Factors related to tobacco use among adolescents in southern Taiwan.

Identifying the factors related to the initiation and continuance of smoking among youth has been regarded as a crucial step for school nurses and public health nurses to develop effective smoking prevention and cessation programs in schools and communities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors related to adolescent tobacco use in southern Taiwan. A total of 4,500 study samples were selected at random from the students of all high schools located in Pingdong County. This process yielded 3,307 valid samples (a 73.5% response rate). Study results found 62.4% (n = 2,063) reported never having smoked before. Thirty-eight percent (n = 1,244) of participants had experience using tobacco, 59.3% (n = 738) reported being ex-smokers, and 40.7% (n = 506) were current smokers. This study found that having friends who offered cigarettes, academic achievement, father's educational level, perceived peer smoking behavior to be primary influences on smoking, attitude, and self-efficacy and significant predicators of adolescents' current smoking behaviors. Parents' marital status and having classmate who offered cigarettes were significant predictors of adolescent smoking behavior. Study findings can provide a basis for school and public health nurses to design effective smoking prevention and cessation programs in schools and community settings. This study suggests further experimental studies are necessary to test the effectiveness of tobacco control programs designed in reference to the findings of this study.

Effectiveness of case management for community elderly with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hypercholesterolemia in Taiwan: a record review.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the effectiveness of case management for community elderly with hypertension (HT), diabetes mellitus, and hypercholesterolemia (HC) (the so-called three highs). DESIGN AND SETTING: Secondary data of the first and 3-month-after visiting records were extracted from 33 Public Health Centers in Taiwan. PARTICIPANTS: Seven hundred and sixty-six clients were selected who were at least 65 years old and had been diagnosed twice on the Case Management Record with at least one of the three highs. RESULTS: This sample had a mean age of 72.6 years, 59.7% were female. Approximately 74% of the clients had HT, 55% had diabetes, and 15% had HC. Each elderly revealed 1.4 highs of the three highs. The elderly with HT, and diabetes, their blood pressures (BP) and blood sugars significantly decreased after being managed by public health nurses. Males and the elderly living in urban areas had more decrease in systolic BP. Females had more decrease in fasting blood sugar. CONCLUSIONS: The study found that the case management of the three highs presented effectiveness on reducing the values of the three highs of the elderly in community.

[Exploring the knowledge of asthma, attitude and self-management behaviors of school age children with asthma in the Ping-Tung area].

The present correlational research was aimed at: exploring asthmatic children's knowledge of their disease, their attitude towards it, and their self-management behavior. Convenient sampling was used to recruit subjects. One hundred and sixty eight asthmatic children from 7 to 12 years old were recruited from 14 elementary schools in the Pintung area, Taiwan. The results showed: (1) a moderate-leveled standardized score of 57.26 for knowledge of the disease; a positive-leveled standardized score of 86.27 for attitude toward the disease; a moderate high-leveled standardized score of 69.34 for self-management behaviors; (2) no significant relationship between demographic information and self-management behavior; (3) a significant correlation between asthmatic knowledge and self-management behavior; (4) a significant correlation between attitude towards asthma and self-management behavior; and (5) knowledge of the disease and attitude towards the disease as important predictors of self-management behavior, together accounting for 23.9% of the total variance. Results of the present study could serve as a basis for future studies.