Consensus statements on the clinical usage and characteristics of aripiprazole for Hong Kong.

Aripiprazole, a dopamine partial agonist, is a second-generation anti-psychotic that is widely used for the treatment of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. A group of psychiatric experts in Hong Kong developed a set of consensus statements, aiming to facilitate the understanding of clinical properties and usages of aripiprazole among local physicians. Of note, because aripiprazole long-acting injectable has been available locally not long before the establishment of the consensus panel, which limited the discussion on its use in the local context, the consensus statements were focused primarily on oral aripiprazole. To draft the consensus statements, the panellists discussed the published evidence and their clinical experience regarding aripiprazole in a series of meetings based on several areas. At the final meeting, each drafted statement was voted on anonymously by all panellists based on its practicability of recommendation in Hong Kong. A set of consensus statements on the characteristics and clinical use of aripiprazole was established and accepted by the panel. These statements serve to provide a practical reference for physicians in Hong Kong, and possibly other parts of the Asia-Pacific region, on the use of aripiprazole in people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and other psychotic problems.

Impairment of mother-infant relationship: validation of the Chinese version of Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire.

The implementation of the Comprehensive Child Development Service in Hong Kong brought about the need for the development of an instrument for assessing mother-infant relationship impairments in women with postnatal depression. The Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire by was first translated into Chinese, then back-translated into English. An expert panel was set up to evaluate the content validity and a focus group discussion was held to explore the face validity and acceptability of the questionnaire. The Chinese version of the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (C-PBQ) was administered to 62 women suffering from postnatal depression. Scale 1 of the C-PBQ had a sensitivity of 84% for detecting women with any forms of mother-infant relationship impairments and scale 2 had a sensitivity of 89% for detecting rejection of infant and a sensitivity of 77% for detecting pathological anger towards infant. The C-PBQ is a useful instrument for detecting mother-infant relationship impairments as perceived by women with postnatal depression.