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Generativity has recently received increasing attention as a key contributor to healthy aging. Personal resources and social expectations are shown to influence the desire to be generative and that generativity affects later-life health.... more
Generativity has recently received increasing attention as a key contributor to healthy aging. Personal resources and social expectations are shown to influence the desire to be generative and that generativity affects later-life health. However, whether generativity has a mediating role in linking its driving factors and health, and how gender may affect these pathways, is underexplored. Cross-sectional online data from 1085 Hong Kong residents aged 45+ were collected between November and December 2020. Latent variable path analysis was used to examine the mediating effect of generativity between human, social, and financial capital, and physical and mental well-being. Gendered pathways were investigated using multi-group analysis. Results showed that human, social, and financial capital contributed to better health through generativity, and gendered pathways were observed. Human capital had a stronger effect on generativity for men, but for women, social capital was vital for incr...
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Background Little research effort has been devoted to examining the role of patient enablement in alleviating health anxiety in primary care. In this study, we examined the role of patient enablement as a moderator in the relationship... more
Background Little research effort has been devoted to examining the role of patient enablement in alleviating health anxiety in primary care. In this study, we examined the role of patient enablement as a moderator in the relationship between health anxiety, psychological distress, and treatment seeking in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Methods The participants were 634 patients of a government-subsidized Chinese medicine outpatient clinic in Hong Kong. They were asked to complete a series of questionnaires on patient enablement, health anxiety, anxiety, depression, physical distress, annual clinic visits, and service satisfaction and provided various demographic details. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and general linear models were used to analyze the data. Results We found that patient enablement correlated positively with service satisfaction. Patient enablement also interacted significantly with health anxiety in affecting indices of psychological distress (depressio...
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Background Little is known about the trend and predictors of 21-year mortality and suicide patterns in persons with schizophrenia. Aims To explore the trend and predictors of 21-year mortality and suicide in persons with schizophrenia in... more
Background Little is known about the trend and predictors of 21-year mortality and suicide patterns in persons with schizophrenia. Aims To explore the trend and predictors of 21-year mortality and suicide in persons with schizophrenia in rural China. Method This longitudinal follow-up study included 510 persons with schizophrenia who were identified in a mental health survey of individuals (≥15 years old) in 1994 in six townships of Xinjin County, Chengdu, China, and followed up in three waves until 2015. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis and Cox hazard regressions were conducted. Results Of the 510 participants, 196 died (38.4% mortality) between 1994 and 2015; 13.8% of the deaths (n = 27) were due to suicide. Life expectancy was lower for men than for women (50.6 v. 58.5 years). Males consistently showed higher rates of mortality and suicide than females. Older participants had higher mortality (hazard ratio HR = 1.03, 95% CI 1.01–1.05) but lower suicide rates (HR = 0.95, 95% CI 0.93...
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ObjectivesFamilies facing end-stage nonmalignant chronic diseases (NMCDs) are presented with similar symptom burdens and need for psycho-social–spiritual support as their counterparts with advanced cancers. However, NMCD patients tend to... more
ObjectivesFamilies facing end-stage nonmalignant chronic diseases (NMCDs) are presented with similar symptom burdens and need for psycho-social–spiritual support as their counterparts with advanced cancers. However, NMCD patients tend to face more variable disease trajectories, and thus may require different anticipatory supports, delivered in familiar environments. The Life Rainbow Programme (LRP) provides holistic, transdisciplinary, community-based end-of-life care for patients with NMCDs and their caregivers. This paper reports on the 3-month outcomes using a single-group, pre–post comparison.MethodPatients with end-stage NMCDs were screened for eligibility by a medical team before being referred to the LRP. Patients were assessed at baseline (T0), 1 month (T1), and 3 months (T2) using the Integrated Palliative Outcome Scale (IPOS). Their hospital use in the previous month was also measured by presentations at accident and emergency services, admissions to intensive care units, ...
