Perceptions, behaviours and attitudes towards smoking held by the male partners of Chinese pregnant women: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Direct associations of tobacco exposure during pregnancy with pregnancy complications and adverse birth outcomes have been proven. Previous studies suggest that expecting a child provides a valuable opportunity to promote behavioural changes, such as smoking cessation, among the male partners of pregnant women. Thorough understandings of Chinese expectant fathers' smoking behaviour during the transition to fatherhood is a prerequisite to the development of appropriate interventions to facilitate smoking cessation. This study aimed to explore the perceptions, behaviours and attitudes related to smoking among male partners of pregnant women in China. METHODS: A descriptive phenomenological approach was adopted. A purposive sample of expectant fathers aged 18 years or older who had a tobacco use history within the past year were recruited at obstetrics and gynaecology clinics and invited to participate in one-to-one, 20-30-min semi-structured interviews. The data analysis followed Colaizzi's descriptive phenomenological method. RESULTS: Twenty-five expectant fathers were interviewed. Four themes were generated: 1) the benefits of smoking and respondents' misperceptions of the impact of smoking and SHS and neglectful attitude of the impact of smoking, which were given as the major reasons for continuing to smoke; 2) factors contributing to smoking cessation, including concern for the potential health impact of continued smoking on the pregnant partner and baby, the role of being father, and the encouragement to quit from family members; and 3) perceived barriers to smoking cessation, including withdrawal symptoms or cigarette cravings, absence of smoking cessation support, and increasing stress. CONCLUSION: This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the perception, behaviours, and attitudes related to smoking among Chinese expectant fathers. The findings of this study can guide healthcare professionals and policymakers in combining the distribution of educational information about the hazards of SHS for maternal and neonatal health with smoking cessation assistance for expectant fathers through policy initiatives and other types of incentives and programmes targeted to enhance smoking cessation among this population. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Prospectively registered at clinicaltrial.org ( NCT03401021 ) on 8 Jan 2018.

Structured online training for university students to deliver peer-led addiction counselling for young drug abusers in China: Effect on improving knowledge, attitude, confidence, and skills.

OBJECTIVES: To measure the effect of a structured online training programme on improving the knowledge, attitude, confidence, and skills of university students to deliver peer-led addiction counselling to young drug abusers. METHODS: A structured training programme was designed for university students with a background in health-related disciplines. Pre- and post-training evaluations were conducted for 245 university students with health-related backgrounds who completed the training programme. The participants' knowledge of and attitudes towards drug abuse and their confidence in delivering addiction counselling were evaluated and compared before and after the training. Counselling skills were assessed using a simulated standardised case. RESULTS: A paired test indicated that after attending the training programme, the participants' knowledge of and attitudes towards drug abuse and their confidence in delivering addiction counselling were significantly improved. Most of the trained participants demonstrated satisfactory counselling skills. CONCLUSION: Participation in a one-day structured addiction training programme significantly improved students' knowledge of and attitudes towards drug abuse and their confidence and skills to deliver addiction counselling. PRACTICE IMPLICATION: Future research should elucidate the implementation of the counselling skills in terms of the counselling outcomes and successful referral. The clients' health outcomes should be assessed to reflect the peer counsellors' skills.

A medical peer-delivered intervention comprising brief motivational interviewing via instant-messaging interaction to reduce drug misuse among youth in Hong Kong: A protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

AIMS: Youth are frequently exposed to drugs, and most youth who misuse drugs are reluctant to seek help from services due to the worry of others being judgmental, lacking expertise, exposing their personal information, or informing their parents. Considering these concerns, we propose to evaluate the effectiveness of a medical peer-delivered intervention comprising brief motivational interviewing via instant-messaging interaction in reducing drug misuse among youth in Hong Kong. METHODS: A two-group single-blind, randomised controlled trial will be conducted. Multiple approaches, including online and face-to-face methods, will be used to recruit the participants. The participants, aged 25 years or younger and reporting any drugs that they have taken within the past 30 days, will be recruited and randomised to receive either brief motivational interviewing via interactive instant-messaging (the intervention) or general health text-messages (comparator). The primary outcome will be the change in the participants' reductions in self-reported drug consumption at 12 months compared to that at baseline. The secondary outcomes will be the changes in the drug-abusing participants' reductions in self-reported drug consumption at 6 months, the changes in the drug-quitting participants' 6- and 12-month contemplation stages and relapse risk compared to that at baseline, 30 days' self-reported drug abstinence at 6 and 12 months, and the treatment needs and motivation at 6 and 12 months compared to that at baseline. The effectiveness of the proposed intervention will be examined with adjusted regression models, with adjustment for baseline characteristics and the use of an intention-to-treat approach. DISCUSSION: This proposed study will be the first randomised controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of a medical peer-delivered interactive intervention to reduce drug misuse among youth in Hong Kong. The proposed intervention has the potential to increase the help-seeking behaviour and intention to quit among youth who misuse drugs. As a result, more youth misusing drugs may be helped to abstain from drugs. This proposed study will inform decisions on whether it is worthwhile to invest resources in large-scale implementation of such an intervention.

Adaptation and Psychometric Evaluation of the Chinese Counseling Competencies Scale-Revised.

Objectives: This study conducted a linguistic and psychometric evaluation of the Chinese Counseling Competencies Scale-Revised (CCS-R). Methods: The Chinese CCS-R was created from the original English version using a standard forward-backward translation process. The psychometric properties of the Chinese CCS-R were examined in a cohort of 208 counselors-in-training by two independent raters. Fifty-three counselors-in-training were asked to undergo another counseling performance evaluation for the test-retest. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted for the Chinese CCS-R, followed by internal consistency, test-retest reliability, inter-rater reliability, convergent validity, and concurrent validity. Results: The results of the CFA supported the factorial validity of the Chinese CCS-R, with adequate construct replicability. The scale had a McDonald's omega of 0.876, and intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.63 and 0.90 for test-retest reliability and inter-rater reliability, respectively. Significantly positive correlations were observed between the Chinese CCS-R score and scores of performance checklist (Pearson's γ = 0.781), indicating a large convergent validity, and knowledge on drug abuse (Pearson's γ = 0.833), indicating a moderate concurrent validity. Conclusion: The results support that the Chinese CCS-R is a valid and reliable measure of the counseling competencies. Practice implication: The CCS-R provides trainers with a reliable tool to evaluate counseling students' competencies and to facilitate discussions with trainees about their areas for growth.