There are about 3753 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Hong Kong. The country of the clinical trial is determined by the location of where the clinical research is being studied. Most studies are often held in multiple locations & countries.
The proposed study aims to investigate the effect of combined transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and behavioural speech training in improving speech fluency in Cantonese-speaking adults who stutter (AWS), and to examine its maintenance over a 6-week period.
This study is a pilot RCT to examine the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of a 6-week acceptance-based diabetes education programme (ACT-DE) on diabetes distress, self-care efficacy and behaviours of adults with type 2 diabetes in Hong Kong. It is hypothesise that the ACT-DE programme will: - Be acceptable, feasible and beneficial for adults with type 2 diabetes to improve their psychological distress and self-care. - Significantly reduce participants' diabetes distress (primary outcomes), when compared with the usual care (control) group immediately post-intervention; - Significantly improve self-care efficacy, self-care behaviour and psychological flexibility (secondary outcomes) than the control group immediately post-intervention.
Neurogenic overactive bladder (NOAB) presents with urgency incontinence. Existing NOAB management is expensive, lacks standardized regimens, or is invasive. Therefore, evaluating the effectiveness of non-invasive repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for NOAB management among stroke survivors remains crucial. Objectives: Evaluate the effects of active-rTMS compared to sham-rTMS among stroke survivors with NOAB, the interventions' cost-effectiveness and explore their experiences qualitatively.
Digital exclusion is prominent in the older adult population in Hong Kong. Symptoms of depression and anxiety are shown to be linked with increased barriers to participate in society. It is essential for older adults to be digitally included, get prepared for the future challenges, make use of the online services offered by the Government and social organisations, and stay connected with families, friends and the wider world. The purposes of this study are to: 1. evaluate the effectiveness of a Digital Buddy program (digital literacy and psychoeducation training and interact with a young buddy for six-month period) on older adults' mental wellbeing, depressive symptoms, quality of life, self-efficacy and perceived social support; and 2. explore the perceptions of older adults and young buddie' perception of the Digital Buddy programme. With one-to-one support from the young buddies, the older adults will be regularly using their digital device to communicate with family and friends, access to services available online, access to mental health and other healthcare information, more adherence to medication intake and easier to manage their health through health management/monitoring apps, and attend online activities organised by social organisations. It is hoped that by participating in this study, their mental well-being, self-efficacy and quality of life will be further improved. A long-term relationship is expected to build up among the young buddies and the older adults so that there would be ongoing social support for the older adults. Upon completion of this study, the toolkit will be made available to the public which can benefit the wider community.
Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is one of the most common cardiovascular diseases in developed countries [1] and is an emerging problem in developing countries [2, 3]. The prevalence of PAD in European population studies ranged from 3.6 to 9.2 % and 10-20 % in those aged over 70 years [4]. In a recent meta-analysis, the prevalence of PAD in China increased gradually by age until mid-60s, after which the increase accelerated. In the early stages, PAD is mostly silent. With the progression of disease, it may manifest as intermittent claudication, pain at rest, non-healing ulcer and gangrene resulting in lower-extremity amputation [5]. PAD is a major cause of disability, loss of employment, and lifestyle changes, and is a marker for systemic atherosclerotic diseases. Patients with symptomatic PAD have at least a 30% risk of death within 5 years rising to almost 50% within 10 years, resulting primarily from myocardial infarction or stroke [4]. Despite the major health risks associated with PAD, it is generally not recognized by clinicians or the general public in comparison with other cardiovascular diseases. However, asymptomatic individuals also have higher risk of adverse cardiovascular events similar to those with symptomatic PAD [6]. Many studies have shown that public awareness of PAD is much lower than that of other diseases. It has been reported that awareness of PAD ranged from 20 to 36 %, whereas awareness of other common diseases was more than 60 % in the same population [6-9]. Awareness is important for patients and physicians, and the need for public awareness programs has been highlighted [10, 11]. There is paucity of published literature on public awareness of PAD in Asian countries. It is difficult to reduce the morbidity and mortality of untreated PAD without adequate public awareness of PAD and its risk factors and consequences [7]. Insights into public awareness of PAD will help in developing strategies for behavioral change communication and health promotion. In this study we aimed to assess awareness of PAD among adults in Hong Kong. The survey is designed to measure knowledge of factors that increase the risk for PAD and the clinical risk consequences of having PAD. These data will provide useful information to guide future local public cardiovascular educational efforts.
This experimental study aims to develop an internet-based self-help cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia that reduces insomnia symptoms and its associated adverse outcomes among people with sub-threshold insomnia symptoms. In particular, this study compares the efficacy of internet-delivered self-help CBT-I with the wait-list control group, in treating insomnia in a non-clinical population. The online CBT-I course will consist of an introductory module, followed by 6 weekly modules. Each module will consist of the main treatment component presented in written or video format, quiz, and homework. Materials will be presented in an interactive manner to facilitate engagement.