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COVID-19 has brought tremendous and abrupt threats to various aspects of our daily lives, from school and work to interpersonal relationships. Self-compassion is put forth as a salutogenic perspective on oneself that buffers the adverse... more
COVID-19 has brought tremendous and abrupt threats to various aspects of our daily lives, from school and work to interpersonal relationships. Self-compassion is put forth as a salutogenic perspective on oneself that buffers the adverse mental health impacts of these threats. During the peak of a local outbreak in Hong Kong in Spring 2020, 761 participants completed questionnaires on self-compassion, perceived threats, as well as perceived benefits and psychological distress. Controlling for demographic variables, negative indicators of self-compassion (aka self-coldness) was found to intensify the impacts of threats on psychological distress. The positive indicators of self-compassion also moderated the link between threats and perceived benefits, such that perceived benefits tend to be less related to threats in participants with higher self-compassion. Our findings highlight the impacts of both positive and negative indicators of self-compassion on the adjustment to such unpreced...
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Research Interests: Psychology, Psychometrics, Depression, Quality of life, Medicine, and 15 moreFactor analysis, Humans, Female, Confirmatory factor analysis, Male, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Depressive Disorder, Middle Aged, Public health systems and services research, Quality Life, Discriminant Validity, Epidemiologic Studies, Surveys and Questionnaires, Personality Inventory, and Sleep initiation and maintenance disorders
Research Interests: Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Psychometrics, Depression, Fatigue, and 15 moreHong Kong, Medicine, Anxiety, Humans, Female, Confirmatory factor analysis, Male, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Aged, Middle Aged, Convergent Validity, Adult, Public health systems and services research, Asian Continental Ancestry Group, and ANXIETY
This study investigated the relationship between psychosocial factors and the decisional consideration of genetic testing of hereditary colon cancer. Attitudes and beliefs about genetic testing, anxiety and depression levels, coping... more
This study investigated the relationship between psychosocial factors and the decisional consideration of genetic testing of hereditary colon cancer. Attitudes and beliefs about genetic testing, anxiety and depression levels, coping style, and optimism were used as psychosocial independent variables. Sixty-two registrants (61% males and 39% females) of the Hereditary Gastrointestinal Cancer Registry of the Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong completed a mail survey. Mean age of the respondents was 42 years (SD = 9.92 years, range: 18-68 years). Correlational analyses and regression analyses were used to examine the relationships between the dependent and independent variables. Participants were concerned about the well-being and reactions of their significant others even more than their own well-being in their decisional consideration processes. Those who had higher perceived risks of being a mutated carrier and higher depression levels tended to emphasize more on the negative conseque...
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Psychobiological research on aging in humans has been confounded by individual differences that have not been adequately characterized in the literature. This paper is an attempt to shed light on this issue by examining the impact of... more
Psychobiological research on aging in humans has been confounded by individual differences that have not been adequately characterized in the literature. This paper is an attempt to shed light on this issue by examining the impact of social network characteristics predictive of successful aging on salivary cortisol among 78 older Chinese people in Hong Kong. Eight salivary cortisol samples were collected each day for two consecutive days from immediately after awakening to 12 hours later. Two components of the cortisol diurnal cycle, response to awakening and diurnal decline, were examined in relation to social network characteristics including size, emotional support, and cultivation. ANOVAs with repeated measured were run to examine influences of the three social network characteristics on the cortisol awakening response and diurnal decline, with the effects of gender, age, socioeconomic status, and waking time controlled. Results indicated that those who spent more time and effor...
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Disasters usually involves massive casualties, yet few post-disaster studies explore the prevalence of complicated grief (CG) among survivors. Complicated grief is a distinct psychological disorder, and is associated with impaired... more
Disasters usually involves massive casualties, yet few post-disaster studies explore the prevalence of complicated grief (CG) among survivors. Complicated grief is a distinct psychological disorder, and is associated with impaired physical and psychological functions. Given such gap in the literature and the significance of this topic, this study is hoped to offer more information of complicated grief among survivors who lost their loved ones in disaster. Adopting a large scale survey, the prevalence and risk factors of CG among bereaved survivors one year after the Sichuan earthquake in China were explored. In total 803 bereaved survivors participated the study by filling a questionnaire on measuring CG symptoms, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, intrapersonal factors, earthquake related factors, bereavement related factors, and an interpersonal factor. There were 71.1% of the participants scored higher than the cutoff point of CG symptoms. Close relationship with the ...
