In rural China, family intervention should focus on improving the relatives' recognition of illness, the caring attitude towards the patients, treatment compliance, relapse prevention, and the training of the patients' social functioning. This trial, one of the largest in the literature, has shown that psychoeducational family intervention is effective and suitable for psychiatric rehabilitation in Chinese rural communities.

This article describes the development and testing of the Family Nursing Practice Scale (FNPS). This self-report questionnaire is designed to measure perceived changes in family nursing practice including attitudes toward working with families, critical appraisal of their family nursing practice and reciprocity in the nurse-family relationship. Categories were derived from a needs assessment, competence as effective application of knowledge and skill and theoretical foundations for family assessment and intervention. Psychometric testing (content, construct validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability) was undertaken with 140 psychiatric nurses in Hong Kong. Practice appraisal and nurse-family relationships accounted for 56.4% of the variance. Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients were .88 and .73 for the two subscales, respectively, and .86 for the scale overall. Test-retest reliability ranged from .62 to .93 on the individual items. The results provide preliminary evidence of the reliability and validity of the FNPS. The instrument provides quantitative and qualitative evaluation components.

In Chinese society the family not the individual is the basic structural and functional unit. Family beliefs significantly determine the impact of the illness, choice of coping patterns and ultimately the physical and behavioral reactions of both the women and their family members. The purpose of this study was to identify the family beliefs about breast cancer and how the beliefs influenced family functioning. Twenty Hong Kong Chinese families where the woman had breast cancer (N=59) were interviewed using a minimally structured schedule. Interpretive phenomenology was the qualitative methodology used in the study. Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics related to the process of understanding, application and interpretation was used to guide the analysis. Patterns of disharmony related to stress and emotion, diet, exercise, genetics and fate were evident in the family beliefs about the causes of breast cancer and guided the cognitive, emotional and behavioral strategies they adopted to negotiate the illness experience.

health problems W o nstralnlng belnefs are health care professlonais A ease example is presenkd ghts the use of this systenz~c approach do assist a young allenglng tbelr beilrefs about them abllrty La control and HNTRODI1GTIIC)PI f unknown etrolagy, tor, 1981) Epriegsy cause o f the oftea mansfestatron of seizure a c t~v~t y The rncsdenee of eplf 30-50 new cases/100,008 per year (Sehotmberg, 1985) and mortality rates are drfficull to establish as seizure Iepsy and ~ndlvldsuffer more from the psyehosoclal ~rnplrcat~ons than the ed to the first author amtiv Therapy 13iLi A p r~l 1991 ~t i e n c e Preis Inc

Many Chinese families have different beliefs about food and diet and the role that food plays in managing the cancer experience. Often, Chinese people will not seek clarification if they do not understand information. If information does not fit with their predominant belief systems, families may not implement it, nor will they discuss a situation if they think the conversation will result in a relationship of conflict with healthcare providers.