Procedure and ethical considerations
After the study was approved for ethical considerations, we
recruited 12 community-based nurses from 12 public health
centres in Nantou County. All nurses participated in a 1-day
training course before collecting data. These 12 trained
community-based nurses telephoned their clients who met the
study criteria to arrange an assessment. The nurses explained
the study. All participants were informed that all data would
be confidential. Participants signed an informed consent after
agreeing to participate. Participants’ anonymity was protected
using code numbers instead of participant names, and
all information was kept in a locked file cabinet. The 10-item
risk-assessment inventory was completed by these 12 nurses
and returned without participants’ name, telephone number
and address