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Background: China, where half of the adult male population smoke tobacco, has one of the highest global burdens of smoking. Smoking rates are even higher among people with HIV. People with HIV can be affected by smoking in multiple ways, including more severe HIV-related symptoms and worse antiretroviral therapy treatment outcomes. However, smoking cessation services targeted for people with HIV are not routinely integrated into HIV care in China. Given the widespread mobile phone ownership, an exploration of factors related to smoking among people with HIV in China who smoke could inform the design and implementation of mobile smoking cessation interventions that target the needs of this vulnerable population. Objective: This study aims to explore the perspectives of smoking, barriers and facilitators to quitting, and perceptions related to a smoking cessation intervention delivered through behavioral counseling sessions and brief daily messenger service (WeChat)-delivered messages. Methods: We recruited people with HIV from the People's 4th Hospital of Nanning, Guangxi, China, and conducted semistructured face-to-face interviews. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim in Chinese, and translated into English for data analysis. We conducted a thematic analysis using a codebook, which was guided by a team-based consensus approach to identify 5 main themes. We also explored themes according to the demographic groups. Results: A total of 24 participants were enrolled in the study. The mean age was 37.2 (SD=13.5) years. The participants had lived with HIV for a mean of 2.4 years. The majority were male (18/24, 75%) and lived in urban or metropolitan settings (19/24, 79%). We identified five main themes: variable knowledge of the harms of smoking, both related and unrelated to HIV; willpower perceived as the primary quitting strategy; a duality of the effect of social factors on quitting; perceptions about optimal features of the smoking cessation intervention (eg, messages should be brief and most frequent during the first few weeks); and the largely negative impact of their HIV diagnosis on smoking behaviors. In addition, some themes differed according to participant demographic characteristics such as age, sex, and education level. Conclusions: We identified barriers to and facilitators of smoking cessation among people with HIV in China by conducting semistructured qualitative interviews. Owing to the adverse impact of smoking on HIV outcomes, targeting cessation interventions to the unique needs and preferences of people with HIV in China may be needed to increase the effectiveness of future interventions. A pilot clinical trial will be conducted in the future to evaluate this behavioral counseling and brief daily messenger service (WeChat)-delivered messages approach among people with HIV who smoke in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION The perceived health benefits and effectiveness of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) in quitting smoking may affect e-cigarette usage, however, research on the use of e-cigarettes among the Chinese, especially among the rural Chinse, is scarce. This study examined factors associated with perceptions of e-cigarette related harms, benefits, and addictiveness, among smoker and non-smoker households with children in rural China, to support the design of population-based interventions targeting rural Chinese households. METHODS In a cross-sectional study design, using a structured questionnaire, we collected data from the household members of children in two selected rural communities in China. Descriptive analyses were used to characterize respondents; χ² test and Fisher's exact probability test were used to compare the perceptions of e-cigarettes between different sociodemographic groups. Logistic regression was used to determine predictors for e-cigarette harms, benefits, and addictiveness, adjusting for demographic and other characteristics. RESULTS The overall participation rate was 81% (1211/1498). Of the participants, 668 (55%) were smokers and 543 (45%) were non-smokers; 53% knew about e-cigarettes. Participants from rural Dali (77% vs 59%), those who were ethnic minority (76% vs 59%), those who perceived increased COPD risks from smoking (mean score 4.37 vs 4.18) and concerned about harmful effects of secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure to children (mean score 4.48 vs 4.30) and adults (mean score 4.06 vs 3.87) were more likely to believe that e-cigarettes were less harmful (p<0.05). Participants with more knowledge about the harm of smoking were more likely to believe that e-cigarettes were helpful in quitting smoking (p<0.05). Of those participants who knew about e-cigarettes, females (19%) were significantly more likely to believe that e-cigarettes are addictive than males (10%). In the logistic regression analyses, believing e-cigarettes are helpful to quit smoking was the only variable associated with holding a higher knowledge about smoking and SHS exposure (OR=0.608; 95% CI: 0.450--0.820). CONCLUSIONS Our results showed that more than half of the rural household members who have a child at home were aware of e-cigarettes. Knowledge about health impacts of SHS exposure and perceptions about the benefits, harms and addictiveness of e-cigarette use varied among the participants, with a significant proportion of participants having wrong information. Public health campaigns to disseminate evidence-based information of e-cigarette benefits and harms are warranted. As knowledge about the harmfulness of smoking and SHS exposure was associated with perceived e-cigarette benefits, particular focus should be given to increasing knowledge about the health