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 aim of the study is to assess the efficacy of this new ambulatory service model in reducing heart failure hospitalization (HHF), improving clinical as well as functional outcomes of post-discharge patients with Heart Failure of reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and Heart failure with preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF).
Mental health literacy is a concept that encompasses knowledge of mental health, mental illnesses, and their management; mental illness-related attitudes/ stigma; and help-seeking efficacy. It impacted care provision by affecting healthcare professionals' ability to recognize, manage and prevent mental illnesses. It was found that physical-mental comorbidity (co-occurrence of physical and mental illnesses) imposed a burden on patients and the healthcare system. However, the referral rate to psychiatric consultation-liaison in general hospitals was low could be attributed to the suboptimal level of mental health literacy of general hospital healthcare professionals. Nurses are the major healthcare workforce in general hospitals for the initial identification of mental illness, help doctors to deal with patients' conditions, and make a contribution to positive patient outcomes in general hospitals. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve the mental health literacy of nurses working in general hospitals. An education program had been developed guided by the concept of mental health literacy, and self-efficacy theory. This study aims to examine the effect of an educational program on improving the mental health literacy of general hospital nurses, in terms of knowledge of mental health, mental illnesses, and their treatment; attitude or stigma about mental illnesses; and help-seeking efficacy. It also measures the interventional effect on perceived competency in caring for patients with mental illness and work stress among general hospital nurses, as well as patient satisfaction with nursing care in general hospitals.
Studies have found up to 75% of mental disorders in adulthood have their onset before the age of 25 (Lin et al., 2008; Kessler et al., 2005), suggesting youth marks a critical period of intervention. Across the various psychiatric conditions, depressive and anxiety disorders have consistently been reported to be two of the most common conditions in young people globally (Merikangas et al., 2010; Racine et al., 2021). Both depressive and anxiety disorders are related to various negative impacts on youths' lives, such as undermining academic achievements, with other negative influences found in past studies (Birmaher et al., 1996; Fletcher, 2008, Woodward and Fergusson, 2001; Swan and Kendall, 2016). Notably, an increasing number of studies have found not only can clinical disorders, but also early symptoms of such conditions, can cause significant burden on the individual, their family and peers, as well as the larger society (Spencer et al., 2018; Lynch and Clarke, 2006; Wingrove and Rickwood, 2020). Existing healthcare services, however, tend to prioritise service targeting those with severe mental health needs. Knowledge about subtle mental health symptoms is lacking among the general public, which can contribute to delayed care and treatment (Fung et al., 2021). In addition, mental health services in Hong Kong are not only characterised by long waiting times but are also coupled with significant stigma, which can in turn prevent help-seeking, especially among young people (Sun et al., 2017; Yap, Wright, and Jorm, 2011). In view of the significance of early engagement and intervention for those with mental health needs and the current situation in Hong Kong, the implementation of low-intensity online-based interventions (LiON) for mental health appears to be a largely promising approach. Low-intensity refers to low usage of "specialist therapist time" (Bower and Gilbody, 2005), or usage in a cost-effective way, such as in a group-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy context. Low-intensity interventions focus on delivering self-help and self-management skills which can be led by non-specialists, which in turn help to reduce the cost required in both training and the delivering of intervention. Recent studies have also increasingly highlighted young people's preference to access mental health services through online platforms (Becker et al., 2016). Due to limited mental health resources and the high demand for mental health services in Hong Kong, such online-based low-intensity interventions - when shown to be effective - can be largely helpful in reducing societal costs, reduce the barriers to help-seeking, and facilitate large-scale implementation of mental health services on a population level. This study will adopt an open labelled wait list RCT design. Participants will be randomly assigned using a computer-generated sequence into either the (i) low-intensity online intervention (LiON) group (n = 60) or (ii) wait list control (WLC) group (n = 60) in one-to-one ratio. This study design was adopted to ensure all participants will be able to receive LiON during the period of this study. Random blocks of the size of 4 will be used for randomisation. Stratification will also be applied according to their distress severity (as measured by the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale). Those randomised to the LiON intervention group will first receive the 4-week LiON, with generic self-help tips provided to each participant before completing the T2 assessment. Meanwhile, those randomised to the WLC group will first receive generic self-help tips for a period of 4 weeks, followed by the 4-week LiON before completing the T2 assessment. Prior to the commencement of the LiON, all participants will first be screened for eligibility for participation by a professional clinician of the research team (i.e., psychiatrists or psychologist, senior social worker). A review session via Zoom will also be first provided by the trained interventionist (who will be a graduate with background in psychology, social work, or other related mental health disciplines with prior and ongoing training from senior clinicians of the research team) to each participant to determine his or her needs and ensure all inclusion and exclusion criteria are met. Briefing about the LiON, such as module structure and components of focus will also be provided during this session. All participants will also be provided with generic self-help tips. For those in the LiON intervention group, these self-help tips will be provided after the 4-week LiON. For those in the WLC group, these self-help tips will be provided during the first 4 weeks after randomisation.
