Fan-Ko Sun

• Professor at National Taiwan University

Family members of patients undergoing surgery experience various levels of anxiety. This study explored family members’ anxiety levels before, during, and after surgery. We used a phenomenological approach and interviewed 15 surgical patients’ family members. We identified four themes to illustrate family members’ experience of anxiety during the p...

Aim This study aimed to develop a theory to guide family members caring for young people with depressive disorders and suicidal ideations. Design Strauss and Corbin's Grounded Theory. Methods Theoretical sampling was used to recruit primary family caregivers (aged 22–60) of young people experiencing depressive disorders and suicidal ideations fro...

This study explored the psychological processes that patients navigated when healing and recovering from depression. A grounded theory approach was used. Twenty patients who had recovered from depression participated. Four categories emerged depicting the psychological processes navigated by the participants during the recovery process: (1) accepta...

Purpose To identify associations among social functioning, depression, and quality of life in breast cancer patients. Method A cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 180 breast cancer patients were recruited from the surgical units in southern Taiwan hospital in 2021. Path analysis was employed to analyze the relationships between backgro...

Background: Globally, breast cancer is the most common cancer type in terms of incidence for women. Women with breast cancer endure higher levels of psychological distress than other types of cancer because many lose their identity as a woman, which is an additional characteristic of their psychological distress. Research using phenomenology to ex...

Purpose To evaluate the efficacy of logotherapy on meaning in life, depression, hopelessness, and suicide ideation in patients with depression. Design and Methods A quasi-experimental approach was used and 86 participants were recruited from a psychiatric department in Taiwan. The experimental group received logotherapy for 12 weeks. The control g...

Background Depression is a common mental disorder. Literature has explored patients’ perspectives of the recovering process of depression. However, there is a lack of research to explore both patients’ and caregivers’ perspectives of the healing process and develop a theory to support patients with depression. Aims The purpose of this study is to...

This study explored the perceptions of meaning of life for patients with depression. A qualitative phenomenology approach was used. Patients with depression (n=20) were recruited until data saturation occurred. Findings revealed four themes all related to their value of: (1) accepting depression; (2) appreciating work (paid and non-paid); (3) embod...

Aim and objectives The aim of this study was to develop a theory to help guide patients with end‐stage renal disease to adapt to peritoneal dialysis. Background Taiwan ranks first worldwide in end‐stage renal disease incidence and dialysis prevalence. Many patients cannot accept long‐term dialysis treatment and thus face several physical and psych...

Introduction: Meaning in life can be good protective factor against depression, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation. Aim: To analyse the mediating effect of meaning in life on the associations among hopelessness, depression, and suicidal ideation. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 90 patients diagnosed with depression. A stru...

Background Due to the lack of resident physicians in medical institutions, nurse practitioners must assist in clinical care. However, the quality of training courses in training hospitals is varied and, currently, there is no theory to guide nurse practitioners to complete training. Objectives To develop a theory to guide nurse practitioners to ac...

Background Nursing students voiced that they were stressed or anxious during their final year at university. Further, they articulated that their anxiety affected their academic performance as well as their motivation to work on their clinical placement. Objectives This study was designed to describe nursing graduates' perceptions of their lived e...

Objective: To compare the differences in physical, mental, and spiritual health among Schedule I and II with III and IV controlled drugs users.Methods: A cross-sectional comparison design was used. A convenience sample of 479 drugs users was recruited in Taiwan.Results: The results showed that Schedule I and II drug-users had less perceptions of th...

Aims and objectives To explore the lived experiences of family caregivers of epidermolysis bullosa (EB) patients. Background Patients with EB need long‐term care. Their family experiences physical and mental stress while proving that care. However, very little research has explored the family caregivers' actual lived experiences when caring for EB...

Aims and objectives This study was designed to explore the psychological processes experienced by nursing students caring for suicidal patients during their first psychiatric clinical practicum. Background Nursing students expressed fear when caring for patients who presented with suicidal behaviours. Yet, there is a lack of research exploring nur...

