BackgroundPhysicians’ poor mental health not only hinders their professional performance and affects the quality of healthcare provided but also adversely affects patients’ health outcomes. Few studies in China have evaluated the mental health of physicians. The purposes of this study are to quantify Chinese physicians’ anxiety and depressive symptoms as well as evaluate associated risk factors.MethodsIn our study, 2641 physicians working in public hospitals in Shenzhen in southern China were recruited and interviewed by using a structured questionnaire along with validated scales testing anxiety and depressive symptoms. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify risk factors for anxiety and depressive symptoms.ResultsAn estimated 25.67% of physicians had anxiety symptoms, 28.13% had depressive symptoms, and 19.01% had both anxiety and depressive symptoms. More than 10% of the participants often experienced workplace violence and 63.17% sometimes encountered it. Among our study population, anxiety and depressive symptoms were associated with poor self-reported physical health, frequent workplace violence, lengthy working hours (more than 60 hours a week), frequent night shifts (twice or more per week), and lack of regular physical exercise.ConclusionsOur study demonstrates that anxiety and depressive symptoms are common among physicians in China, and the doctor-patient relationship issue is particularly stressful. Interventions implemented to minimize workload, improve doctor-patient relationships, and assist physicians in developing healthier lifestyles are essential to combat anxiety and depressive symptoms among physicians, which may improve their professional performance.

Poor mental health among nurses not only hinders professional performance but also affects the quality of healthcare provided. To improve the prevention and management of depression among nurses in mainland China, we investigated the association between working conditions and depressive symptoms using a cross-sectional study with a sample of 3474 nurses with more than 1 year of work experience in public hospitals in Shenzhen in southern China. Participants completed a structured questionnaire and a validated measure of depressive symptoms. Multivariable linear mixed models were used to identify work-related risk factors for depressive symptoms scores. An estimated 38% of nurses had depressive symptoms. More than 10% of the nurses often experienced workplace violence, and 64.22% encountered it occasionally. Depressive symptoms were associated with frequent workplace violence, long working hours (more than 45 hours per week), frequent night shifts (two or more per week), and specific departments. These findings indicate that interventions to minimize workload and improve nurse–patient relationships are essential to combat depressive symptoms among nurses. Additionally, in the prevention and management of depression among nurses, we must consider inter-department differences.

Background: The ubiquity of cell phones, which allow for short message service (SMS), provides new and innovative opportunities for disease prevention and health education. Objective: To explore the use of cell phone-based health education SMS to improve the health literacy of community residents in China. Methods: A multi-stage random sampling method was used to select representative study communities and participants ≥ 18 years old. Intervention participants were sent health education SMSs once a week for 1 year and controls were sent conventional, basic health education measures. Health literacy levels of the residents before and after the intervention were evaluated between intervention and control groups. Results: Public health literacy scores increased 1.5 points, from 61.8 to 63.3, after SMS intervention for 1 year (P<0.01); the increase was greater for males than females (2.01 vs. 1.03; P<0.01) and for Shenzhen local residents than non-permanent residents (2.56 vs. 1.14; P<0.01). The frequency of high health literacy scores was greater for the intervention than control group (22.03% to 30.93% vs. 22.07% to 20.82%). With health literacy as a cost-effective index, the cost-effectiveness per intervention was 0.54. Conclusion: SMS may be a useful tool for improving health literacy.

Leisure activities, particularly physically and cognitively stimulating leisure activities, mitigate cognitive decline. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between mahjong playing, leisure physical activity, and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Older adults with and without MCI were recruited (n = 489, healthy group; and n = 187, MCI group). The regression results showed that years of mahjong playing (odds ratio = 0.595, 95% confidence interval [0.376, 0.961], p = .032) and physical activity (odds ratio = 0.572, 95% confidence interval [0.381, 0.849], p = .012) were associated with reduced odds of having MCI after adjusting for a series of covariates. Leisure physical activity and mahjong playing interacted with each other and produced combined effects on the odds of having MCI. Combined cognitive and physical interventions may produce larger benefits on cognition than either intervention alone.

Background and Aims: The last decade has witnessed unprecedented growth in mobile phone use. It links millions of previously unconnected people. The ubiquity of mobile phones, which allows for use of the short message service (SMS), offers new and innovative opportunities for disease prevention and health education. SMS usage appears to be a feasible, popular, and effective way of improving health literacy. This study measured the effect of SMS health education on the improvement of health management in Shenzhen, China.Methods: This was a community-based randomized controlled study. A total of 32 communities were randomly chosen out of 320, then about 200 participants were randomly sampled from each selected community. The subjects were equally divided into two groups at random. About half of the participants received health intervention messages via Internet-based SMS for almost a year. The data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Results:The proportion of participants involved in self-health management increased from 30.92% to 38.68% over the year (χ 2 = 42.49, p < 0.001) in the intervention group.People with marginal health literacy reported the highest increase (10.92%), while people with low health literacy reported the smallest (5.25%). The control group showed no difference in baseline and final health management proportions (28.02% and 29.64%, p > 0.05). No statistical difference in the prevalence of chronic disease (15.16% and 13.89%, p > 0.05) was found before and after the intervention in the intervention group.The prevalence in the intervention group was lower after the intervention than it was in the control group (17.33%, χ 2 = 14.45, p < 0.001).Conclusions: SMS may be a powerful tool for improving the public's health literacy and health management because it is widely available, popular, affordable, and instant.