This study will examine whether the Transdiagnostic Sleep and Circadian Intervention (TranS-C; Harvey & Buysse, 2017) can improve sleep and circadian functioning and reduce disorder-focused symptoms in patients with anxiety symptoms. Sleep disturbance is highly comorbid with GAD (Dolsen et al., 2014). TranS-C, targeting common sleep disturbances in disorders, has improved disorder-focused symptoms and sleep and circadian functioning in patients with Severe mental illness (SMI). Nonetheless, no study examined TranS-C's efficacy on GAD patients specifically. Hence, this study will be a pilot study that examines the efficacy of TranS-C on people with anxiety symptoms by comparing with a care-as-usual control group (CAU). Around 80 Hong Kong residents aged 18 or above, with a GAD-7 score 10 or above and at least 1 sleep or circadian problem will be recruited. Eligible participants will be randomized to the TranS-C group or CAU group in a 1:1 ratio. The TranS-C group will receive 2-hour group-based TranS-C intervention delivered by clinical psychology trainees for 6 weeks under the supervision of a clinical psychologist. Both groups will complete a set of questionnaires at baseline, immediate post-treatment and 12-week follow-up. They will also complete sleep diaries throughout as homework. The outcome measures include mood, sleep, quality of life etc. This study will test whether theTranS-C intervention apparoach can be considered as a treatment for people with anxiety symptoms and sleep problems.
Despite older adults being exposed to an increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), they are generally underrepresented in cardiovascular prevention programmes. The aim of this study is to examine the effects of an integrated exercise and cardiovascular health education programme (HE programme) on community-dwelling older adults at risk of ASCVD.
This research investigates the effects of mindfulness practice on mental wellbeing with the instruction recordings delivered via existing instant messaging applications, Whatsapp. The two-week mindfulness program targets parents with children in Secondary School or below. This research also explores how parenting and attachment styles moderate the intervention effects.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is a major health problem worldwide. It includes simple steatosis and NASH which has inflammation in the liver, with or without fibrosis. Fat content, fibrosis, and inflammation are three important components to evaluate NASH. Liver biopsy is the current gold standard for the diagnosis of NASH. Liver biopsy; however, is invasive. The existing non-invasive methods still have significant limitations to assess NASH. It was reported that quantification of fatty acid composition is feasible for evaluation of metabolic disorders and inflammatory conditions. However, this measurement cannot be used to evaluate fibrosis. Liver fibrosis is characterized by excessive deposition of collagen-rich connective tissues in the liver, which can be quantified by macromolecular proton fraction (MPF), an MRI parameter reflecting the macromolecular level in tissues. Although it has the potential to directly quantify fibrotic tissue, the effect of inflammation on MPF measurement was not well studied. In summary, NASH assessment using non-invasive imaging methods remains challenging. Based on our previous work of MPF imaging with spin-lock (MPF-SL) and chemical-shift encoding-based water-fat imaging in spin-lock MRI, the investigators will develop a fast acquisition technology to collect data for simultaneous quantification of liver fat content, fatty acid composition, and fibrosis within a single breath-hold less than 14 seconds. Our method does not require extra hardware and does not need to inject a contrast agent. The investigators will evaluate the repeatability and reproducibility of the proposed method on volunteers. To evaluate its clinical value, the investigators will recruit 120 subjects (60 with simple steatosis and 60 with NASH) in this study. The investigators will use histology analysis as the gold standard and evaluate the diagnostic value of our proposed method for detecting NASH. This project will provide a non-invasive diagnostic technology for the assessment of NASH. The proposed MRI technology also has the potential to be applied for other clinical purposes.
