Rueyyu Chen

• Doctor of Public Health
• Taipei Medical University

This study aimed to look into the effectiveness of a 6-month health coaching intervention on kidney function in treating patients with type 2 diabetes and early-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD). It was conducted via a two-armed, randomized-controlled trial involving 92 diabetic patients who were regularly followed under the shared care system at...

The global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has expedited the adoption of remote work practices by businesses worldwide. In order to understand the experiences of remote workers in Taiwan during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study aims to investigate issues related to labor time management and the various physical, mental, and socio-psychological fa...

Introduction: This study looked into the effectiveness of a 6 month health coaching intervention in smoking cessation and smoking reduction for patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: The study was carried out via a two-armed, double-blind, randomized-controlled trial with 68 participants at a medical center in Taiwan. The intervention group rec...

Introduction: along with the rapidly aging population in many countries around the world, the global prevalence of diabetes and suffering from diabetes-related depression have risen in middle-aged and elderly adults. However, given that psychological stress is deeply influenced by culture, gender inequality in these statistics is often exhibited a...

Introduction The aim of this study was to develop and validate a new diabetes distress scale suitable for Chinese and Taiwanese culture. Methods This study collected the current diabetes distress measurement tools, re-organized current definitions about the domains of diabetes distress, and then developed a new tool. Three hundred and ninety-five...

The types of workplaces and occupations with coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) clusters vary between countries and periods. We aimed to characterize major occupational groups with mass outbreaks of COVID-19 infections in several Asia-Pacific countries. Data on the major occupations or workplaces reporting COVID-19 cases in workplaces from January 2020 to...

Introduction: The aim of this study was to explore associations of workplace health culture and workplace health promotion (WHP) performance with employees' healthy lifestyles and health statuses. Methods: In total, 27 enterprises and 1,732 participants were recruited for a cross-sectional designed survey. At the group level, Workplace Health Score...

Background: The study aimed to look into the effectiveness of a 6-month health coaching intervention for HbA1c and healthy diet in the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: The study was carried out via a two-armed, randomized controlled trial that included 114 diabetic patients at a medical center in Taiwan. During the 6-month perio...

Background: Despite the lack of official COVID-19 statistics, various workplaces and occupations have been at the centre of COVID-19 outbreaks. We aimed to compare legal measures and governance established for managing COVID-19 infection risks at workplaces in nine Asia and Pacific countries and to recommend key administrative measures. Methods:...

Background Studies on the health impacts of being locked in a job are primarily conducted in Western countries, with the theory based on the value of individualism. But the socially-oriented concerns should be considered in workers’ locked-in status in Chinese society. So the current study aims at evaluating socially-oriented concerns on workers’ l...

Introduction: The aim of this study was to explore the impact of diabetes self-management and HbA1c affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the epidemic prevention work. Methods: This quasi-experimental study collected a pooled data from a randomized-control study between February and May 2020 in which 114 participants who presented type 2 diabetes w...

Background Studies on health impact of lock-in job are mainly conducted in western countries with theory based on the value of individualism. We argued that the social-oriented concern should be considered in workers’ lock-in status in Chinese society. Methods Anonymous survey were conducted on 1102 workers of high-tech companies in Taiwan from Oc...

Drowsiness is considered a potential risk for traffic accidents. Exposure to high carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in vehicles may result in unpleasant feeling, fatigue, drowsiness or lethargy among drivers and passengers. However, little is known about whether reducing CO2 levels in vehicles by air filtration can relieve adverse effects among human sub...

Background: The aim of this study was to develop and validate the workplace health culture scale. Methods: This paper collected and re-organized current definitions about health culture from literature and created the domains and items to develop a new tool. Six enterprises and 2,431 participants were recruited from northern Taiwan for validity tes...

Previous studies have documented the linkage between houseplant usage and indoor air quality (IAQ) improvement. However, the effect of houseplant on the association between indoor air quality and cardiovascular health is still unknown. We recruited 100 elderly subjects from 100 houses with (50) or without houseplants (50) in Taipei and conducted si...

Introduction: The aim of this study was to explore the effectiveness in HbA1c lowering and self-efficacy of diabetes self-management of a 6 months coaching intervention. Methods: This paper was a two-armed coaching intervention study in which 116 participants who presented type 2 diabetes were recruited at a medical center. The intervention group h...