Background: Globally, cancer is the second leading cause of death. Breast cancer and gynecological cancer can damage patients' body image and lead to psychological distress, depression, and demoralization syndrome. No studies have explored the effect of logotherapy in gynecological cancer patients' psychological distress, depression, and demoraliz...

Research concerning this issue demonstrates that nursing students initially feared interacting with and caring for patients with suicidal tendencies. However, there is a lack of research, which examines the care that is provided to patients that are suicidal, by nursing students. The aim of this study was to develop a theory to guide nursing studen...

Background: Substance use is a global mental health issue. There has been limited research exploring the relationships among body, mind, and spirit well-being and the possibility of relapse across different categories of substance users. Aims: The purpose of the current path analysis was to examine the relationship between body-mind-spirit well-...

BACKGROUND Nurses in intensive care units (ICUs) must be capable of employing appropriate conflict handling styles in order to communicate with medical teams, patients, and patient family members effectively. There is a current lack of research on the interpersonal communication competence and conflict handling styles of ICU nursing staffs in Taiwa...

Drug abuse adversely affects the health of populations in many counties and contributes immensely to social issues. Schedule III and IV controlled drug abuse is popular in young adults. Medical education is one of the most stressful academic fields for students. The aim of this study was to compare the health differences in body, mind, and spirit a...

Many nurses in Taiwan use quantitative research for their master's thesis. However, qualitative research explores humankind in depth providing a more holistic approach relating to nursing. The purpose of this study was to explore the rationale postgraduate students used to choose the research methods for their masters' theses in Taiwan. A descripti...

Assessing the recovery ability of individuals who have attempted suicide is crucial for psychiatric health nurses. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a psychometric Suicidal Recovery Ability Scale (SRAS). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated that three subscales with 15 items best fit the data. The global SRAS score showed si...

Background: Cirrhosis is a chronic, progressive, and currently incurable disease. Cirrhotic patients often experience uncertainty due to poor control of symptoms and disease recurrence. Although fatigue is a common symptom in patients with liver cirrhosis, this symptom is often ignored by healthcare professionals due to the lack of efficacious tre...

Aims and objectives: The aim of this study was to develop the Health of Body, Mind and Spirit Scale (HBMSS), which was designed to assess drug abusers' health condition. Background: Helping drug abusers to become healthy is important to healthcare professionals. However, no instrument exists to assess drug abusers' state of health. Design: A c...

Purpose: Historically, nursing educators have utilized the conventional lecture format in nursing education. However, this type of traditional, mostly passive learning strategy cannot satisfy today’s societal needs because science and technology are constantly growing. In recent years, many studies have showed that Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) have...

This study was designed to explore Category 3 and 4 controlled drug users' perceptions of participating in health-prevention lectures. A phenomenological approach was used. Twelve participants were interviewed after completing the lectures. Findings revealed five themes (1) mixed emotions; (2) self-development; (3) finding the lectures lacked pract...

Aims and objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the factors predicting suicide recovery and to provide guidance for healthcare professionals when caring for individuals who have attempted suicide. Background: The high rate of suicide is a global health problem. Suicide prevention has become an important issue in contemporary mental hea...

Background: The suicide rate of cancer patients is high in Taiwan. Breast cancer has a high incidence rate and is the leading cause of cancer in women. There is a lack of research examining breast cancer-related depression, suicidal ideation, and quality of life. Objectives: This study evaluated the effects of muscle relaxation and therapeutic w...

Background: In Taiwan, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Most breast cancer patients are willing to receive chemotherapy and experience adverse effects and suffering during the process of chemotherapy. Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore patients' psychological process when receiving initial chemotherapy for breast c...

Background The Fundamental Nursing clinical practicum is an essential module for nursing students. Some feel stress or anxiety about attending this first placement; however, evidence demonstrates that it is rare to explore the feelings of anxiety felt by the nursing students concerning their first clinical practicum. Objective This study was desig...

