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ABSTRACT Aim Design Methods Results Conclusion Implications for the Profession and/or Patient Care Impact Reporting Method Patient or Public Contribution Trial Registration To test the reliability and construct validity of the Mask Usability Scale in healthcare students and staff.A methodological study involving repeated measures.The study included two batches of participants: (1) 283 university nursing students and (2) 1753 participants composed of students (61%) and clinical staff (39%). All participants underwent N95 respirator fit tests and user seal checks. They also responded to the Mask Usability Scale, which comprises 11 items evaluated using Likert scales. The internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha and item–total correlation test. Test–retest reliability was evaluated by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The factor structure was initially identified through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), laying the groundwork for the model. This approach was followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to ensure the model fits with the standardised solution.Excluding items 9, 10 and 11, the study showed satisfactory internal consistency, evidenced by a Cronbach's alpha of 0.842 for the eight‐item scale from the combined samples. Factors, such as ‘Heat’, ‘Breathability’, ‘Tightness’ and ‘Ease in talking’ showed moderate to strong correlations. The test–retest reliability in the batch one sample was acceptable with ICCs ranging between 0.69 and 0.71 for different models. The EFA and fit indices supported a two‐factor structure. The first factor ‘Comfort and Usage’ included ‘Heat’, ‘Breathability’, ‘Tightness’, ‘Ease in talking’ and ‘Prolonged use’, which were keys for the usability of N95 respirators. The second factor ‘Suitability’ encompassed ‘Itchy’, ‘Easily displaced’ and ‘Ear soreness’. The variance explained by the first and second factors was 49% and 12%, respectively, with a strong inter‐factor correlation. The CFA results were satisfactory with fit metrics (NFI = 0.967, IFI = 0.969, TLI = 0.952, CFI = 0.969, RMSEA = 0.078 with 90% CI [0.069, 0.086] and p < 0.001) and a chi‐squared to df ratio of 13.58.The eight‐item mask usability scale exhibited satisfactory internal consistency and construct validity in both healthcare student and staff samples.The primary concern in the purchase policy of N95 respirators for clinical use is to strike the right balance between usability and fit rate (passing % of fit testing). Our study solidified the concept of quantifying the usability of respirators. With that mask usability scale measurement, a provision of benchmark and reference for the design and selection of respirators would be possible. This validated scale has significant implications for senior management in clinical settings and respirator manufacturers regarding the N95 respirator purchase policy and design.The results indicated the psychometric properties of mask usability scale in measuring the usability of N95 respirators. This scale is particularly valuable for assessing the perceptions of healthcare students and staff of factors, namely, ‘Heat’, ‘Breathability’, ‘Tightness’, ‘Ease in talking’, ‘Prolonged use’, ‘Itchy’, ‘Easily displaced’ and ‘Ear soreness’ concerning the use of N95 respirators.We adhered to EQUATOR guidelines following the STROBE statement.No patient or public contribution.ISRCTN registry: ISRCTN40115047 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is crucial to determine the potential subgroups of sleep disturbances in patients undergoing elective surgery based on the importance of symptom clusters and individual characteristics in order to develop targeted symptom management plans. This study explored the potential categories of postoperative sleep disturbances in patients undergoing elective surgery through latent profile analysis, and explored the influencing factors of each category. A total of 400 eligible elective surgery patients were included in the analysis, and three potential subgroups were identified: mild sleep disturbance group (c1 = 140,35.0%), moderate sleep sleep disturbance group (c2 = 177,44.2%), and severe sleep disturbance group (c3 = 83,20.8%). It was found that the higher the BMI, the greater the probability of patients belonging to the moderate sleep disturbance group (OR = 1.114, P = 0.002) and the severe sleep disturbance group (OR = 1.258, P < 0.001),the longer the duration of anesthesia the greater the likelihood of patients belonging to the severe sleep disturbance group (OR = 1.004,P = 0.011), the greater the pain the greater the probability of patients belonging to the moderate sleep disturbance group (OR = 1.590,P < 0.001) and severe sleep disturbance group (OR = 1.785,P < 0.001), and the higher the anxiety level the greater the probability that patients were in the moderate sleep disturbance group (OR = 1.135,P = 0.007) and severe sleep disturbance group (OR = 1.261,P < 0.001)., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Preparing nursing students for dementia care, a prevalent cause of mortality, disability, and dependency among older people, is essential. Positive perceptions of e-health are believed to be associated with better knowledge, attitude, and skills among nurses across various care contexts. However, the relationship between e-health perception and nursing students' dementia knowledge and stigma remains underexplored., Aim: To investigate the relationship between e-health perceptions, dementia knowledge, and dementia stigma among nursing students., Settings and Participants: A total of 513 nursing students from a college in Hong Kong participated in an online survey., Methods: A cross-sectional design., Results: Students had an average age of 20.6 years, with the majority being females (69.8 %) and lacking experience in providing direct care for people with dementia (69.9 %). Most participants were in their first academic years (95.5 %) and had no family members with dementia (92.4 %). Students showed inadequate dementia knowledge (scoring indicator was 64.4 %) and a moderate stigma score (58.9 ± 9.0). Bivariate regression analysis indicated that e-health perception is significantly related to dementia knowledge but not to dementia stigma. Multiple regression analysis showed that being male (β = 0.520, p = 0.01) and having family members with dementia (β = 0.77, p = 0.03) were positively associated with dementia knowledge. Additionally, greater dementia knowledge (β = -0.53, p < 0.005) and senior-year bachelor programme entry were negatively associated with dementia stigma., Conclusion: The curricula of pre-registration nursing education should be enhanced to improve dementia knowledge and reduce stigma. The lack of a significant correlation between e-health perception, experience in caring for individuals with dementia, and dementia knowledge and stigma underscores the need to improve the quality of dementia education by leveraging e-health opportunities and clinical practicum., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Introduction: The psychological health of healthcare workers (HCWs) has become a significant concern, particularly during the initial stage of a pandemic. This study compared the depressive symptoms among HCWs in high-risk areas (HRAs) and low-risk areas (LRAs) with matching demographics., Methods: A cross-sectional study was employed to compare the depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire score ≥ 10), workplace environment characteristics, the Health Belief Model (HBM) and socio-demographics of the HCWs working in HRAs and LRAs in several accessible regions (mainly Hubei Province and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater-Bay-Area) in China. Eight hundred eighty-five HCWs were recruited for unmatched analysis between March 6 and April 2, 2020. After matching with occupation and years of service using a 1:2 ratio, 146 HCWs in HRAs and 290 HCWs in LRAs were selected for matched analysis. Subgroup analyzes were performed using two individual logistic regressions to delineate the associated factors in LRAs and HRAs, respectively., Results: HCWs in LRAs (Prevalence = 23.7%) had 1.96 times higher odds of depressive symptoms than those in HRAs (Prevalence = 15.1%) after adjusting for occupation and years of service ( p  < 0.001). Significant differences in workplace environment characteristics ( p  < 0.001) and the 5-dimension of the HBM of HCWs ( p  < 0.001 to p  = 0.025) were found between HRAs and LRAs.Logistic regression showed that workers with years of service between 10 and 20  years (OR:6.27), ever had contact with COVID-19 patients (OR:14.33) and had higher scores of "perceived barrier" of HBM (OR:4.48) predicted depressive symptoms in HRAs while working in pneumology departments and infectious disease units (OR:0.06), and high "self-efficacy" in the HBM (OR:0.13) was a protective factor against depressive symptoms.Contrarily, in LRAs, those HCWs who worked in ICUs (OR:2.59), had higher scores of "perceived susceptibility toward the COVID-19 outbreak" (OR:1.41), "perceived severity of the pandemic" (OR:1.25), and "perceived barriers of wearing masks" (OR:1.43) in the HBM predicted depressive symptoms. High "cues to action" (OR:0.79), and better "knowledge" (OR:0.79) in the HBM were protective factors against depressive symptoms., Conclusion: The risk of depressive symptoms of HCWS was double in LRAs than in HRAs in the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, salient predictors for depressive symptoms among HCWs in HRAs and LRAs were very different., Competing Interests: The authors declare that this research was conducted without any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as potential conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Huang, Li, Odetayo, Zhang, Ho, Chan, Pang, Suen and Lam.)