Aims To identify and describe the various patterns of parents’ perspectives on avoiding secondhand smoke exposure. Design Q methodology was applied to investigate the parental perspectives of 50 parents. Methods The study was implemented from September–December 2016. Forty‐two Q‐statements were constructed based on the literature related to parental attitudes and prevention practices regarding preventing young children from experiencing secondhand smoke exposure. A series of Q‐sorts was performed by the participants to rank the statements into a Q‐sort grid. PQMethod 2.35 software was used to perform principal component analysis to identify different patterns of parents’ perspectives. Results Five patterns of shared perspectives, which accounted for 62% of the total variance, were derived from the analysis: (a) lack of confidence to confront smokers in non‐smoking areas; (b) awareness of health hazards but not ready to take preventive actions; (c) emphasis on parental responsibility and behavioural guidance; (d) awareness of health rights protected by legislation; and (e) strong willingness to take protective actions. Conclusion Our findings revealed the shared perspectives of five groups of parents. The exploration of clusters of parents could assist healthcare professionals in acknowledging parents’ tendencies related to attitudes and responses towards secondhand smoke exposure. Impact Using a forced distribution through the Q‐sorting technique, the particular perspective patterns of parents’ experiences would be captured. These findings can serve as a useful guide for researchers and practitioners to develop tailored intervention programs for parents with the purpose of reducing secondhand smoke exposure in young children.

Background The essence and workload of nursing can easily lead to burdens associated with female nurses’ menstrual symptoms, and consequently, result in decreased working performance. Without effective support this can lead to resignation due to maladaptation. This study adopted Q methodology to explore the experience of working stressors and coping strategies associated with menstrual symptoms among nurses with shifting schedules. Methods Data were collected in two stages. First, in-depth interviews were conducted to collect nurses’ experiences. Sentences that best fit the study’s purpose were extracted for the construction of Q statements. Second, nurses were allowed to subjectively rank these Q statements by using Q-sorts. A total of 90 participants ranked the designed Q statements. The Q factor analysis revealed a five-factor solution that accounted for 48.90% of the total variance. Results The five evident factors included: menstrual symptoms interfering in collaboration with colleagues, deficiency of professional function and stress due to symptoms burden, diverse experiences without a clear pattern, adapted self-management with and without medication use, and stress due to symptoms burden and using medication for self-management. Conclusions The identification of these five groups may facilitate the development of responsive strategies to meet nurses’ preferences. Furthermore, identifying workplace factors that are associated with the adverse effects of menstrual symptoms on nurses will be helpful for nursing supervisors and hospital managers. Additionally, strategies that can be implemented to create supportive work environments are discussed.

BACKGROUND Only limited empirical research has compared the different perspectives of mentors and mentees regarding mentoring interactions in drug use prevention. Perspective comparisons between these groups will provide a beneficial understanding of how mentoring can be improved. Using online self-assessment to understand perspectives was an innovative approach to uncover the similarities and differences between mentors and mentees. OBJECTIVE This study aims to identify and compare the patterns of shared perspectives of mentors and mentees associated with their experiences in preventing illegal drug use during the mentoring process. METHODS In this study, we applied the Q methodology to cluster participants into groups according to the similarities of their Q sorts through online self-assessment. Accordingly, 39 Q statements were developed by integrating published literature and expert opinions. Further, a total of 31 pairs of mentors and mentees participated in the study to rank the designed Q statements by using a Q sort. Subsequently, we applied PQ Method 2.35 software to perform Q factor analysis on the Q sort data from mentors and mentees. Each resulting final factor represented a group of participants with similar perspectives. RESULTS This study included separate Q factor analyses for mentors and mentees. The analyses provided a five-factor solution for the mentors that accounted for 58% of the total variance. Another five-factor solution for the mentees explained 49% of the total variance. One similarity between the groups was the need to enhance the involvement of significant others to help mentees quit drugs. Further, a major identified difference between the groups was that whereas the mentees highlighted the importance of health consequences of drug misuse in helping them stop use, the mentors did not. CONCLUSIONS The adoption of the Q methodology enabled a direct comparison of the perspectives of mentors and mentees regarding illegal drug use prevention. The elucidation of more similarities and differences between mentors and mentees could offer a more insightful understanding of preventing the drug use by mentees.

Background Illegal drug usage among adolescents is a critical health problem. The Taiwanese government provides an accompanying volunteer program to prevent students who experiment with drugs from reusing them. An appropriate training program can improve volunteers’ abilities to assist students using drugs. Problem-solving, self-efficacy, and teamwork are critical abilities for inexperienced volunteers who help with drug use prevention. By interacting with the animation or 3D virtual reality (VR) in the virtual scene, learners can immerse themselves in the virtual environment to learn, and 3D VR can increase learning opportunities and reduce the cost of human and material resources. Objective The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of spherical video-based virtual reality (SVVR) training in improving problem-solving, self-efficacy, and teamwork among volunteers who helped prevent adolescents from using illegal drugs. Methods This study used a randomized controlled design with a total of 68 participants in the experimental (n=35) and control (n=33) groups. The participants in the experimental group received the SVVR training program and their counterparts in the control group did not receive any training. Results Generalized estimating equation analyses indicated that the experimental group showed significant posttraining improvements in problem-solving and self-efficacy but not teamwork when compared with the control group. Conclusions The results of this study revealed that SVVR could improve participants’ problem-solving skills and self-efficacy for assisting students in not using illegal drugs. However, future studies are suggested to develop effective SVVR to assist inexperienced volunteers in enhancing their teamwork abilities. We believed that introducing the training program to more sites can enhance volunteer training so that volunteers can have a better companionship effect when helping students quit drugs. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05072431; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05072431

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