hazards related to smoking and SHS exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) continues to grow in Vietnam, and reducing the burden of NCDs is a national priority. This study explored perspective of community health workers (CHWs), known as Village Health Workers (VHWs) in Vietnam, and public health leaders towards potential of expanding VHWs' role to deliver NCDs prevention and control services, and determined barriers and facilitators. We conducted focus group discussions (FGDs) with VHWs (n = 24) and in-depth interviews (IDIs) with public health administrators (n = 13). The findings show that VHWs in Vietnam deliver multiple public health services, including several NCDs related services. Perceived barriers include lack of policy support, shortages of trained health personnel, lack of training, imbalanced workload and inadequate remuneration. Perceived barriers include lack of policy support, shortages of trained health personnel, lack of training, imbalanced workload and inadequate remuneration. Facilitators include government commitment to NCDs prevention and control, priority on capacity building, professional recognition and provision of incentives with availability of appropriate resources. While additional quantitative studies are needed to supplement the current qualitative findings, the current results inform the policy and intervention development in engaging VHWs in the delivery of community-based NCDs prevention and control initiatives in Vietnam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION Although the use of mobile health (mHealth) to promote tobacco control and smoking cessation interventions has been available in developed countries, their use in low- and middle-income countries (i.e. in China) is lacking. This study examined the acceptance of text messaging and/or WeChat based tobacco control intervention among parents who smoke, in rural China. METHODS Using a structured questionnaire, we surveyed smoker households (n=668) of children aged ≤5 years in two rural regions of southern China. Descriptive analyses were used to characterize respondents; multivariate regression analysis was used to test the associations between participants' sociodemographic and other characteristics, and their acceptability of text messaging and/or WeChat intervention for tobacco control. RESULTS After adjusting for other variables (i.e. region, ethnicity, age, education level, occupation, attitudes towards smoking, perception of cigarettes addictiveness, and quitting smoking), the overall knowledge about smoking and secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure significantly predicted a higher acceptance to text messaging/ WeChat intervention (OR=0.567; 95% CI: 0.457-0.704). Participants who thought smoking made people feel relaxed were less likely to accept text messaging/ WeChat intervention than those who did not think so (OR=1.403; 95% CI: 1.080-1.822). CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that households in rural China that were more knowledgeable about the hazards of smoking and SHS exposure, and had negative feelings about the benefits of smoking, were more likely to accept text messaging/WeChat for tobacco control intervention. Understanding rural smokers' preferences to receive intervention and related characteristics can help with the design of targeted tobacco control intervention programs in rural China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The age of the population is shifting toward the elderly range, which may lead to an increased risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The aims of this study are to evaluate the cognitive function in elderly people using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), to identify the relationship between cognitive function and different characteristics, and to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention after six months of cognitive training. In this study, we included 2886 subjects aged >60 years in the baseline survey, and 140 subjects with MCI who participated in the baseline survey were randomly divided into an intervention group (N = 70) and a control group (N = 70). The control group was not provided any intervention measures, and the intervention group was administered cognitive training. The education level, monthly income, sleep time, exercise time, reading times, and time spent engaging in community activities and performinghousework were positively correlated with MoCA scores, but age was negatively correlatedwithMoCAscores. The total MoCA score of the intervention group increased from 19.77±2.24pointsto 21.09±2.20 points after six months of cognitive training, butthe score of the control group decreased from 20.41±2.10 points to 19.17 ± 2.57 points. The two-way repeated-measures ANOVA revealed a very significant effect of the interaction between time and cognitive training on the total MoCA score. Seventeen participants in the intervention group improved to normal levels, and no participants progressed to dementia after six months of cognitive training. Thus, the efficacy of the intervention was statistically significant. Our study concludes that older age is associated with a cognitive decline. Factors that are more likely to protect against cognitive decline included a higher education level and monthly income, sufficient sleep time, regular physical exercise and reading, frequently engaging in community activities, and continuing to perform housework. Moreover, the cognitive training intervention is effective and may help to decrease the deterioration of cognitive function in patients with MCI, and the interaction between intervention time and cognitive training significantly improves cognitive function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]