Internet use by Chinese women seeking pregnancy-related information.

OBJECTIVE: to investigate whether and how Chinese pregnant women used the Internet to retrieve pregnancy-related information. DESIGN AND SETTING: a descriptive, cross-sectional design using a waiting-room questionnaire was employed to obtain information from Chinese pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic of a general hospital in Guangzhou, mainland China from September to October in 2011. PARTICIPANTS: a total of 335 Chinese women pregnant at least 32 weeks participated in the study with the response rate 85%. FINDINGS: the great majority of the women (91.9%) had access to the Internet. Most of them (88.7%) used it to retrieve health information and began from the beginning of the pregnancy. Fetal development and nutrition in pregnancy were the two most often mentioned topics of interest. More than half of the women regarded the information as reliable. The first most important criterion for judging the trustworthiness of web-based information was if the facts were consistent with information from other sources; the second most important criterion was if references were provided. Most (75.1%) of the women did not discuss the information they retrieved from the Internet with their health professionals. CONCLUSION: the Internet was a common source for pregnancy related information among Chinese pregnant women, the same as that in the western countries. Health professionals should be able to guide Chinese pregnant women to high-quality, web-based information and then take the opportunity to discuss this information with them during antenatal visits, consultations and childbirth education classes.

Interpersonal psychotherapy-oriented program for Chinese pregnant women: delivery, content, and personal impact.

The interpersonal psychotherapy-oriented childbirth education program has the potential to promote social support and maternal role competence and prevent postpartum depression in Chinese women. The present study explored the perceptions of Chinese women about the delivery, content, and personal impact of the interpersonal psychotherapy-oriented childbirth education program. The study was conducted in a regional teaching hospital in China. The intervention was based on the principles of interpersonal psychotherapy, and consisted of two 90 min antenatal classes and a telephone follow up within 2 weeks after delivery. Ninety two women, pregnant for the first time, completed the program. The Program Satisfaction Questionnaires, with five open-ended questions, was used for the process evaluation (n = 83), and a one-on-one, in-depth interview was used for the outcome evaluation (n = 20). The findings suggested that the program could facilitate the participants' adjustment to motherhood, help to establish or improve their relationships, and enhance their perceived social support and maternal role competence. Future programs could be strengthened by lengthening the program and adding more interactive learning.

[Analyze on chemical compositions of Dalbergia odorifera essential oils extracted by CO2-supercritical-fluid-extraction and steam distillation extraction].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the chemical compositions of Dalbergia odorifera essential oils extacted by CO2-supercritical-fluid-extraction (SFE-CO2) and steam distillation extraction (SD). METHODS: The essential oils of Dalbergia odorifera were extracted by steam distillation extraction and SFE-CO2. The chemical components were separated and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. RESULTS: 12 compounds were identified in SFE sample. The major components from essential oils were 2-propenoic acid-3(4-methoxyphenyl)-ethyl ester (14.53%), nerolidol (14.95%), ageratochromene (1.33%). 9 compounds were identified in SD sample. The major components from essential oils were nerolidol (26.61%), cedrol (1.65%). CONCLUSION: The SFE method is better than the SD method in reliability stability and reproducibility, and suitable for essential oils extraction of Dalbergia odorifera.