Background Stress and psychological disorders have been assigned increasing significance in the field of occupational health. Based on Japan’s psychiatric disability occupational disease recognition regulation, Taiwan’s Council of Labor Affairs announced “Evaluation Guidelines for psychiatric diseases induced by work-related stress” in 2009. This e...

Background In this study, the long-term efficacy of hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination was assessed using seroprevalence and an age–period–cohort (APC) model of HBV seromarkers among university entrants 30 years after the introduction of the national neonatal HBV vaccination program in Taiwan. Methods In total, data of 17,611 university entrants...

Endometriosis is an inflammatory disease associated with multiple pathogenic factors and studies regarding roles of trace metals in endometriosis have been inconsistent and limited. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to compare the blood levels of miscellaneous trace metals measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in infertil...

Workers from specific occupational settings may be exposed to high fungal bioaerosol concentrations, causing detrimental health effects. Therefore, we conducted a study to evaluate the characteristics and health effects of fungal bioaerosols present on agricultural farms. By using IOM inhalable dust samplers, personal and area samples of airborne f...

Objectives Recreational sports are important leisure activities. However, most studies investigating barrier factors and motivation for participation in recreational sports have been limited to specific areas (e.g., a city or school) or demographic groups (e.g., adolescents). Therefore, this study set out to gain a more comprehensive understanding...

Background. A patient-centered approach has its role in the management of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Self-care, lifestyle change, drugs adherence and motivation are challenges for both patients and physicians. Health coaching includes psychological counseling, positive psychology, appreciative inquiry, solution-focused therapy, motivat...

To promote workers’ health and boost corporate productivity and national competitiveness, workplace health promotion is an international trend and a vital part of national policies. Prior to 2000, Taiwan’s workplace issues focused on industrial hygiene and safety improvements. Since 2003, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) at the Ministry of...

Reproductive hormones and exposure to environmental metals are correlated with low-quality semen. The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of heavy metals and reproductive hormones in the blood in addition to other relevant factors to clarify the relationship between these factors and semen quality. We recruited 154 male participants from a...

The aim of this study was to examine relationships of organizational culture and health behaviors with presenteeism. Data of a self-reported questionnaire were collected from 816 employees, who joined the study on a voluntary basis, in seven enterprises in northern Taiwan. Organizational culture and health behaviors were found to be significantly a...

This study set out to explore the relationship between female media use behavior and agreement with agenda-specific publicly promoted health messages. A random digit dial telephone cross-sectional survey was conducted using a nationally representative sample of female residents aged 25 and over. Respondents' agreement with health messages was measu...

Background Workplace oral health promotion (WOHP) program is not common in Taiwan. The aim of this study was to develop a WOHP program and evaluate its effectiveness on the differences of oral health knowledge, attitude and oral health status of workers between baseline and follow-up. Methods We used a pre/post-test study design. Overall, 86 m...

Aims To explore the risk of subsequent ischemic events in Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) patients who had lower extremity amputations (LEAs) when compared with DM patients without LEAs. Methods A population-based cohort study was conducted utilizing the data of 2,011 patients with newly diagnosed DM with and without LEAs sourced from the Longitudina...

BACKGROUND: In addition to traditional behavioral interventions, in 2004 the Bureau of Health Promotion (BHP) in Taiwan initiated a new program to encourage smoking cessation through pharmaceutical subsidies. However, while pharmaceutical treatment for smoking cessation is restricted to adult smokers aged 18 and older, adolescent smokers can only r...

To explore perception of spokespersons' performance and characteristics in response to the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak. This study was conducted from March to July, 2005, using semi-structured in-depth interviews to collect data. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. A qualitative content analysis w...

After the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011, an international review of nuclear safety indicated that two of the three nuclear power plants (NPPs) operating in Taiwan were listed as the most dangerous in the world. To understand the perception of NPP risks by the public in Taiwan and their attitudes regarding a planned fourth NPP after the F...

Background High-frequency noise from handpieces has caused concerns of hearing loss among dentists. However, data on dentists' workplace noise exposure are inconsistent and the literature on the consequent annoyance is limited. Aim This study evaluated dentists' workplace noise exposure and investigated its role in causing annoyance and its role in...

