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Abstract Background Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) causes a wide range of clinical symptoms and potentially serious complications, but epidemiological data about GERD in China are limited. The aim of this pilot study was to develop and validate a methodology for the epidemiological study of GERD in China. Methods Regionally stratified, randomized samples of Shanghai residents (n = 919) completed Mandarin translations of the Reflux Disease Questionnaire (RDQ), GERD Impact Scale, Quality of Life in Reflux and Dyspepsia (QOLRAD) questionnaire and 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Reliability and construct validity were tested by appropriate statistical analyses. Results The response rate was 86%. The test-retest reliability coefficients for the RDQ, GERD Impact Scale, QOLRAD and SF-36 were 0.80, 0.71, 0.93 and 0.96, respectively, and Cronbach's alpha coefficients were 0.86, 0.80, 0.98 and 0.90, respectively. Dimension scores were highly correlated with the total scores for the QOLRAD and SF-36, and factor analysis showed credible construct validity for the RDQ, GERD Impact Scale and SF-36. The RDQ GERD score was significantly negatively correlated with QOLRAD dimensions of food and drink problems and social functioning, and was significantly negatively correlated with all dimensions of the SF-36. All eight of the SF-36 dimensions were significantly correlated with the QOLRAD total score. Conclusion This study developed and tested a successful survey methodology for the investigation of GERD in China. The questionnaires used demonstrated credible reliability and construct validity, supporting their use in larger epidemiological surveys of GERD in China.

Aims: The current study aimed at undertaking an investigation to describe health-related quality of life (HRQL) in Chinese people, with a Mandarin version of the 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36) validated. Methods: A total of 3,219 respondents were successfully interviewed under a randomized stratified multi-stage sampling design from April 2007 to January 2008 in five cities of mainland China. Self-finished interview method was applied and the Mandarin version of SF-36 was used for assessing HRQL. Results: As a result, the reliability and validity of SF-36 were acceptable, although some deviations from the hypothesized model still existed. The Chinese population scored higher than other populations in five of the eight SF-36 scales and Chinese men scored higher than women in six of the eight SF-36 scales. Conclusions: Basically, the Mandarin version of SF-36 is a reliable instrument, although minor modifications are needed. The health-related quality of life in Chinese people were quite high based on the sample of five cities in China; further research is needed to establish the countrywide norm of health-related quality of life in mainland China. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Along with the advancement of information technology and the era of big data education, using learning process data to provide strategic decision-making in cultivating and improving medical students' self-learning ability has become a trend in educational research. Educator Abuwen Toffler said once, the illiterates in the future may not be the people not able to read and write, but not capable to know how to learn. Serving as educational institutions cultivating medical students' learning ability, colleges and universities should not only instruct specific professional knowledge and skills, but also develop medical students' self-learning ability. In this research, we built a teaching system which can help to restore medical students' self-learning processes and analyze their learning outcomes and behaviors. To evaluate the effectiveness of the system in supporting medical students' self-learning, an experiment was conducted in 116 medical students from two grades. The results indicated that problems in self-learning process through this system was consistent with problems raised from traditional classroom teaching. Moreover, the experimental group (using this system) acted better than control group (using traditional classroom teaching) to some extent. Thus, this system can not only help medical students to develop their self-learning ability, but also enhances the ability of teachers to target medical students' questions quickly, improving the efficiency of answering questions in class.