Hospitalization is a stressful and threatening experience, which can be emotionally devastating to children. Hospital play interventions have been widely used to prepare children for invasive medical procedures and hospitalization. Nevertheless, there is an imperative need for rigorous empirical scrutiny of the effectiveness of hospital play interventions, in particular, using play activities to ease the psychological burden of hospitalized children. This study tested the effectiveness of play interventions to reduce anxiety and negative emotions in hospitalized children. A non-equivalent control group pre-test and post-test, between subjects design was conducted in the two largest acute-care public hospitals in Hong Kong. A total of 304 Chinese children (ages 3-12) admitted for treatments in these two hospitals were invited to participate in the study. Of the 304 paediatric patients, 154 received hospital play interventions and 150 received usual care. Children who received the hospital play interventions exhibited fewer negative emotions and experienced lower levels of anxiety than those children who received usual care. This study addressed a gap in the literature by providing empirical evidence to support the effectiveness of play interventions in reducing anxiety and negative emotions in hospitalized children. Findings from this study emphasize the significance of incorporating hospital play interventions to provide holistic and quality care to ease the psychological burden of hospitalized children. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02665403 . Registered 22 January 2016.

The diagnosis and treatment of cancer are a stressful and threatening experience, which can be emotionally devastating to children. Despite the improved prognosis, the course of cancer treatment has tremendous impact on children. This article aims to examine the impact of cancer on physical, emotional, and psychosocial well-being of Hong Kong Chinese children, an area of research that has been underrepresented in the literature. Ninety-eight Hong Kong Chinese children aged 7 to 15 years, admitted for treatment of cancer in 2 pediatric oncology units of 2 different hospitals, were invited to participate in the study. Findings from this study indicated that the children scored considerably high state anxiety on admission, and more than half of the participants presented some depressive symptoms during their stay in the hospital. Moreover, semistructured interviews indicated that nearly all children expressed different degrees of sadness and worry. The findings suggested that there is a room for improvement in existing nursing intervention regarding preparing children for hospitalization and treatment of cancer. There is an imperative need for nurses to evaluate appropriate nursing interventions that can help children resume their normal growth and development, in particular, to help them ease the physical, emotional, and psychological burden of life-threatening disease.

Aims. To evaluate the underlying factor structure of the Chinese version of General Health Questionnaire‐12 using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in Chinese adolescents and find out which factor model proposed by previous empirical research is the best‐fit model.Background. The 12‐item General Health Questionnaire has been extensively used with adolescents in the West. Yet, it has not been used with adolescents in a Hong Kong Chinese context.Design. A cross‐sectional study was employed.Method. Chinese students between the ages of 12–19 from four secondary schools were invited to participate in the study using the multiple‐stage stratified random sampling method during the period from December 2007–February, 2008. The total sample size included in the final analysed was 1883.Results. The General Health Questionnaire‐12 was found to be internally consistent. The results of exploratory factor analysis showed that there are two factors underlying the General Health Questionnaire‐12. Of nine factor models were tested by means of confirmatory factor analysis, only three factor model: the eight‐item two‐factor model, 12‐item three‐factor model and 10‐item two‐factor model, demonstrated good model fit across all model fit indices.Conclusion. This study addressed a gap in the literature by evaluating the factorial structure of the Chinese version of General Health Questionnaire‐12 using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in Chinese adolescents. The findings revealed that the eight‐item two‐factor model is the best‐fit model.Relevance to clinical practice. The adolescent mental health problem is alarming and aggravating and warrants special attention. It is essential for community nurses to differentiate psychological distress in adolescents and to identify those adolescents who are at a higher risk of suffering from mental health problems. The availability of a valid and reliable instrument that measures adolescents’ psychological distress is crucial before any nursing interventions to promote their mental health can be appropriately planned, implemented and evaluated.