Community empowerment through integration of service, learning, and research : City-Youth Empowerment Project

City-Youth Empowerment Project (CYEP) was established in 2005 as a non-credit bearing service-learning project open to all students at the City University of Hong Kong, with a mission to mobilize students to serve the underprivileged, to enhance civic and global social commitment, and to integrate community practice-oriented knowledge to the academic field. With over 30 community organization partnerships, CYEP provides ongoing services for underprivileged children and youth affected by poverty, new arrivals status, minor crime, and disabilities; as well as hidden elderly, mental health consumers, while actively involved in environmental protection and disability rights. As part of the transformative pedagogical experience, students actively participate in the research process that represents a rich “transaction” with living veins of social and academic exchanges. Research goals are focused on effective convergent outcomes of the students, communities, and academic institution; grounded in cross-cultural perspectives. 1) The definitional model study seeks the understanding of a working definition of volunteerism and its operational boundaries for practice implications. 2) The investigating of implicit motivations in volunteerism has yet to be explored. In partnership with the University of Tilburg, the mixed-method study of motivational systems focuses on how the interaction of the implicit and explicit motivations can affect the volunteers’ experience and outcomes. Previous research has pointed to the significance of organizational support as integral to generate optimal volunteer outcomes. Segued from the study on motivational systems, CYEP studies the impact of organizational support in the form of motivation-service matching & supervision and group matching on volunteers’ satisfaction, commitment, and performance - giving helpful insight into effective volunteer management strategies. 3) Based on the operational principle that young adults will be particularly responsive to working with children and youth as they can capitalize on the “well of coping reserve” from their own experience, it can also be a correctional experience and reconstruction of the volunteers’ negative childhood narrative. Integrating aspects of attachment theories, holding environment, and other psychodynamic elements- qualitative studies conducted are focused on the impact of children and youth work on the development of young adults

Examining Intercultural Interaction in Hong Kong Residential Halls

The integration of non-local students into their host environments and their ability to develop meaningful local relationships are concerns for researchers, educators, and policymakers. Given the increased diversity of higher educational settings, a deeper understanding of these topics can help residential halls better accommodate students from various cultures, improve students’ residential experiences, and enhance their relationships with their peers. Research on these issues has focused mainly on Western universities; this study aims to explore the acculturation dynamics of residential education through focus-group interviews with 14 Mainland Chinese undergraduates living in residential halls in Hong Kong. The findings reveal that although the residential experience can engender interpersonal conflict, it can also foster intercultural interaction, help build a sense of belonging, and create the conditions for overcoming barriers and difficulties. The findings indicate that future programmes can improve adjustment outcomes in residential halls by creating a more welcoming environment for non-local students

Towards a global partnership model in interprofessional education for cross-sector problem-solving

Objectives A partnership model in interprofessional education (IPE) is important in promoting a sense of global citizenship while preparing students for cross-sector problem-solving. However, the literature remains scant in providing useful guidance for the development of an IPE programme co-implemented by external partners. In this pioneering study, we describe the processes of forging global partnerships in co-implementing IPE and evaluate the programme in light of the preliminary data available. Methods This study is generally quantitative. We collected data from a total of 747 health and social care students from four higher education institutions. We utilized a descriptive narrative format and a quantitative design to present our experiences of running IPE with external partners and performed independent t-tests and analysis of variance to examine pretest and posttest mean differences in students’ data. Results We identified factors in establishing a cross-institutional IPE programme. These factors include complementarity of expertise, mutual benefits, internet connectivity, interactivity of design, and time difference. We found significant pretest–posttest differences in students’ readiness for interprofessional learning (teamwork and collaboration, positive professional identity, roles, and responsibilities). We also found a significant decrease in students’ social interaction anxiety after the IPE simulation. Conclusions The narrative of our experiences described in this manuscript could be considered by higher education institutions seeking to forge meaningful external partnerships in their effort to establish interprofessional global health education

Canagliflozin and renal outcomes in type 2 diabetes and nephropathy

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide, but few effective long-term treatments are available. In cardiovascular trials of inhibitors of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), exploratory results have suggested that such drugs may improve renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized trial, we assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease to receive canagliflozin, an oral SGLT2 inhibitor, at a dose of 100 mg daily or placebo. All the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 30 to <90 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 of body-surface area and albuminuria (ratio of albumin [mg] to creatinine [g], >300 to 5000) and were treated with renin–angiotensin system blockade. The primary outcome was a composite of end-stage kidney disease (dialysis, transplantation, or a sustained estimated GFR of <15 ml per minute per 1.73 m2), a doubling of the serum creatinine level, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes. Prespecified secondary outcomes were tested hierarchically. RESULTS The trial was stopped early after a planned interim analysis on the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee. At that time, 4401 patients had undergone randomization, with a median follow-up of 2.62 years. The relative risk of the primary outcome was 30% lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group, with event rates of 43.2 and 61.2 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.82; P=0.00001). The relative risk of the renal-specific composite of end-stage kidney disease, a doubling of the creatinine level, or death from renal causes was lower by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81; P<0.001), and the relative risk of end-stage kidney disease was lower by 32% (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.86; P=0.002). The canagliflozin group also had a lower risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P=0.01) and hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80; P<0.001). There were no significant differences in rates of amputation or fracture. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular events was lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group at a median follow-up of 2.62 years

World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES) guidelines for management of skin and soft tissue infections

Peer reviewe

2013 WSES guidelines for management of intra-abdominal infections

Peer reviewe

An exploratory study on the social service need of the legal immigrants who came from mainland China to Hong Kong since 1975

published_or_final_versionSocial WorkMasterMaster of Social Wor

Parental social support and young adolescents running away from home

published_or_final_versionSocial Work and Social AdministrationDoctoralDoctor of Philosoph