Hope-based intervention for individuals susceptible to colorectal cancer: a pilot study

Individuals undergoing genetic testing for hereditary colorectal cancer (HCRC) are prone to develop psychological problems. This study investigated the short-term efficacy of a hope-based intervention program in increasing hope levels and decreasing psychopathology among HCRC genetic testing recipients. A longitudinal study was carried out on HCRC genetic testing recipients recruited by the Hereditary Gastrointestinal Cancer Registry. Participants joined a hope-based intervention program consisting of six sessions of weekly closed group therapy. Psychological questionnaires were administered immediately before the first and after the last sessions of the program measuring hope, anxiety and depression levels of the participants. There were 22 participants (7 men and 15 women) at a mean age of 49.4 ± 9.6 years. Women tended to have higher level of anxiety than men at pre-intervention. Paired sample t tests were conducted. Hope levels increased significantly from pre- to post-intervention (pre-total hope score = 5.56; post-total hope score = 6.07; t(1) = -0.281, p < 0.05). Anxiety level also decreased significantly from pre- to post-intervention (pre-anxiety score = 7.38; post-anxiety score = 5.90; t (1) = 2.35, p < 0.05). Our findings imply that hope-based intervention program would be effective in enhancing hope in HCRC genetic testing recipients. The program may also be more effective in alleviating anxiety than depression in these individuals. © 2012 The Author(s).published_or_final_versio

Are all ‘research fields’ equal? Rethinking practice for the use of data from crowd-sourcing market places

New technologies like large-scale social media sides (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) and crowdsourcing services (e.g., Amazon Mechanical Turk, Crowdflower, Clickworker) impact social science research and provide many new and interesting avenues for research. The use of these new technologies for research has not been without challenges and a recently published psychological study on Facebook led to a widespread discussion on the ethics of conducting large-scale experiments online. Surprisingly little has been said about the ethics of conducting research using commercial crowdsourcing market places. In this paper, I want to focus on the question of which ethical questions are raised by data collection with crowdsourcing tools. I briefly draw on implications of internet research more generally and then focus on the specific challenges that research with crowdsourcing tools faces. I identify fair-pay and related issues of respect for autonomy as well as problems with power dynamics between researcher and participant, which has implications for ‘withdrawal-withoutprejudice’, as the major ethical challenges with crowdsourced data. Further, I will to draw attention on how we can develop a ‘best practice’ for researchers using crowdsourcing tools

Gender ideologies of youth in post-socialist China : their gender-role attitudes, antecedents, and socio-psychological impacts

202305 bcwwAccepted ManuscriptRGCPublishe

Disentangling the effects of empathy components on internet gaming disorder : a study of vulnerable youth in China

202305 bcwwVersion of RecordSelf-fundedPublishe

The effect of social capital on outcomes of global citizenship among Taiwanese young adults : the mediating role of political self-efficacy

202404 bcchVersion of RecordSelf-fundedPublishedC

From social networking site use to subjective well-being : the interpersonal and intrapersonal mediating pathways of prosocial behavior among vocational college students in China

202307 bcchVersion of RecordRGCOthersCollaborative Research Fund; General Research Fund of Shanghai Normal UniversityPublishe

The effects of need satisfaction and dissatisfaction on flourishing among young Chinese gamers : the mediating role of internet gaming disorder

202305 bcwwVersion of RecordRGCPublishe

COVID-19 and health-related quality of life : a community-based online survey in Hong Kong

202109 bcvcVersion of RecordPublishe

Dual impacts of coronavirus anxiety on mental health in 35 societies

202110 bcvcVersion of RecordPublishe

Genetic diversity of Aspergillus species isolated from onychomycosis and Aspergillus hongkongensis sp. nov., with implications to antifungal susceptibility testing

Thirteen Aspergillus isolates recovered from nails of 13 patients (fingernails, n = 2; toenails, n = 11) with onychomycosis were characterized. Twelve strains were identified by multilocus sequencing as Aspergillus spp. (Aspergillus sydowii [n = 4], Aspergillus welwitschiae [n = 3], Aspergillus terreus [n = 2], Aspergillus flavus [n = 1], Aspergillus tubingensis [n = 1], and Aspergillus unguis [n = 1]). Isolates of A. terreus, A. flavus, and A. unguis were also identifiable by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The 13th isolate (HKU49T) possessed unique morphological characteristics different from other Aspergillus spp. Molecular characterization also unambiguously showed that HKU49T was distinct from other Aspergillus spp. We propose the novel species Aspergillus hongkongensis to describe this previously unknown fungus. Antifungal susceptibility testing showed most Aspergillus isolates had low MICs against itraconazole and voriconazole, but all Aspergillus isolates had high MICs against fluconazole. A diverse spectrum of Aspergillus species is associated with onychomycosis. Itraconazole and voriconazole are probably better drug options for Aspergillus onychomycosis