The health status of postpartum immigrant women in Taiwan.

AIMS: This study aims to contribute to the current body of literature by examining immigrant women's postpartum health in the context of Taiwan, in particular, their experience with postpartum stress and depression as well as the levels of social support available to them. This study also aims to identify predictors of their postpartum health status. BACKGROUND: While there has been considerable research on the risk factors for poor postpartum health in the general population, research on the factors influencing immigrant women's postpartum health has been limited. DESIGN: A non-experimental research design. METHODS: We collected data from a sample of 340 immigrant postpartum women who could speak Mandarin Chinese, recruited from 10 general hospitals and one obstetric clinic in Taiwan from March 2005-September 2006. The Hung Postpartum Stress Scale, Beck Depression Inventory-II, Social Support Scale and Chinese Health Questionnaire were used in this study. RESULTS: We found that immigrant women's postpartum health status differed significantly in relation to their key helpers, depression status, levels of postpartum stress and social support. The logistic regression analysis showed that a one-point increase in immigrant women's postpartum stress increased the probability of suffering from minor psychiatric morbidity by 1·04 times. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that health care professionals should pay attention not only to immigrant postpartum women's basic financial and support needs but also to their postpartum stress and stressors. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The use of trained community health advocates in partnership with registered nurses can help meet the needs of postpartum women and improve maternal and infant health through their home visits. These nursing interventions should be tailored specifically to decrease immigrant Asian women's postpartum stress and improve their overall health status and well-being.

Family caregivers' viewpoints towards quality of long-term care services for community-dwelling elders in Taiwan.

The population of elderly people in Taiwan is increasing rapidly, and long-term gerontology care has become an important issue in this greying society. The purpose of this study is to explore family caregivers' viewpoints and opinions regarding the long-term care services for community-dwelling older adults in Taiwan. A qualitative study was conducted between August and December of 2005. Fifty family caregivers agreed to participate in this study. Data were collected by focus group interviews, in order to obtain the experience and expectation of family caregivers concerning long-term care services in their daily lives. Through content analysis and peer discussion,the data were categorized into five major themes: (1) praise for the services;(2) flexibility of long-term care services; (3) comprehensiveness of long-term services; (4) linkage and extension of existing resources; and (5) activeness of service provision. Study findings from the family caregivers' viewpoints should contribute to the improvement of long-term care services and provide a basis for designing suitable programmes to enhance community-dwelling in situ elderly people care.

[Health promotion in traditional Chinese medicine: preventive treatment of a disease].

Preventive treatment is the highest form of traditional Chinese medicine. Ancient physicians believed that prevention was better than cure and health preservation was the best method for prolonging one's own life. At the same time as medical technology advances constantly and average life expectancy increases every few years, chronic diseases are also becoming more common. Ever since the World Health Organization proclaimed the year 2000 the year of "Health for all," the term has been a watchword for all developed countries. In traditional medicine, from the concept of preventive treatment to the method and practice of health preservation, there is much for nursing professionals involved in health promotion to tap into.