Our videoconference program alleviated depressive symptoms and loneliness in elderly residents in nursing homes. Our findings suggest that this program could be used for residents of long-term care institutions, particularly those with better ability to perform activities of daily living.

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This study provides relevant information about the benefits, disadvantages, risks and limitations of nurses' use of Line. The study also provides suggestions for software programmers and future organisational strategy and development.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between social support and health outcome variables, and the effect size of social support on health outcomes. Meta-analysis was used to synthesize the primary studies identified initially from a computer search of the literature in Taiwan. Through preliminary screening related to the inclusion criteria, 165 dissertations and theses and 43 journal articles were included in this study. Finally, 182 primary studies, including 145 dissertations and theses and 37 journal articles, were retained after eliminating outliers of each outcome variable to achieve homogeneity. Based on Smith's four modes of health, 16 health outcome variables were used. Health status, physical symptoms and responses, psychologic symptoms and responses, and depression were categorized as clinical variables. Role function and behaviors and role burden were categorized as role-function variables. Physical adjustment, psychosocial adjustment, adjustment of life, coping behavior, and stress were categorized as adaptive variables. Health belief, health promotion behavior, quality of life, well-being, and self-actualization were categorized as eudemonistic variables. Other than physical adjustment, social support could significantly predict all health outcomes (p < 0.0001). The results provided information not only on the magnitude of the sample size required to achieve statistical significance between social support and each outcome variable as a measure of health in future studies, but also on strategies to guide further intervention programs and to evaluate their effectiveness.

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BackgroundWorkplace bullying is a prevalent problem in contemporary work places that has adverse effects on both the victims of bullying and organizations. With the rapid development of computer technology in recent years, there is an urgent need to prove whether item response theory–based computerized adaptive testing (CAT) can be applied to measure exposure to workplace bullying.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative efficiency and measurement precision of a CAT-based test for hospital nurses compared to traditional nonadaptive testing (NAT). Under the preliminary conditions of a single domain derived from the scale, a CAT module bullying scale model with polytomously scored items is provided as an example for evaluation purposes.MethodsA total of 300 nurses were recruited and responded to the 22-item Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R). All NAT (or CAT-selected) items were calibrated with the Rasch rating scale model and all respondents were randomly selected for a comparison of the advantages of CAT and NAT in efficiency and precision by paired t tests and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC).ResultsThe NAQ-R is a unidimensional construct that can be applied to measure exposure to workplace bullying through CAT-based administration. Nursing measures derived from both tests (CAT and NAT) were highly correlated (r=.97) and their measurement precisions were not statistically different (P=.49) as expected. CAT required fewer items than NAT (an efficiency gain of 32%), suggesting a reduced burden for respondents. There were significant differences in work tenure between the 2 groups (bullied and nonbullied) at a cutoff point of 6 years at 1 worksite. An AUROC of 0.75 (95% CI 0.68-0.79) with logits greater than –4.2 (or >30 in summation) was defined as being highly likely bullied in a workplace.ConclusionsWith CAT-based administration of the NAQ-R for nurses, their burden was substantially reduced without compromising measurement precision.

The findings of this study confirm the need for managers of LTCFs to address the physical and psychosocial needs of their residents. The findings can be used to develop education programmes and clinical protocols for nurses in the caring field and to develop instruments for measuring perceived caring in LTCFs.