Body image changes are common among patients living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) because of the illness and related treatments. Currently, there is little known about how those patients experience and perceive their altered body image in the literature. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of body image changes in patients with IBD in China and to describe how those changes influence patients' perception of body and self. This study used a descriptive qualitative approach. A total of 16 participants from three tertiary hospitals in southeast China were recruited through purposive sampling combined with maximum variation strategy. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and analyzed using conventional content analysis method. The following six themes were extracted: (1) "being a constrained person," (2) "being a flawed person," (3) "being a disliked person," (4) "being an alienated person," (5) "being a reconciled person," and (6) "being a blessed person." With the diagnosis of IBD and its side effects of treatments, patients' life changed significantly and they were struggling to reinterpret their body and self. As a result, negative self-evaluations and/or positive self-evaluations towards themselves generated. Further studies are required to explore the underlying mechanism and related influencing factors about how those different images were produced.

Older adults aged ≥ 80 years living alone at home are more likely to experience challenges. Daily life experiences regarding living alone are still limited in the Asian context. This study explored the everyday life experiences of older Chinese residents living alone at home. Research questions included: (1) How do Chinese community-dwelling old people describe everyday life experiences related to living alone? (2) What kind of difficulties and needs do Chinese community-dwelling older people living alone face in everyday lives? (3) How do Chinese community-dwelling older people cope with challenges faced in their everyday lives related to living alone? This was qualitative descriptive research. Purposive sampling was adopted to recruit 13 participants aged 80–92 years of age from communities and one hospital. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data which was analysed by conventional content analysis. Three themes were identified: theme 1–difficulty in finding a sense of belonging, theme 2–striving to maintain independence, theme 3–hard to gain a sense of control. This study provided novel insights into understanding the difficulties and needs of Chinese older people living alone at home. Three key challenges and associated strategies they used to cope with in daily lives were presented.

INTRODUCTION: Affiliate stigma may cause depressive symptoms among Asian American dementia caregivers, yet few studies have examined the underlying mechanisms or cross‐ethnic differences. METHODS: We analyzed data from 338 older dementia caregivers (176 Chinese Americans, 162 Korean Americans; mean age 68.8 years) who completed measures of affiliate stigma, social isolation, loneliness, and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Higher stigma was associated with more severe depressive symptoms ( p < 0.001). Mediation analyses suggest this effect is partly explained by increased social isolation (12.8% mediated) and, especially, greater loneliness (44.4% mediated) among highly stigmatized caregivers. The stigma–depression relationship was stronger for Korean than for Chinese American caregivers ( p for interaction < 0.01). DISCUSSION: These findings identify affiliate stigma as an important risk factor for dementia caregivers’ depressive symptoms, operating through both objective and emotional forms of social disconnection. Culturally sensitive efforts to reduce caregivers’ stigma and social disconnection may improve mental health outcomes in Asian American communities.

Background: The Patient Health Questionnaire‐9 (PHQ‐9), known for its brevity and ease of use, is employed by researchers and clinical practitioners for poststroke depression (PSD) screening. However, the effectiveness of the PHQ‐9 in PSD screening remains to be further validated.Methods: Electronic searches were conducted in EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science, CNKI, and Wanfang databases using keywords including stroke, depression, and PHQ‐9. The assessment tool Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies‐2 was utilized to evaluate the risk of bias in diagnostic studies.Results: A total of 2049 articles were retrieved, with 9 meeting the inclusion criteria. The PHQ‐9 demonstrated pooled sensitivity and specificity of 0.84 and 0.90, respectively, and a summary receiver operating characteristic (sROC) curve of 0.93. At the 10‐cut‐off value, pooled sensitivity, specificity, and sROC were 0.77, 0.85, and 0.86, respectively. At the 9‐cut‐off value, the sensitivity, specificity, and sROC were 0.87, 0.85, and 0.92, respectively. At the 5‐cut‐off value, sensitivity, specificity, and sROC are 0.90, 0.91, and 0.96, respectively. No publication bias was identified.Conclusion: The PHQ‐9 is an effective tool for screening poststroke depressive symptoms with significant clinical utility. However, further research is needed to establish optimal diagnostic thresholds.