Evaluating the feasibility and preliminary effects of an online compassion training program for nursing students:A pilot randomized controlled trial

Objectives:This study aimed to assess the feasibility of an online compassion training program for nursing students and preliminarily investigate its effects on mindfulness,self-compassion,and stress reduction.Methods:This study employed a randomized controlled trial design.Second-year students from a nursing college in Guangzhou,China,were recruited as research participants in August 2023.The intervention group participated in an 8-week online compassion training program via the WeChat platform,comprising three stages:mindfulness(weeks 1e2),self-compassion(weeks 3e5),and compassion for others(weeks 6 e8).Each stage included four activities:psychoeducation,mindfulness practice,weekly diary,and emotional support.Program feasibility was assessed through recruitment and retention rates,program engagement,and participant acceptability.Program effectiveness was measured with the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale,Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form,and Perceived Stress Scale.Results:A total of 28 students completed the study(13 in the intervention group,15 in the control group).The recruitment rate was 36.46%,with a high retention rate of 93.3%.Participants demonstrated high engagement:69.2%accessed learning materials every 1e2 days,93.3%practiced mindfulness at least weekly,with an average of 4.69 diary entries submitted per person and 23.30 WeChat interactions with instructors.Regarding acceptability,all participants expressed satisfaction with the program,with 92.4%finding it“very helpful”or“extremely helpful.”In terms of intervention effects,the intervention group showed a significant increase in mindfulness levels from pre-intervention(51.54±10.93)to postintervention(62.46±13.58)(P<0.05),while no significant change was observed in the control group.Although there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in post-intervention self-compassion and perceived stress levels,the intervention group showed positive trends:selfcompassion levels increased(35.85±8.60 vs.40.85±5.54),and perceived stress levels slightly decreased(44.77±8.65 vs.42.00±5.77).Conclusions:This pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of an online compassion training program for nursing students and suggested its potential effectiveness in enhancing mindfulness,self-compassion,and stress reduction.Despite limitations such as small sample size and lack of long-term follow-up,preliminary evidence indicates promising prospects for integrating such training into nursing education.Further research is warranted to confirm thesefindings and assess the sustained impact of this approach on nursing education and practice.

Normative reference of standing long jump indicates gender difference in lower muscular strength of pubertal growth

Background: Although the standing long jump (SLJ) is a popular physical fitness assessment, it lacks an updated criterion-reference standard. This study generated the first normative SLJ test data for Chinese aged 8 - 18. Methods: From September 2005 to December 2011, comprehensive physical fitness assessments were conducted on 12,712 school students. The SLJ performances were significantly different between boys and girls (all age groups, p < 0.01). Results: The boys performed better than the girls in each age group. The mean difference increased as the age increased, depicting a prominent variance in muscular strength between boys and girls at age 12, and the variances became larger at age 18. Girls in the 70th percenttile performed similarly to boys performing in the 10th percentile. The onset of muscle strength for boys found in this study corresponded to the onset age of testosterone maturation of Chinese boys investigated in previous studies. Linear regression found age and BMI predicting SLJ significantly for boys and girls, explaining better SLJ results in older boy and the effect of their heavy body size. Conclusions: This study indicated a muscular strength difference between genders during growth and added supporting evidence to the hormonal influence of muscle growth during puberty.

Associations of social participation, demographic, socioeconomic and disease factors with nutritional risk in a group of older Hong Kong adults

Aims: To identify the impact of social participation, socio-demographic, socio-economic and disease factors on nutritional risk among older persons in Hong Kong. Background: Few published work has investigated the relative risks of social participation, demographic, socioeconomic and disease factors with malnutrition in community-living older people, this study is to investigate the associations of these risk factors on the nutritional status in better nutrition support for the old age group. Design: A crosssectional study. Methods: It was a secondary analysis of a database in a mobile community centre between January 2008 and December 2009. One thousand seven hundred and thirty one participants aged between 54 and 103 were collected. With 319 full Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) completed, the participants’ demographic, socio-economic data, diseases, and nutritional status were analyzed with relative risk and 95% confidence interval level to identify the factors that make them vulnerable to nutritional risk. Results: The prevalence of malnutrition in the community-dwelling old was 3.95% and 83.7% of the sample was at risk of malnutrition. Living on allowances, young old who was socially engaged and good relationship with family members were at less risk to malnutrition. Conclusions: Special attention should be taken to these groups as they are prone to develop malnutrition.

Develop a Participatory Model in Nutrition Education to Prevent Childhood Obesity

Purpose: To investigate the effect of nutrition education and the engagement of students, parents and teachers in addressing school-specific environmental influences in eating problem. Design: This study adopted the action research process of diagnosing, action planning, taking action, evaluating, and specifying learning. Each of obese and non-obese male and female students was randomly selected based on physical screening based on obesity criteria. Dietary intake records were taken over seven days as the pre-intervention period. These four students, one of each of their parents and the teacher from the primary school, were given 3 sessions of nutrition education. After the nutrition education, dietary intake records were taken over the subsequent 7 days as the post-intervention period. Lunch observation and lunch menu review were included to identify eating problem of primary school children in school level. Findings: Students were found to consume less whole grains and more food items belonged to the “limited” and “strongly discouraged” as set in government lunch guidelines. Students’ dietary intakes before and after the nutrition education were found improved in their energy intake (p = 0.012), total fat, saturated fat, calcium, sodium, and cholesterol. Conclusion: A participatory model in elementary nutrition education could be effective.

Can a cardiorespiratory field parameter assess both cardiovascular and respiratory fitness in schoolchildren?

Background: Cardiorespiratory fitness involves both cardiovascular and respiratory capacities. However, existing methods have been criticised for reflecting cardiovascular fitness, but not pulmonary fitness. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between these two testing parameters. Methods: A cross-sectional population-based physical fitness assessment was conducted in 23 schools. The body height and weight, lung capacity, and step test results of students aged 10-18 were recorded. Criterion-referenced standards from the China Sports Bureau were adopted, as they include separate measurements for cardiovascular and pulmonary fitness. Results: The Pearson coefficients of lung capacity and the step test index from 13,028 schoolchildren ranged from 0.007 to 0.086 and from 0.026 to 0.105 for boys and girls, respectively, showing that poor correlations exist between the two parameters. Cluster analysis resulted in three clusters of children with similar characteristics. A good degree of similarity was found between the two parameters in children obtaining an “excellent” grade, but only a moderate degree of similarity between the two parameters in those obtaining a “good”, “pass” or “fail” grade. Conclusion: When cardiovascular fitness and pulmonary fitness are considered separately, there is a poor correlation between them, thus indicating further studies of cardiopulmonary fitness measurements is necessary.