Research Interests: Intrapersonal Communication, Bereavement, China, Medicine, Comorbidity, and 15 moreEarthquake, Complicated Grief, Disasters, Humans, Affective Disorders, Earthquakes, Female, Disaster, Male, Grief, Prevalence, Middle Aged, Cross Sectional Studies, Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, and Medical and Health Sciences
Background: Neuroendocrine dysregulation influenced by psychosocial stress is related to breast cancer recurrence. Very few studies examine the impacts of psychotherapy on diurnal cortisol patterns among breast cancer survivors. Methods:... more
Background: Neuroendocrine dysregulation influenced by psychosocial stress is related to breast cancer recurrence. Very few studies examine the impacts of psychotherapy on diurnal cortisol patterns among breast cancer survivors. Methods: Forty-eight breast cancer patients who completed active cancer treatment were randomly assigned to receive either 8 weekly body-mind-spirit (BMS) group therapy sessions or 1 educational (EDU) session. Self-report measures included the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), and the Meaning in Life questionnaire (MLQ) including two subscales: MLQ-Presence and MLQ-Search. Salivary cortisol levels were collected by the subjects in their homes at the time of awakening, 30 and 45 min after awakening, and at 12.00, 17.00, and 21.00 h. Measurement time points include baseline, the 2nd month (completion of BMS therapy), the 5th month, and the 8th month. Results: There were no significant differences in BDI-II scores (p>0.05) and MLQ-Presence scores (p >...
Research Interests: Psychology, Brief Psychotherapy, Depression, Breast Cancer, Adolescent, and 15 moreMedicine, Psychological Well Being, Humans, Internal Medicine, Circadian Rhythm, Female, Beck Depression Inventory, Aged, Middle Aged, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Psychological Stress, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Breast Neoplasms, and hydrocortisone
Objective: The present study attempts to understand the experience of breast cancer patients who had participated in an Eastern‐based body–mind–spirit (BMS) psychosocial intervention program by observing changes in the images made by the... more
Objective: The present study attempts to understand the experience of breast cancer patients who had participated in an Eastern‐based body–mind–spirit (BMS) psychosocial intervention program by observing changes in the images made by the patients.Methods: Pre‐ and post‐intervention drawings on the theme of ‘my cancer’ were collected from 67 primary breast cancer patients. Two creative art therapists compared the drawings according to the structural and formal art elements (body), the symbols used (mind), and the emotions and feelings presented in the drawings (spirit). Numbers of pre‐ and post‐intervention drawings, showing the presence of each element in these three dimensions, were also counted and compared.Results: There were several changes noted between pre‐ and post‐intervention drawings. The use of color, space, and multiplicity increased from 12 to 17%. Images of breasts decreased from 13 to 0%. Representations of cancer decreased from 15 to 7%. There was a slight increase i...
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Research Interests: Psychology, Depression, Breast Cancer, Medicine, Anxiety, and 15 moreCortisol, Humans, Circadian Rhythm, Female, Psychoneuroendocrinology, Middle Aged, Adult, Asian Continental Ancestry Group, ANXIETY, Cortisol Awakening Response, Breast Neoplasms, Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, hydrocortisone, Perceived stress scale, and Medical and Health Sciences
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Objective. To evaluate clinical trial evidence of the effectiveness of qigong exercise on depressive and anxiety symptoms.Methods. Thirteen databases were searched from their respective inception through December 2012. Relevant randomized... more
Objective. To evaluate clinical trial evidence of the effectiveness of qigong exercise on depressive and anxiety symptoms.Methods. Thirteen databases were searched from their respective inception through December 2012. Relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. Effects of qigong across trials were pooled. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) were calculated for the pooled effects. Heterogeneity was assessed using theI2test. Study quality was evaluated using the Wayne Checklist.Results. Twelve RCTs met the inclusion criteria. The results of meta-analyses suggested a beneficial effect of qigong exercise on depressive symptoms when compared to waiting-list controls or usual care only (SMD = −0.75; 95% CI, −1.44 to −0.06), group newspaper reading (SMD = −1.24; 95% CI, −1.64 to −0.84), and walking or conventional exercise (SMD = −0.52; 95% CI, −0.85 to −0.19), which might be comparable to that of cognitive-behavioral therapy (P=0.54). Available evidence did not suggest a...
