published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

With the increasing use of forgiveness interventions as therapy and educational programmes, a lot of studies have been conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the interventions. However, most of the existing intervention studies do not consider the cultural elements in forgiveness. The current study aimed to fill this gap by conducting research on forgiveness interventions in Chinese cultural context. The researcher devised a forgiveness programme by integrating the programme based on Enright-Process-Model with another programme based on Chinese cultural values. To examine the effects of the forgiveness programme on the participants’ forgiveness attitudes and other psychological variables, a 3-phase study design combining quantitative and qualitative approaches was adopted. In Phase I, the reliabilities and validities of the instruments (i.e., Decisional Forgiveness Scale, Emotional Forgiveness Scale, and Batson’s Empathy Adjectives) were examined with the sample of 194 college students (114 males and 80 females) in Nanjing. The instruments were used in the intervention studies (Phase II and Phase III). In Phase II study, two 4-session forgiveness programmes which were based on the Enright psycho-social process model and the Chinese cultural values respectively were conducted for 24 college students in Zhuhai. Based on both the quantitative and qualitative findings of the two brief programmes, a 10-session forgiveness programme integrating Chinese cultural values and the Enright Process Model was devised and implemented among 28 college students in Zhuhai (16 in experimental group and 12 in control group; 2 males and 26 females) in Phase III, the main study. The findings disclosed that gains in forgiveness attitudes in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group. The improvement in the experimental group was maintained at the follow-up test after 3-month. Gains of state-anxiety in the experimental group, meanwhile, were marginally higher than those of the control group, while gains of empathy and self-esteem had no significant differences between groups. The qualitative findings further revealed the participants’ understandings of forgiveness and the strategies that influence forgiveness. The strategies facilitating forgiveness included engaging in perspective taking, taking self-responsibility, cultivating empathy, having positive thinking, and stopping rumination. In contrast, repeated offences, severe hurt experience from the offence, no apology from the offenders, and no continued relationship are perceived as factors that hinder the participants’ forgiveness. In addition, Chinese values of harmony and face were found to be pertinent factors influencing participants’ decision to forgive. The implications of the findings are discussed. Theoretically, the integration of the Enright Forgiveness Process Model and Chinese cultural values was effective in promoting forgiveness attitudes and psychological well-being with Chinese participants in the collectivist cultural setting. Practically, elements such as reconciliation need to be included in the forgiveness interventions with Chinese participants. Chinese educators are suggested to use the experiential psycho-social approach rather than the indoctrinatory approach to cultivate the value and strategies of forgiveness. The limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are also presented. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This study aims at the development of School for Children with Physical Disability in Hong Kong. From the first hospital school established by Hong Kong Red Cross those children studied in a ward, to seven well-equipped Special Schools for Children with Physical Disability that many of children with Physical Disability have been benefited. However, there are no structured literatures that could illustrate the history. This study try to find out the major stakeholders, Sponsoring Bodies and Hong Kong Government, their roles and interaction between them in the sixty years history of the development of School for Children with Physical Disability in Hong Kong. The history has divided into five periods, which presented in Chapter Four. In Chapter Five, based on the history presented in Chapter Four, these historical, social and economical factors affecting the decision making of Sponsoring Bodies and Hong Kong Government would be examined. It is found that the influence of Sponsoring Bodies has being weakened during those sixty years, while the influence of Hong Kong Government has been strengthening. However, the changing damage the relationship between them, it might not lead a better future for the development of School for Children with Physical Disability in Hong Kong. / published_or_final_version / Chinese Historical Studies / Master / Master of Arts

This dissertation constitutes a detailed investigation of the history of the Lok Sin Tong Free School. It discusses how benevolent societies expanded their service scope in Hong Kong, as well as how the reforms in the education system and teaching curriculum of mainland China affected those in Hong Kong in the 1930s. Lok Sin Tong, one of the most remarkable charitable organizations in pre-war Hong Kong, formally expanded into the education field in 1929 with the establishment of the Lok Sin Tong Free School. The School was located at 32 Dai Tit Street, and its aim was to provide free education to children from Kowloon City who had formerly been deprived of schooling. The School began accepting male applicants in 1930. The first principal was Tam Kit-Sang, and the second was Wong Bun-Po. The School offered primary education and a four-year curriculum focusing on Chinese education. By 1938, when a new campus was established, the School’s number of students exceeded 300. However, soon after the outbreak of the Pacific War and Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in December 1941, the School was forced to close its doors. This dissertation comprises six chapters. The first defines the term “free school” and reviews the history of research on the Lok Sin Tong Free School. The second chapter outlines the historical development of Kowloon City and the Kowloon Walled City prior to 1941, and discusses how the local Kowloon City culture was key to the reestablishment of Lok Sin Tong’s services in the late 1920s following a suspension of services early in the century. The third chapter traces the origins and narrates the development of Lok Sin Tong from 1880 to 1941, with an emphasis on the improvement in its services under the leadership of Tam Kit-Sang and Chan Cho-Chak. The fourth chapter investigates the Lok Sin Tong Free School between 1929 and 1941, with special attention paid to its size, the quality of its teachers, its administration, curriculum and pedagogy, and student performance. An evaluation of the School’s overall effectiveness on the basis of these criteria follows. The fifth chapter presents a comparative study of the teaching and learning activities of the Lok Sin Tong Free School and those of the (1) Long Jin Free School and (2) Tung Sin Tong Free School. This comparison reveals the transformation of and changes in Chinese education in Hong Kong. The last chapter concludes the dissertation with a discussion of the interactions among free schools, benevolent societies, and the local community and culture in Hong Kong. / published_or_final_version / Chinese Historical Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing in Advanced Practice

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education