Pediatric cancer patients experience spiritual concerns such as meaningless, hopeless of life, fear of death and losses at all stages of illness. The availability of a valid and reliable instrument that accurately assesses the level of spiritual health among pediatric cancer patients is crucial before any appropriate interventions to solve their spiritual concerns can be appropriately planned and evaluated.
Inadequate mental health care capacity is a long-standing issue in Hong Kong (Yang & Mak, 2020). For example, a recent study predicts an additional 12% service need for specialist psychiatric care (Ni et al., 2020). It would be helpful to develop interventions that would ease the high demand of the health care system. Physical activity has been shown to reduce depressive symptoms in a number of studies (Bellón et al., 2021; Josefsson et al., 2014; Kvam et al., 2018; Schuch et al., 2016). Its flexibility and low-cost nature make physical activity a good intervention option for depressed individuals to do it anytime and anywhere. This study aims to investigate the effect of physical activity intervention in the format of self-defence training on depressive symptoms. Around 40 eligible participants with at least moderate level of depressive symptoms will be randomly assigned to the physical activity (PA) group and waitlist (WL) control group. The PA group will receive a 6-week home-based self-defence training programme consisting of 120 min video training (including daily practice time) per week. Self-report questionnaires will be collected at baseline, immediate post-intervention, and 4-week follow up assessments. The primary outcome measure will be the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 to evaluate depression severity. Secondary outcomes will include psychological health symptoms, sleep quality, lifestyle, and quality of life. This research will provide new perspectives on the application of physical activity in the form of self-defence training as an intervention for depressive individuals.
Acute myocardial infarction (MI) is a disease of high morbidity and mortality. It is usually caused by atherothrombosis of major epicardial coronary arteries which result in myocardial necrosis. Due to improvement in care systems, availability of revascularizations and better medical treatment, the mortality of MI has generally declined in the past 20 years. Nevertheless, patients survived MI are still at heightened risk of further cardiovascular events and death. Therefore, guideline directed secondary preventive measures are of paramount importance to improve long term outcome. These include adherence to medications and dose titration, risk factor modification, detection of arrhythmia and use of implantable cardio-defibrillator (ICD) as appropriate. In reality, guideline adherence is unsatisfactory and may lead to worse clinical outcomes. The underlying reasons are multi-factorial, including lack of patient education, recognition, motivation or physician inertia. Therefore, newer initiatives are required to reinforce secondary preventive measures. In current era of health information technology, remote monitoring and telecommunication emerge to be practice-changing in various aspects of healthcare provision. Particularly for post MI survivors, the early post discharge period is vulnerable and a significant number of patients are readmitted 30 days after leaving hospital. This is not surprising as patients are still in recovering phase on medications titration and many of them may not fully accept they are suffering from a life-threatening condition. Besides, malignant arrhythmia may develop without the protection of ICD which is usually implanted after 40 days post MI as per clinical guidelines. As such, home-based remote monitoring with handheld single-lead electrocardiogram and patch-based continuous holter monitor can potentially detect arrhythmia which prompt early clinical attention. Furthermore, daily blood pressure measurement using dedicated smartphone applications enables physicians and patients to up-titrate medications to desired doses more quickly. This can hopefully strengthen compliance to better achieve guideline recommended treatment targets. In the Quality Improvements in Post-Myocardial Infarction Management using Home-Based RemOte Monitoring System trial (QIBO; "岐伯" in Chinese), we investigate the feasibility and efficacy of utilizing a home-based remote monitoring system in post MI survivors. We hypothesize that this approach is effective to improve guideline directed treatment utility, cardiovascular risk factors target achievement and clinical outcome.