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Purpose: To describe the stressful experiences of Chinese-American parents who have an infant in the intensive care unit (ICU), and to assess the influence of acculturation, parents' characteristics, and social supports on parental stress., Design: A cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational study., Sample/setting: A convenience sample of 30 Chinese-American families (30 mothers, 25 fathers) who had an infant hospitalized in 3 ICU sites in the San Francisco area., Methodology: Measures included: (1) Infant's health data from the medical records and parents' demographic data, and (2) Parental Stressor Scale: Infant Hospitalization, Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale, and Family Support Scale., Main Outcome Measure: The dependent variable was mothers' and fathers' stress levels. Independent variables included personal/family characteristics, acculturation, uncertainty regarding infants' illness, and social supports., Principal Results: The ICU stressors were ranked by both mothers and fathers in the following order: infant's appearance, parental role alteration, staff communication and behaviors, and ICU environment. The combined effects of uncertainty about their infant's illness and its future impact, a strong belief in Asian family values, and lack of support from healthcare providers accounted for 26% and 55% of the variance in parental stress for mothers and fathers, respectively., Conclusions: Findings from this study suggest implications for the education of both families and the ICU staffs.

In 1998, 4% of U.S. children were Asian/Pacific Islander; of these, 23% were Chinese. The incidence of infants with congenital heart defects (CHD) in Chinese children approximates that of Caucasian children in the United States. Parents of children with CHD are faced with caring for the children at home after surgery. Parents' roles and responsibilities expand significantly as their children return home with complex care needs. In pediatric nursing, we not only take care of the individual child but also the family as a whole. The family is the primary institution in society that preserves and transmits culture. Understanding Chinese culture and its association with health care practice helps nurses to establish culturally sensitive nursing interventions; develop appropriate discharge plans; decrease family stress; reduce future medical hospitalization costs; increase positive coping, adaptation, and family function; and improve health outcomes of the child and the family. The Resiliency Model was used to examine its applicability in caring for Chinese families in this paper., (Copyright 2002, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.)

Purpose and Background: To demonstrate the application of Leventhal's Self-Regulation Model with a group of Chinese immigrants with type 2 diabetes., Design and Methods: Using qualitative methods and a convenience sample of 30 Chinese immigrants, interviews were analyzed by categorizing data according to the components of the Leventhal model. Participants were recruited from a U.S. West Coast Chinatown health center and were interviewed to identify beliefs about health and illness that are shaped by cultural factors., Findings: Application of the self-regulation model indicated that participants were unclear about the etiology and chronicity of diabetes and interpreted the illness as stigmatizing. Coping strategies included wishful thinking, belief in powerful others, keeping diabetes a secret, and avoiding social situations. Participants lacked the ability to appraise the effects of their coping strategies., Conclusions: Health care providers can help people with type 2 diabetes develop critical-thinking strategies instead of relying on sets of rules to gain control of blood glucose levels. The self-regulation model was useful in profiling a vulnerable group whose diabetes management, social environment, and self-image could be improved through thoughtful patient education strategies.

Non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) has been associated with stressful events such as immigration. The purpose of this paper is to report a pilot study that tested translated and back-translated instruments to ascertain factors related to diabetes management in a group of Chinese immigrants with diabetes. The descriptive, cross-sectional design included a convenience sample of 30 Chinese immigrants who had been diagnosed with NIDDM for at least 1 year. Consenting participants completed paper- and-pencil questionnaires (Diabetes Family-Behavior Checklist II, Diabetes Quality of Life, and MDRTC Knowledge Test) that had been translated and back-translated into Chinese and returned them in stamped, self-addressed envelopes. Results indicated that most of the scale and subscale reliabilities were similar to those published previously. Study participants had received limited diabetes education, reported many problems managing diabetes, especially in terms of social and vocational issues, and reported dissatisfaction with their quality of life. Diabetes-related family supportive behaviors were rated positively indicating the importance of including family members in educational programs.

A translated version of the CES-Depression scale attained a reliability coefficient alpha of 0.92 in a group of 30 adult Chinese persons with noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Fifteen percent of the sample scored 16 or above, which has been noted as indicative of depression in U.S. samples. The validity of the instrument was assessed through an in-depth content analysis and through convergent validity analyses. Comparison of depression scores of this sample with those from English-speaking Occidentals shows that diabetes disease-related factors may be an important influence on depression.