Accessible summary: What is known on the subject? Suicide is a global mental health issue. Taking care of suicidal individuals is a substantial challenge. Most studies emphasize the suicidal individual. Few studies have emphasized the family caregivers of suicidal individuals. No study has explored the relationship between family caregivers' carin...

Background: Medical negligence litigation has become a worldwide concern, but the topic of nurse practitioner negligence has been neglected in Taiwan. Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to examine how medical negligence is being committed through a study of the factors contributing to the medical negligence of a specific defendant nurse pra...

Background: Medication administration errors (MAEs) account for most medication errors, which not only threaten the safety of patients and increase hospital medical costs but also damage the personal and professional development of affected nurses. A feasible instrument measures the perceptions of committing an MAE that may provide support for nur...

Suicide caring competence is important for family caregivers to care their relatives with suicidal tendencies. The purpose of this study was to develop and test the psychometric properties of the Suicide Caring Competence Scale (SCCS) for family caregivers in Taiwan. A 20-item SCCS was tested on 165 family caregivers. Confirmatory factor analysis i...

Liability attribution and professional negligence in pediatric nursing are topics that have been neglected in Taiwan. (1) Identify the definitions of related criminal activities in accordance with domestic criminal law; (2) Elucidate the facts and the dispute in a current case involving a pediatric nurse; (3) Elucidate the principle of 'no punishme...

The purpose of this study was to explore the context and the intervening conditions that impacted on individuals' healing from a suicide attempt. Patients who had survived a suicide attempt (n=14) and their caregivers (n=6) were interviewed in this study. Findings revealed that the suicidal individuals who lived in a sheltered, friendly environment...

Psychiatric nurses have a special obligation and legal duty as guarantor against criminal negligence. The guarantor role and medical negligence in psychiatric nursing are topics that have been neglected in Taiwan. (1) Identify the status of psychiatric nurses as guarantors; (2) Understand the causal relationship in a legal context between this stat...

To explore the healing and recovery process following a suicide attempt over 12 months ago. Literature has explored the process leading up to attempted suicide. However, there is a lack of information exploring the healing and recovery process after a suicide attempt. Qualitative research using the grounded theory approach. Data were collected duri...

To evaluate the short-term effects of a suicide care educational intervention on the family's ability to care, family's caring stress levels and family's attitudes towards attempted suicide. Research has demonstrated that suicide prevention educational programmes are provided mostly for professional staff and not for the family caregivers of people...

To develop a theory to guide the recovery process of a recent suicide attempt. Suicide is one of the 10 leading causes of death in many countries. Many nations have set targets to reduce the high incidence of suicide by aiming to prevent people from taking their own lives and also providing care to promote the healing of those who attempt suicide....

Family members lack the ability to care for suicidal relatives. Nurses have a responsibility to improve family members' ability to care for their suicidal relatives. The aims of this study were to design a suicide education programme for nurses to educate family caregivers and to evaluate the longitudinal (12months after the educational programme)...

Background: Disaster-related mental health problems have been a focus of recent international scholarly interest. Typhoon Morakot caused exceptional destruction in Southern Taiwan, and victims suffered physically, psychologically and financially in its aftermath. Purpose: This study investigates the post-traumatic response and coping behaviors o...

Care provided by the families of those who have attempted suicide affects their healing and recovery process. Data on care provided by families to suicidal individuals in different areas of Taiwan are extremely limited. This study explored care provided by families living in eastern and southern Taiwan to relatives admitted to hospitals and subsequ...

Suicidal behavior is a significant global public health problem. Despite this, many health care professionals remain unaware of the distinction among suicidal behavior, self-mutilation, and deliberate self-harm. The aim of this study was to conduct a concept analysis of suicidal behavior. Walker and Avant's 8-step method of concept analysis was use...

This study was designed to investigate the learning outcomes of a suicide education programme for second-year student nurses in Taiwan. Research demonstrates that nurses' attitudes impact on the care provided to suicidal patients. However, evidence is sparse on promoting positive caring attitudes in nurses towards suicidal patients. A quasi-experim...