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Afternoon Concurrent Sessions - A. Free papers presentatio
Poster abstractsThis free journal suppl. entitled: Special Issue: Abstracts of the IPOS 16th World Congress of Psycho-Oncology and Psychosocial Academy, 20-24 October 2014, Lisbon, PortugalBACKGROUND: Breast cancer patients faced a lot of... more
Poster abstractsThis free journal suppl. entitled: Special Issue: Abstracts of the IPOS 16th World Congress of Psycho-Oncology and Psychosocial Academy, 20-24 October 2014, Lisbon, PortugalBACKGROUND: Breast cancer patients faced a lot of physical and psychological challenges during their treatment. Lots of psychosocial intervention groups had been provided to cater their physical needs (fatigue, poor eating appetite), treat mentside-effects (fatigue, poor sleeping quality) and emotional turmoil (anxious, fear and depressive mood). However, less is being address on religious aspect. In this study, the importance of religiosity would be studied among the Chinese breast cancer patients. METHOD: Subjects were 140 cancer patients receiving radiotherapy treatment for their breast cancer. Participants were recruited from two local hospitals and community cancer support organization in Hong Kong. All of them were asked to fill in a set of self-reported questionnaires including a self-rated...
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Selected papers from "華人文化與心理輔導國際學術硏討會" held Dec., 2001 in Beijing, Chin
Monograph Series No.3
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Keynote Addres
Research Interests: Medicine and Psychosocial
AbstractConference Theme: New Horizons in Hospice Car
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PP. 26-38 of this journal issue entitled: Abstracts from the 2012 47th Annual American Dance Therapy Association Research and Thesis Poster Session
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Research Interests: Psychology and Medicine
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Theme: Cruise Bereavemen
Research Interests: Psychology and stressor
Abstrac
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Meeting Theme: Behavior Matters: The Impact and Reach of Behavioral Medicin
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目的通過對5.12地震災后都江堰安置點人群進行問卷調查,了解他們的心理健康狀況,探討在地震災害發生半年后,影響地震災區人群出現創傷后應激障礙的危險因素。方法采用一般情況調查表、創傷后應激障礙檢查表、貝克抑郁量表(BD... more
目的通過對5.12地震災后都江堰安置點人群進行問卷調查,了解他們的心理健康狀況,探討在地震災害發生半年后,影響地震災區人群出現創傷后應激障礙的危險因素。方法采用一般情況調查表、創傷后應激障礙檢查表、貝克抑郁量表(BD I)、漢密爾頓焦慮量表在震后半年對都江堰災區勤儉人家安置點內的人群進行調查,并對調查結果進行相應的統計分析。結果共調查560名安置點居民。PTSD發生率為18.3%,抑郁發生率為21.6%;焦慮發生率19.7%;13.7%的人有自殺的念頭,0.6%的人表示如果有機會就會自殺;PTSD中合并抑郁的占56.1%,PTSD中合并焦慮的占18.7%,抑郁中合并焦慮的有58.2%;抑郁量表總分、噩夢、焦慮量表總分可以預測創傷后應激障礙的發生。結論地震災區群眾抑郁、焦慮及創傷后應激障礙發生率明顯高于正常人群,三者之間共病率高,創傷后應激障礙的預測因素是多方面的,并且各因素之間存在著復雜的相互關系。對PTSD預測因素需進一步深入研究。應及時采取有針對性、切實可行的干預措施,促進災區人民的心理健康
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Award Winning Paper: D1
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Oral Presentation (Abstract)8th Annual Conference of the International Society for Quality of Life Research (ISOQOL), Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 7-10 November 2001. In Quality of Life Research, 2002, v. 10 n. 3, p. 219, abstract no. 10