Community Health Studies

Project Title

Principal Investigator

Year

Progress

CHAN C.M.A.
LEE K.M.W.
HO T.W.D.
TANG P.Y.P.

August 2008 to
July 2009

Completed

Brief description:  The study will explore the healthy (or unhealthy) living style and to develop a health profile of the villagers (some 1,000 persons of all ages in total). The study will be carried out in aYi tribe village in Wudin, Yunan. Once the profile has been produced, health education programmes could be planned to improve the villagers health status, particularly in reducing health risks in relation to hygienic practices. A fair proportion of the villagers are aged below 16 or 60 and over, as most of their adult children have migrated to town to work.

CHAN C.M.A.
TANG P.Y.P..

May 2008 to September 2009

Completed

Brief description:  As commissioned by Hong Kong Society for the Blind (HKSB), we are carrying out a study on the quality of life for the visually impaired elders. Through which we hope to enhance our understandings on: (1) The quality of life for visually impaired elders in Hong Kong; (2) How their visual conditions affects their daily life and; (3) How their visual conditions affects them psychologically and eventually to develop a reliable and validated instrument to measure the quality of life of visually impaired elders and so to ensure it in the long run. The result of the study is expected in the fall of 2009.

CHAN C.M.A.
CHENG S.T.
LEUNG M.F.E.
LEE J.J.

2006 to 2008

Completed

Brief description:  This is Wave One of a series of longitudinal studies on the social networks of the elderly in Hong Kong, and their relationships to physical and psychological well-being.  In light of the pace of population aging, this study wishes to provide comprehensive information on older people’s social networks, broken down by age, gender, and family composition categories, and to study how such network variations are related to health and psychological well-being (both objective and subjective measures of health will be included).  This study will oversample subpopulations (e.g., unmarried men) which are projected to increase substantially in size in the years to come, but for which the literature has little information.  In addition, we will also study the effects of (a) extraversion in terms of “insuring” people with a good-sized network, and (b) productive activities in terms of protecting those socially isolated from physical and psychological deterioration.  The findings of this study will have far-reaching implications for the field of social support and health as well as gerontology, and for policy deliberations in Hong Kong.

CHAN C.M.A.

Aug 2005 to January 2007

Completed

Brief description:  As recently reported in Western societies, keeping pets especially dogs and cats would enhance older person’s quality of life. The present study aimed to explore the cases in Hong Kong.

CHAN C.M.A
PHILLIPS D.R.
FONG M.S.F.

March 2004 to March 2005

Completed

Brief description:  The study explored the tripartite relationships between the formal carer, the informal carer (family carer) and the caree (i.e. the elderly person receiving care). The dynamic relationships will be revealed through in-depth study on 6 three-person groups (each interviewed for three times).

CHAN C.M.A.
FONG M.S.F.
WONG H.Y.E.

November 2004 to March 2005

Completed

Brief description:  The aim of the study is to provide a general profile on visual conditions of elderly people and explore any implications for optometrist services or diagnostic for the study group (e.g. Optometrist, Optical therapy).

LEE K.L.

2004

Completed

Brief description: 

CHAN C.M.A.

2004

Completed

Brief description: 

CHAN C.M.A.
PHILLIPS D.R.
WONG H.Y.E.

March 2003 to February 2004

Completed

Brief description:  The proposed study attempts to explore the psychological and social meanings of outbound traveling (trips outside Hong Kong) for the seniors in Hong Kong; and the perceived barriers and benefits of these trips for them.

CHAN C.M.A.
CHENG S.T.
FUNG H.L.H.

December 2002 to November 2004

Completed

Brief description:  This project examines how psychological well-being is maintained in old age by the individual discounting the process of aging and comparing himself/ herself to less fortunate (hypothetical) others.  Two studies will be conducted.  In the first study, participants of young, middle and old ages (n = 200 each) will respond to a questionnaire that tap their self-perceptions as well as their perceptions of “most other people of the same age” are like, as well as measures of psychological well-being.  The difference between how one views oneself and how one views others produces a measure of social comparison and allows an assessment of how social comparison impacts on well-being. The elderly participants will also be asked what they think they will be like in one year’s time.  A year late, they will be interviewed again on their current self-perceptions.  By comparing what they said a year earlier to their current self-perceptions, we will examine how over-discounting (making worse predictions than reality), under-discounting (making better predictions than reality), and accurate discounting (making similar predictions as reality) affect psychological well-being at baseline and follow-up

PHILLIPS D.R.

2004

Completed

Brief description: 

CHAN C.M.A.

January 2004 to March 2004

Completed

Brief description:  The Senior Day is now a regular annual event of the Hope World Wide. The study aimed at appraising the desirable effects for promotion of volunteering work to help the elderly people. The protocol involved a questionnaire survey on the volunteers and the elderly people, as well as an estimation of the ‘spilt over effect’.

CHAN C.M.A.
CHENG S.T.
PHILLIPS D.R.

2001 to 2002

Completed

Brief description:  The study followed the WHOQOL (old) protocol in comparing the items set in the generic version of the WHOQOL (100). Six focus groups were used: able and frail, 65+ and 80+, one group of care givers and one group of professional/academics. Results showed that the WHOQOL (100) items were matched in general, but modifications were required in some of the items/domains. However, for those elderly who had a low education background, the meaning of the term QoL was still not clear.

CHAN C.M.A.
CHENG S.T.
PHILLIPS D.R.

2001 to 2002

Completed

Brief description:  In-depth interviews and surveys (N=900+) with hospital volunteers on motivation for, patterns of, and outcomes of volunteering.

CHAN C.M.C.
PHILLIPS D.R.

2002

Completed

Brief description: 

CHAN C.M.A.
PHILLIPS D.R.

2001 to 2002

Completed

Brief description:  APIAS has developed a teaching package for social gerontology in English and a Chinese version was necessary for collaborative work with research partners in the Mainland. The Shanghai Institute of Ageing and East China Normal University was assisting the development.

CHAN C.M.A.
PHILLIPS D.R.

2001

Completed

Brief description: 

CHAN C.M.A.

2001

Completed

Brief description: 

PHILLIPS D.R.

2001

Completed

Brief description: 

CHAN C.M.A.

2002

Completed

Brief description:  A total of 129 respondents were invited by the public affairs consulting agent (Link Work) of the HKHS to participate in the 8 focus groups for their opinions to a planned housing package for senior citizens. Participants were consulted on financial arrangements for the rental packages and the health care packages, and were asked to give their suggestions freely. Results showed that participants were positive about the designs and facilities of the rental packages, but were not keen on the lump sum charges for the rental, and were doubtful about the preplanned health and social care packages.

PHILLIPS D.R.
RHONDA J.SCUDDS.

2000

Completed

Brief description: 

PHILLIPS D.R.
CHAN C.M.A.
CHENG S.T.

2000

Completed

Brief description: 

PHILLIPS D.R.

1999

Completed

Brief description: 

PHILLIPS D.R.

1999

Completed

Brief description: 

PHILLIPS D.R.

1999

Completed

Brief description: 

PHILLIPS D.R.

1999

Completed

Brief description: 

CHAN C.M.A.
CHENG S.T.
PHILLIPS D.R.
CHI I.
HO S.Y.S.
CHEUNG C.K.

1999

Completed

Brief description:  employing focus groups (4 x each group of 10) and household survey (N=1,700) to establish a benchmark for Elderly people’s quality of life.