion.postprin

Conceptualizing and assessing spirituality among Chinese elders: towards evidence-based practice

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Factors affecting long-term care use in Hong Kong

Key Messages: 1. Psychological factors play the most significant role in contributing to long-term care choices. Older people’s positive attitude towards community care services (CCS) and strong structural solidarity of the family are two key factors. 2. Stronger family structural solidarity is associated with the use of CCS, whereas family structural solidarity tends to be confined to nuclear families rather than intergenerational families, which implies that spouse and children caregivers have different needs. Caregiver support services targeting the elderly couple’s families and children as caregivers should be differentiated and more specifically targeted. 3. In general, CCS serve frail elders with acute rehabilitation needs, who are more likely to be cared for by family members and/or domestic helpers, whereas residential care services serve frail elders with a higher level of cognitive impairment.published_or_final_versio

Spiritual Well-Being of Chinese Older Adults: Conceptualization, Measurement and Intervention

There are several unique features of this book on the spiritual well-being of Chinese older adults. First, based on qualitative methodology, a conceptual model of spiritual well-being was proposed. Besides, through a Delphi study, different dimensions of spiritual well-being were identified. Conceptually, such effort is important because there is a general lack of well-articulated models of spiritual well-being for Chinese people. Although Western models can be ́ℓℓtransplanted́ℓℓ to Chinese contexts, indigenous concepts are needed. As such, this is a pioneer conceptual contribution. Second, the author developed and validated the Spiritual Scale for Chinese Elders. In view of the lack of related measurement tools in the field, this is a pioneer attempt which is important for social work education, research and practice. Third, a Spiritual Enhancement Group for Chinese Elders was developed and its effectiveness was evaluated. In contrast to ordinary elderly programs, this program was based on solid theoretical grounds. In addition, process evaluation and outcome evaluation were conducted. The intervention program is a beautiful link between theory and practice whereas the evaluation is a good outgrowth of practice. The present project is especially valuable because evidence-based practice is at its infancy in different Chinese communities

Factors related to the psychological well-being of parents of children with leukemia in China

This study investigates factors correlated with the psychological well-being of parents of children with leukemia in China. A survey with self-administered questionnaires was employed and a total of 31 caregivers were recruited from two children's hospitals in Shanghai. The study investigates factors from three different aspects in the context of childhood cancer: children's illness-related and demographic variables, demographic variables of the parents, and the parents' coping approaches. The findings show that parents are at risk of poor psychological well-being related to perceived unsatisfactory financial status, and a lack of self-oriented coping approaches. The implications for social service provision are discussed. © 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.link_to_subscribed_fulltex