Work-related fatigue among medical personnel is a major concern for patient safety, however heavy on-call duty is common in many hospitals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of self-reported work-related fatigue and its associated factors. A cross-sectional survey of 1833 participants was conducted in two hospitals in Taip...

To explore the effectiveness of exercise program for banking and insurance workers and clarify the association between exercise, burnout, and metabolic syndrome components. In the process of the study, a practicable worksite exercise program was developed for bank and insurance enterprises. A three-month (12-wk) exercise course was conducted, and i...

Aging work force is an important issue in many countries including Taiwan. There are few systematic analyses on demographic/social distribution, employment and work conditions, as well as OHS needs of middle-aged and elderly workers. In Taiwan, related data are scattered and distributed among different investigations in labor administration, health...

Background: The Bureau of Health Promotion (BHP) in Taiwan has conducted annual population-based telephone surveys to monitor mechanism on tobacco consumption since 2004. This national survey is used as the gold standard to determine trends in Taiwanese adult smoking prevalence. Objectives: This study is to explore the smoking prevalence and trends...

Background: Taiwan has begun promoting smoke-free workplace through three task-oriented centers for tobacco control funded by the Bureau of Health Promotion, Department of Health, Executive Yuan since 2003. These centers were upgraded as the Center for Workplace Health Promotion and Tobacco Control (CWHPTC) in 2006. Following years of negotiation n...

Background and Purpose: A nationwide workplace health promotion (WHP) program has been implemented in Taiwan since 2006 with aims to increase the awareness of healthy workplace and establish a comprehensive model of WHP. Methods: Three healthy workplace promoting centers (HWPC) were funded by the Bureau of Health Promotion (BHP), Department of Heal...

Objectives In the past study, the latent period of bladder cancer caused by occupational exposure is 6 months to 40?8 years. Benzidine-based dyes have been produced and used in Taiwan until 1992. It can be expected that new patients with urothelial cancer in the near future. This study was designed to investigate the association of GSTT1, GSTM1 and...

Objectives The aim of this study is to explore the effects of exercise on the relationship between job stress and the components of metabolic syndrome. Methods A 12-week long worksite exercise program was developed for banking and insurance enterprises with a total of 89 workers participating in it. Participants were divided into three (low, mediu...

The aim of this study is to develop a practicable worksite physical fitness program for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Community-based intervention consisting of a three-month exercise course was conducted, and its benefits evaluated. A self-administrated structured questionnaire and physical fitness examination were designed to compare...

Objectives: This study investigated the characteristics and determinants of airborne bacteria in long-term care facilities in Taiwan. Methods: We did intensive environmental samplings, including airborne culturable bacteria and major indoor air quality factors, in five long-term care facilities in Taipei. We used statistical models to evaluate the...

In Taiwan, the Smoke-Free Restaurant Program (SFRP) was implemented from 2003 to 2005 as an initial phase before the introduction of restrictive legislation promoting smoke-free restaurants (SFRs). No studies have evaluated trends in public opinion before and after a national health promotion campaign for the introduction of SFRs on a voluntary bas...

Purpose: To explore smoking behavior among elderly community residents. Method: Data were collected through a census survey among the elderly aged 65 and over from the Shihu Township, a rural area in northern Taiwan. The face-to-face interviews were employed through home visits by using a structured questionnaire. Major items of the questionnaire i...

Phosphine (PH(3)), generated from aluminium, magnesium and zinc phosphide, is a widely used pesticide. PH(3) induces oxidative stress in insects, mammalian cells, animals, and humans. The involvement of glutathione (GSH) in PH(3)-induced oxidative toxicity is controversial. GSH levels in various tested tissues were reduced in aluminium phosphide-po...

The purpose of this paper is to describe the impact of metal pollution on the main seafood and assess the potential health risk from consuming the contaminated seafood in Taiwan. The results of geometric mean (GM) metal concentrations in various seafood showed that the copper, zinc, and arsenic concentrations in oysters were significantly (p < 0.00...

This study presents the distribution of blood lead levels and lead in various environmental samples (water, sediments, soils, and air) near the Shing-Yie storage battery recycling plant in Taiwan before (July 1990 to June 1991) and after (July 1992 to June 1993) amelioration. Before amelioration, the average blood lead levels in the neighborhood of...