The aim of this study was to elucidate the experiences of first encountering death by nursing students during clinical practice. The objective is to assist nursing educational and clinical professionals to provide essential assistance for nursing students who encounter patient death. Increasingly, deaths are occurring in hospitals. However, there h...

Accessible summary Carers in families with long‐term schizophrenia in Taiwanese culture are suffering several burdens, such as burdens of caring and emotional burdens. Strategies of coping, cognitive and religious coping strategies were used by carers in order to cope with their burdens. The awareness of such traditional cultural values would help...

There is a dearth of evidence on the care that families provide to their relatives after they have been discharged from hospital following an attempted suicide. The aim of this study was to explore ex-patients' and family caregivers' perceptions of the care provided at home following hospital discharge. A qualitative approach using Grounded Theory...

The purpose of this study is to generate a substantive theory of hospital-based home care for people with severe mental illness in Taiwan. Despite the documented advantages of hospital-based home care services, there is a lack of information and understanding regarding the practices, functions and limitations. Currently, there is no model for how t...

Hypertension is known to have high rates among Chinese Americans. Identifying culturally specific interventions to reduce sedentary behavior may be effective in reducing hypertension. This study examines the effects of an 8-week walking program with and without cultural modification. The study used a 2-group, pretest and posttest, quasi-experimenta...

The aim of this study was to explore family members' and ex-patients' perceptions of caring for people who had previously attempted suicide. Suicide is a major public health problem in Taiwan. Official figures demonstrate that suicide was one of the top 10 causes of death in the last eight years, with 18.8 per 100,000 people taking their own lives...

This paper is a report of a study to explore family carers' and suicidal ex-patients' perceptions of the home environment and the provision of care in the home. Worldwide, in 2000 approximately one million people died from suicide, which is among the three leading causes of death among those aged 15-44 years. Internationally, epidemiological trends...

The purpose of this study was to understand the coping experiences of carers living with a schizophrenic family member. Our research may be a valuable reference for mental health professionals seeking to improve the quality of care for people with schizophrenia and their carers. We employed a qualitative descriptive phenomenological research method...

The aims of this study were to investigate a sample group of casualty nurses' attitudes towards patients who have attempted suicide in the middle of Taiwan and to identify factors contributing to their attitudes towards attempted suicide. A quantitative study using a questionnaire containing 22 statements with a five-point Likert-type scale was dev...

This paper presents a nursing care theory developed to guide the care given to people with suicidal ideas and those with a previous suicide attempt. Suicide is a major public health problem. According to the World Health Organization, international suicide rates range from highs of more than 20 per 100,000 people in Hungary (1997 figures), to fewer...

The aims of this paper are to present and discuss the findings that emerged from a qualitative study exploring nurses and patients' views of the acute psychiatric ward (the context) and the type of care received (the intervening conditions). The phenomenon of suicide and the nursing care of people who are suicidal have previously been investigated....

In recent years the suicide rates have been increasing gradually in many countries. In order to reduce the number of suicides, further research on suicide and the nursing care of suicidal people is required to enhance and advance the quality of suicide nursing care provided. Statistical evidence shows that the most common method of completing suici...

In recent years the suicide rates have been increasing gradually in many countries. In order to reduce the number of suicides, further research on suicide and the nursing care of suicidal people is required to enhance and advance the quality of suicide nursing care provided. Statistical evidence shows that the most common method of completing suici...

Suicide is a major mental health problem in Taiwan. Estimations revealed that approximately 41% of people who committed suicide had a previous history of psychiatric inpatient care. To date, a suicide nursing care theory has not been developed. Consequently, the aim of this study was to formulate a suicide nursing care theory with the aim of enhanc...

Suicide is a major mental health problem in Taiwan. Estimations revealed that approximately 41% of people who committed suicide had a previous history of psychiatric inpatient care. To date, a suicide nursing care theory has not been developed. Consequently, the aim of this study was to formulate a suicide nursing care theory with the aim of enhanc...