Hong Kong and Japan are similar in terms of facing the super-ageing society. Maintaining oral function in elderly is particularly important because it affects social, physical and mental health to the people and to the society. By using technology seems to be one of the solutions in dealing with this. Thus, this project aims at using state-of-the-art Age-tech that have been used in Japan to implement "Oral Frailty" concept in Hong Kong. Through identifying oral biomechanical in elderly population, the investigators expect the situation can be improved, and the data analysed and collected can be useful and impactful that can influence the dental communities around Southeast Asia and the globe.
Background: Sleep disturbances are highly prevalent in ageing population and patients with age-related neurodegenerative diseases, which severely affect cognition and even lead to accumulated amyloid-β (Aβ). At present, non-pharmacological interventions for sleep disturbances in dementia patients are accepted as first line of treatment, of which the evidence from clinical trials is very limited. Encouraging results from recent studies on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) showed moderate positive effects on sleep quality in preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD). Compared to tDCS, high-definition transcranial alternating current stimulation (HD-tACS) enables the entrainment of neuronal activities with optimized focality through injecting small electric current with a specific frequency and has significant enhancement effects on slow wave activities. Objectives: The investigators aim to 1) investigate and compare the safety, efficacy and sustainability of 40 Hz HD-tACS and HD-tDCS over left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in mild neurocognitive disorder due to AD (NCD-AD) patients with sleep disturbances; 2) examine the relationship between the changes in sleep quality, cognitive function and saliva Aβ levels. Methods: Chinese right-handed mild NCD-AD patients with sleep disturbances (aged from 60 to 90 years) will be randomly assigned to a 4-week intervention of either HD-tACS, HD-tDCS, or sham HD-tCS, with 33 participants per arm. Before intervention, structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data is used to construct individual realistic head model. Comprehensive assessments, including sleep quality, cognitive performance and saliva Aβ levels will be conducted at baseline, 4th week, 8th week, 12th week and 24th week. Program adherence and adverse effects will be monitored throughout intervention. Data analysis: The primary outcomes will be the changes in sleep quality and memory performance with modality-driven paradigms (HD-tACS, HD-tDCS, sham HD-tCS), and comparisons of group differences across different time points. Secondary outcomes will be the changes objective sleep pattern, global cognition, saliva Aβ levels and quality of life. Intention-to-treat analysis will be carried out. Changes of efficacy indicators from baseline to each follow up point will be tested with mixed effect model. Significance: This study aims to investigate the feasibility, safety and efficacy of HD-tACS and HD-tDCS over left DLPFC for sleep disturbances and cognitive dysfunction in mild NCD-AD patients. It wills also test the program adherence, tolerability and adverse effects of this innovative neurotechonology. Information will be helpful for in-depth understanding the relationship of "sleep disturbances-amyloid deposition" and guiding the further studies of sleep medicine and neurodegenerative diseases.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a neurological disorder that leads to "partial or complete loss of people's motor and/ or sensory function below the level of the injury". The PPI intervention group participants will indicate significantly greater improvements when compared with those in control group in the minutes of performing the moderate-to-rigorous physical activity, depression, chronic pain and mindfulness skills and quality of life at post-intervention, and three months follow-up. The use of psychological motivational interviewing and online face-to-face meetings will be good modalities for the people with SCI to overcome the barriers of not having face-to-face interactions and transportation problems. And the intervention would be feasible and improve SCI people's physical inactivity, depression and chronic pain as to step up the control of the modifiable risk factors for non-communicable diseases.
Subject Population Our study's target population is people with pathological dissociation in the community. Research Design A pilot randomized waitlist-controlled trial will investigate the effects of an online psychoeducation program on coping, symptom management, and self-efficacy of people with pathological dissociation immediately (posttest-1) and 2-month (posttest-2) post-intervention. Supplementary semi-structured interviews will be conducted for process evaluation. The analysis and reporting of the trial will strictly follow the CONSORT guidelines. Instrument The primary outcome of our study is the coping ability of individuals with pathological dissociation, which will be assessed by the Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory (Brief-COPE). The secondary outcome measures are dissociative symptoms, emotional regulation, and self-efficacy, which would be assessed by the Dissociative Experiences Scale-Taxon (DES-T), the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) accordingly. Procedure The online psychoeducation program is developed based on an integrative theoretical framework that integrates the Stress and Coping model, Cognitive-Behavioural Theory, Bandura's self-efficacy theory, and findings of our previous feasibility studies on this psychoeducational program. Participants will be recruited via posting on social media and online forums. A 16-session online psychoeducation program will be delivered to the participants in eight weeks.