Background: Studies on mental health following disasters have primarily focused on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), yet severe, enduring, and disabling grief [i.e. complicated grief (CG)] also appears relevant.Objective: The present study examines symptom profiles of PTSD and CG among bereaved Sichuan earthquake survivors 1 year after the disaster.Method: Self-report measures of demographic, disaster, and loss-related characteristics and symptoms of PTSD and CG were administered among 803 survivors (63% women; mean age = 46.7 years). Latent class analysis (LCA) was performed to identify subgroups of people with different PTSD and CG symptom profiles.Results: The LCA demonstrated that a five-class solution yielded the best fit, consisting of a CG class with low PTSD and high CG (N = 208), a combined class with high PTSD and high CG (N = 205), a class with low PTSD and partial CG (N = 145), a class with partial PTSD and CG (N = 136), and a resilient class with low PTSD and CG (N = 108). Being a woman (vs man), losing a child or spouse (vs other), being injured (vs non-injured), and/or having a missing family member (vs non-missing) predicted membership of the CG class compared to other classes.Conclusions: CG appears to be a unique consequence of disasters involving many casualties. Disaster survivors should be screened for CG and provided with appropriate psychological treatment.

Background: Chlamydia is common amongst the sexually active population in Hong Kong. As most cases are asymptomatic, partner notification may be helpful in controlling chlamydia. This study examined attitudes towards partner notification for chlamydia among Hong Kong Chinese youths in order to inform a culturally appropriate, patient-empowering sexual health service. Methods: Sixteen individuals (aged 20 to 31) who received a confirmed diagnosis of chlamydia within the previous twelve months of data collection were recruited from two community-based organizations between June and December 2017. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted by a health psychologist. Results: Nine participants notified a total of eleven current and ex-partners. Seven participants did not notify their sexual partner(s). Our findings revealed how participants struggled with the discrediting sexual aspect of their infection, and how de-sexualizing the infection and selected disclosure facilitated partner notification and social acceptance. Perceived stigma regarding chlamydia however did not dissipate with their disclosure. Participants did not perceive lasting impact of chlamydia on their well-being as they thought they have much control over whether and how to disclose to their (future) partners. All participants agreed there was a pressing need to raise public awareness on this silent but highly prevalent sexually transmitted infection. Conclusions: Our findings illustrate the complex struggle behind communicating about chlamydia to one’s sexual partner and how strategizing the disclosure process served to circumvent embarrassment and foster testing of sexual partners.

This is a reflection of my personal journal of my engagement in research on social worker practice to being out change in society. Through my 40 years of social work practice, I have used touching stories, case studies, pre–post intervention outcome studies, randomized control trials, and eventually moving into using biomarkers as outcome measures on the efficacy of social work intervention.

Purpose: A recent three-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) with depressed Hong Kong adults demonstrated the comparable effectiveness of integrative Body-Mind-Spirt (IBMS) and Qigong interventions in relieving sleep disturbance and depression, but not which is best for whom? Guided by concept and theory-based hypotheses, clinical data-mining (CDM), the RCT data answers the more clinically relevant question: who responds best to which intervention? Method: Paired-sample t-tests and Wilcoxon signed-ranked tests were adopted to compare the within-subgroup differences; linear mixed models for normally distributed outcomes and generalized linear mixed models for non-normally distributed outcomes were used to compare the between-subgroup differences. Results: Results indicate that IBMS is more efficacious for older, more educated females, suffering from physical pain and illness; whereas younger, less educated males, not in full-time employment benefit more from Qigong. Discussion: This productive joining together of RCT and CDM recommends itself to both past and future RCTs, further informing evidence-based practice decision making.

The strengths of drawing‐based approaches for encouraging children's participation in health research and facilitating communication with them have been increasingly acknowledged in the medical literature. However, there is a lack of methodological discussion on drawing‐based approaches suitable for researching children living with physical health problems. The present study systematically reviewed qualitative research using drawing‐based approaches on the experiences of children living with physical health problems and summarised how the approaches were used as well. We identified 54 studies from five databases. The characteristics of qualitative methods and drawing‐based approaches were analysed. To obtain an overall understanding of the illness‐related experiences of these children, qualitative data generated from the included studies were synthesised using the thematic synthesis approach. This systematic review highlights the appropriateness and accuracy of the use of drawings‐based approaches in health research with children on their illness‐related experiences, fostering inclusive participation and engagement of young generations.