In collaboration with various Faculty members and external researchers, the Centre's members have served as Principal Investigators and Co-investigators of over 30 projects, amounting to a funding of over 13 million Hong Kong dollars in the last three years. We have also supported hundreds of other projects. Some of these areas of studies carried out in the last three years, are summarized here. The list is not exhaustive.

The Understanding the Adolescent Projects

During 1995 and 2000, the Centre worked as the leader of the research team, jointly with the Social Welfare Department, Breakthrough Limited and Department of Psychiatry, CUHK, developed a screening instrument for early detection of socio-psychological problems for secondary one students in Hong Kong. The instrument, known as the Hong Kong Student Information Form (HKSIF), was developed as a result of two studies, a cross-sectional one and a 3-year longitudinal one, which studied over 6,000 students. Positively screened students were invited to join an intensive primary prevention program, specifically designed by more than ten youth services agencies, our Centre and Department of Social Welfare. It aims to promote the much needed resiliency among adolescents. The screening-prevention package is known as the Understanding the Adolescent Project. In view of its success and the strong demand, the Chief Executive, Mr. Tung C W, announced in his policy speech that the Project should be extended to 100 secondary schools in 2001. In fact, the responses are overwhelming so that the number of secondary schools joining the program in the first year was increased to 150; and in 2002, the number will further be increased to 250. It is expected in another one in two years, all secondary schools in Hong Kong would join the program. The Centre has been invited to evaluate these large-scale projects as well.

It has also been invited to carry out another longitudinal study to adopt the screening instrument for the use in primary schools. The preliminary results are promising. Another new project is to evaluate a pilot counseling program in primary schools, and the project is also commissioned by the Education Department.

Studies on Substance Abusers

Two projects have been commissioned by the ACAN. The 2000 Survey Drug Use Among Student studied 95,000 secondary school children in Hong Kong. The results are compared to similar studies carried out in 1992 and 1995. The second study starts May 2002, it is the first large-scale quantitative study to investigate the pattern of cross-border substance behaviors among younger adults in Hong Kong. Both studies are typical and important. These studies are carried out in collaboration with Department of Psychiatry, CUHK. The Centre is launching its surveillance studies to monitor the situation of substance abuse among adults in Hong Kong. It is also developing a screening instrument that allows identification of at-risk students, a project supported by the Beat Drugs Fund. In 2000, it also collaborated with Prof. Edith Lau of the Department of Community and Family Medicine, CUHK on the study on "Women's Smoking Attitudes and Behaviors". Our staff are also serving as members of the Centre for Addiction Research and Education, a newly established Centre in the School of Public Health.

Child Abuse Studies

In the last 3 years, the Centre has published three papers concerning the under-reporting and conceptualization of physical abuse occurring in families and its correlates with physical and psychological attributes. Comparisons with western countries are being made.

Sexual Dysfunction Studies

In 2002 January, the Centre carried out the first Chinese large-scale population based study on "sexual dysfunction". A press release has received extensive coverage and brought the city to the attention of this long neglected problem. The Centre is continuing to research on the relevant health utilization patterns and other issues related to sexual health. It is also collaborating with different universities in Mainland China to carry out comparative studies on sexual health.

TCM Epidemiology Studies

In 1999, the Centre research on the health utilization pattern of TCM of adolescents. In 2001, it researched on factors determining the utilization of TCM among the general Chinese population. In 2002, it is going to carry out research into the use of TCM by Pediatric Oncology children and sexual dysfunction.

Prognosis of cancer patients

In 2001, the Centre supported a study reviewing the staging of liver cancers and in 2002; it is going to work on a similar study for NPC, jointly with the Department of Clinical Oncology. In another study, the clinical and prognostic significance of human papillomasious for cervical cancer patients was studied, headed by Dr. K Lo of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, CUHK.

