Effects of practice variability on learning of relaxed phonation in vocally hyperfunctional speakers

The present study investigated the effects of practice variability on the learning of relaxed phonation using a motor learning perspective. Twenty-one individuals with hyperfunctional voice problems were evenly and randomly assigned to three groups of practice conditions: constant, blocked, and random practice conditions. During training, participants in the constant practice condition were asked to read aloud sentence stimuli with four Chinese characters. Participants in the blocked practice condition were asked to read aloud sentence stimuli with increasing sentence length, starting from sets of two characters to five characters. Participants in the random practice condition were asked to practice reading sentence stimuli of variable length from two to five characters presented in a random fashion. Surface electromyographic feedback (sEMG) from the thyrohyoid muscle site was given to each participant after reading every two sentence stimuli. Results demonstrated that for all the participants, voice motor learning was evidenced by the decreased sEMG levels in delayed retention test. Generalization to untrained passage was shown as well. However, results did not reveal any difference in the learning among the three practice conditions. The findings from the present study did not support the hypothesis of contextual interference, which states that practice using variable items presented in a random mode is more beneficial to learning than practice using constant items. © 2011 The Voice Foundation.postprin

Psychometric properties of the Big Five Inventory in a Chinese sample of smokers receiving cessation treatment: A validation study

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Predicting the outcome of conservative (non-surgical) voice therapy for adults with laryngeal pathologies associated with hyperfunctional voice use

Health Services Research Fund & Health Care and Promotion Fund: Research Dissemination Reports (Series 8)published_or_final_versio

Effect of therapeutic play on pre- and post-operative anxiety and emotional responses in Hong Kong Chinese children: a randomised controlled trial

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Neuronavigated high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for chronic post-stroke dysphagia: A randomized controlled study

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Evolving towards professionalism in emergency nursing in Hong Kong

This paper aims to share with the readers about the experience of emergency nursing development and related roles in Hong Kong. The roles of emergency nurses are evolving and triggered by three major historical milestones. The three milestones consist of: (1) Transition of nursing education from hospital training to nursing degree program at universities in 1990; (2) The re-evolution after the establishment of Hospital Authority in 1993; (3) Hong Kong's return to China in 1997. These milestones have contributed immensely to the development of quality nursing education, nursing professionalism with emphasis on specialty knowledge and skill training in Accident and Emergency departments (AED) in Hong Kong. Since 1991, the emergency nursing role has been expanded and extended. Wound management remains one of the major extending roles for emergency nurses, who confine themselves to manage simple wounds. Nurse initiated tetanus immunization, intravenous access; investigations such as electrocardiogram, blood glucose, and urinalysis are well implemented in all AEDs under the governance of guidelines and protocols. Initial triage analgesic for the minor musculoskeletal injury and fever are also part of the triage care in some AEDs in Hong Kong now. To meet the demand and challenge, innovative role development such as lecturer practitioners and emergency nurse practitioners have been piloted and implemented recently. Besides the normal duty, emergency nurses also participate in the work outside the hospitals such as involvement in emergency medical teams to assist in various rescue missions or volunteer for Flight Nursing (Government Flying Services). However, the nursing shortage is another common problem faced by the Hong Kong health care body. With the help of advanced technology, better pre-graduate and specialty-training programs, Hong Kong health care strives to achieve the highest standards of quality care. Emergency nursing role development in Hong Kong is evolving and starts to chart its way to meet the demand. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

The pain experience and beliefs of Chinese patients who have sustained a traumatic limb fracture

Purpose: To describe the pain experience and the pain belief of a group of Chinese patients with traumatic fracture of limb and surgery. Design: A qualitative descriptive design with in-depth interview was employed. A purposive sample of 26 Chinese patients was recruited who were diagnosed with a fractured limb and had undergone surgery in a trauma unit in a regional hospital in Hong Kong, China. Findings: Content analysis resulted in seven themes describing informants' pain experience and belief, which included intense pain, lack of control over pain, pain as a negative signal, worry about 'shan', limited knowledge of pain management, eagerness to be a good patient, and the need to learn to cope with pain. Informants experienced intense pain over which they had no control. They believed that pain is inevitable when one has a fracture, therefore one should bear the pain. They avoided analgesia as they considered it had serious side effects. These beliefs shaped their pain coping behaviour. Conclusion: The understanding of Chinese patients' pain experience will help nurses to plan culturally sensitive education programmes that may enhance patients' knowledge of pain medication and clarify their pain beliefs which might lead to more effective pain management. Alternative interventions on pain management could thus be provided. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

The pain experience and beliefs of Chinese patients who have sustained a traumatic limb fracture

Purpose: To describe the pain experience and the pain belief of a group of Chinese patients with traumatic fracture of limb and surgery. Design: A qualitative descriptive design with in-depth interview was employed. A purposive sample of 26 Chinese patients was recruited who were diagnosed with a fractured limb and had undergone surgery in a trauma unit in a regional hospital in Hong Kong, China. Findings: Content analysis resulted in seven themes describing informants' pain experience and belief, which included intense pain, lack of control over pain, pain as a negative signal, worry about 'shan', limited knowledge of pain management, eagerness to be a good patient, and the need to learn to cope with pain. Informants experienced intense pain over which they had no control. They believed that pain is inevitable when one has a fracture, therefore one should bear the pain. They avoided analgesia as they considered it had serious side effects. These beliefs shaped their pain coping behaviour. Conclusion: The understanding of Chinese patients' pain experience will help nurses to plan culturally sensitive education programmes that may enhance patients' knowledge of pain medication and clarify their pain beliefs which might lead to more effective pain management. Alternative interventions on pain management could thus be provided. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

The effect of an education program on pain management and post –operative outcome of Chinese patients with traumatic fracture limb undergoing surgery

Background Pain is perceived as stressful and good pain management contributes to better treatment outcome. This paper aimed to report the effect of the education program on short term outcomes of patients with fracture limb and surgery. This education program was developed based on previous work of a qualitative study, literature review and a pilot study. The education program consists of 2 education sessions to enhance patient’s knowledge, correct mis- conception and perform breathing relaxation exercise regularly for pain management. Method A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design (quasi-experimental) was employed. Patients from 2 hospitals who met the inclusion criteria (age ≥ 18, ambulatory before injury, with fracture limb and undergoing surgery were invited for the study. Two hospitals were randomly assigned to either the control (usual care) or experimental group (usual care and 2 sessions of education program as intervention). Patients’ short term outcomes were evaluated by pain score, physical function, sleep satisfaction, anxiety and self –efficacy scale in pain management. Data was collected at baseline before surgery, day 2, 4 and 7 after surgery. Result: 136 patients completed the study with 70 in experimental group & 66 in control group. There were homogenous in baseline variables (age, sex, mechanism of injury & physical status). The results showed that patients in the experimental group experienced lower level of pain level, anxiety, better sleeping satisfaction and better self efficacy in pain management. However, there were no statically significant different in physical functioning outcomes. Conclusion: an education program could reduce anxiety; promote better sleep and better self efficacy in self pain management during their first 7 days for patients having traumatic fracture and surgery. The findings highlight the essence of education program as an essential component for nursing care to prepare the fracture patients for surgery