College Graduates' Negative Life Experiences, Coping Strategies and Enlightenment During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study in China.

Objective: The current study aimed to explore comprehensively college graduates' negative life experiences, coping strategies, and enlightenment in a qualitative way. Methods: This was a qualitative study. Purposeful sampling was used to select 31 college graduates majoring in various subjects from a Chinese University. The one-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted online through Tencent QQ/WeChat and were recorded and transcribed verbatim. A phenomenological approach was used to guide this research in the data collection and analysis. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes across interviews around their negative life experiences, coping strategies, and enlightenment. Results: College graduates' negative life experiences were mainly focused on three aspects: negative work experience (eg, lack of adaptation, busy schedule, low salary), negative personal life experience (eg, multiple pressure, psychological problems, the hardship of life), and negative social life experience (eg, the incomprehension of those around you, complex interpersonal relationship, social complexity). The coping strategies they used can be classified into two categories: emotion-focused strategies (eg, accepting reality, self-persuasion, keeping a positive attitude), and problem-focused strategies (eg, goal-setting, asking for help to solve the problem, persistence). As for life enlightenment, six themes emerged: accept life, strive to life, love life, cherish life, recognize life, and learn to live. Conclusion: College graduates' negative experiences came from multiple levels, and they use multiple coping strategies to deal with the challenges. Our results provide important guidance for researchers and policymakers to design effective and targeted intervention programs to improve college graduates' coping abilities in response to negative life experiences and help them better transition from school to work. Specifically, future research and intervention to promote college graduates' mental health should target various social-ecological levels, focus on promoting coping from an ecological perspective, as well as facilitate post-traumatic growth to help them grow from negative life experiences and cope positively.

Diet self-management: A qualitative study of college students' experiences and perspectives.

Background: Overweight and obesity among college students have become an emergent public health concern, which may be effectively prevented by diet self-management (DSM). The purpose of this explorative study was to explore college students' experiences and perspectives on diet self-management (DSM), as well as its influencing factors. Method: Thirty-three college students were recruited from different universities in China. A qualitative method was used to conduct semi-structured interviews with audio recording to explore their DSM experience and factors that influence DSM. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis to develop themes related to DSM. Result: In the perception of what "good DSM" means, three themes and ten subthemes were identified: characteristics of good DSM (including 5 subthemes: regularity, balanced diet, no picky eating, good eating habits, and scientificity), method of good DSM (including three subthemes: self-control, adjusting, and making plans), and content of good DSM (including two subthemes: nutrition management and safety management). The influencing factors of DSM can be categorized into four levels of themes and 34 subthemes: individual, family, school, and social levels. Conclusion: The results of this qualitative research highlighted the complexity and multi-dimension of DSM and its influencing factors. Our findings may help to inform diverse and needs-based intervention approaches to improve DSM and promote healthy diet among college students so as to prevent overweight and obesity.

Effects of Pharmacist Intervention on Community Control of Hypertension: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Zunyi, China.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to test the effects of pharmacist intervention on the community control of hypertension through a comparative randomized controlled trial. METHODS: We recruited adult hypertensive patients with comorbidity or confusion with medication (n=636) from 2 community health centers in Zunyi, China. They were randomly and equally divided into 2 groups. Both groups received the usual care and participated in the community systematic management program of hypertension. Participants in the intervention group were given interventions from pharmacists, including a monthly review of medications, patient education, and medication adjustment advice to medical doctors over 6 months. Participants' blood pressure was assessed at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. Participants' knowledge and medication adherence were measured using a questionnaire before and after the trial. RESULTS: Compared to the control group (n=298), a significantly higher percentage of participants in the intervention group (n=290) had their blood pressure under control 3 months (46.9% vs. 38.3%, P=.034) and 6 months (60.7% vs. 40.9%, P<.001) after the interventions. Difference-in-differences analyses showed that the pharmacist intervention resulted in an increase in knowledge scores by 12.55 points (P<.001), a decrease in systolic blood pressure by 6.65 mmHg (P=.001), and a decrease in diastolic blood pressure by 7.26 mmHg (P<.001) compared to the controls after adjustment for variations in potential confounding factors. The odds of participants passing the hypertension knowledge tests in the intervention group was 4.45 times those in the control group (P<.001). Similarly, it was found that the intervention group had higher odds of not needing any medication adjustments (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=2.75, P<.001) and having their blood pressure under control (AOR=2.18, P=.002) compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: It is evident that pharmacist intervention has significant short-term effects on improving the knowledge and medication adherence of hypertensive patients, as well as timely medication adjustments from medical doctors, resulting in lowered blood pressure and an increased control rate. Further studies should explore the long-term sustainability of the effects of community pharmacist intervention.