Discrimination towards Physical and Mentally Disabled Persons

In 2002, the Centre carried out this study, which is a continuation of a series of other 4 surveys carried out during 1994 to 1998. The project was commissioned by the RAC Sub-committee on Public Education on Rehabilitation, Advisory Council on Rehabilitation; Prof. Joseph Lau also serves as a member of this Sub-committee.

Growth Curves for Down's Syndrome Children in Hong Kong

In collaboration with the Hong Kong Down's Association and Pediatrics departments of seven hospitals in Hong Kong, the Centre constructed the first set of growth charts for Down's Children in Hong Kong in 2000. The health utilization patterns of these children were also studied.

Studies on Nocturnal Enuresis (Bed-wetting)

Using a special data collection method, the Centre supported the Department of Surgery, CUHK to carry out a bed-wetting study among young adults in Hong Kong in 2001. A press conference was held which helped promoting the services of a newly established service centre. We also participated in clinical trials to control overactive bladder in women, jointly with the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, CUHK.

Pharmaco-economic Studies

In collaboration with Department of Pharmacy and Department of Medicine, the Centre carried out this study in 2001. The press release announced that annually, Hong Kong may have lost a productivity that worth 32 billion in a year due to lowered productivity as a result of influenza. We serve as a member of the Pharmaco-economic Research Centre of the Department of Pharmacology, CUHK. In another project, we participated in the study of cost-effectiveness of intraversus ketrolac trmethamine and morphine sulphate for arresting pain after limb injury in a randomized trial.

Study on Heart Health

Our staff have served as co-investigators of two major RGC grants in studying atherosclerosis and one funded by the Institute of Heart Health Promotion, headed by Prof. K S Woo of the Department of Medicine and Therapeutic, CUHK. Prof. Joseph Lau serves as a member of the Centre for Atherosclerosis Studies, member of the Steering Group of the CATHAY Study and member of the Scientific Committee of Institute of Heart Health Promotion. We also supported the study on a predictor of cardiovascular mortality in end-stage period failure patients, jointly with Dr. Angela Wang of the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics.

Bone Mineral Studies

Jointly with Prof. Suzanne Ho of Department of Community and Family Medicine, CUHK and Prof. Jack Cheng, Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, CUHK, we serve as co-investigators of several HSRC Grants on studying bone mineral densities.

Stroke Studies

A number of stroke studies were supported by our center, jointly with Dr. Leung C H S and Dr. Frank Sze. A meta-analysis on the effectiveness of acupuncture on stroke patients were also carried out jointly with Dr. Frank Sze of the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, CUHK.

Quality of Life Studies

The Centre is validating QOL instruments for people living with HIV/AIDS and Pediatric Oncology patients. We also supported the validation of the QOL instrument for Asthma children, jointly with Dr. Leung of Department of Pediatrics, CUHK.

Eye Studies

We have served as co-principal investigators of two projects to study visual disability in the adult and aged populations, one is supported by the HSRC and another one was supported by the National Eye Institute of the United States. We also serve as a co-investigator of a large scale study on school myopia headed by Prof. Denis Lam of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, CUHK.

Gerontological Studies

A study on assessment of life expectancies of institutionalized older person in Hong Kong was supported by our Centre. Others on various topics such as study on the Philadelphia Geriatric Centre Morale Scale was performed. Other projects on mortality and morbidity of the older person population by Prof. Jean Woo, Director of the School of Public Health and Prof. Suzanne Ho of the Department of Community and Family Medicine, were also supported by our Centre.

Data Collection Services

We have provided services on fieldwork co-ordination on school and household basis in collaboration with some Faculty members and external researchers. The services are often combined with services on study design. Such implementation proves to be cost-effective because the researchers could save from hiring full-time research assistants for the purpose. We are also very experienced in carrying out high quality telephone surveys. Such services can be arranged depending on our project load at the time of request. A cost will be involved in the fieldwork services. Consultation on questionnaire construction is also one of the services provided.