published_or_final_version / abstract / Dentistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Early childhood caries is a condition of rapidly progressing rampant dental caries in infants and young children. It is considered as a major public health problem affecting pre-school children and it is the most common dental disease which affects 28% of children within two to five years of age. ECC not only induces pain and discomfort, but can also affect communication, nutrition status, learning abilities, speech and quality of life, which may progress into adulthood and pose a heavy burden on the healthcare system in long-term. In Hong Kong, over 50% of children were affected by dental caries in 2001 but over 70% of children had never been to a dentist for a regular check up at age five. Thus, much of the tooth decay was remained undetected and untreated. Dental caries can be preventable and achievable. Collaboration between families, early care and health care professionals is required to promote effective oral health care. Numerous studies have found that educational programs and workshops are effective in promoting oral health and can provide children a lifelong opportunity to be free from preventable oral disease. In order to promote oral health to achieve the mission of the Department of Health in Hong Kong- at least 65% of 5 years old children are free from caries by the year 2020, an evidence-based guideline for a community-based programme in oral health education was developed in the proposed setting after a critical appraisal of the reviewed evidence. The comprehensive intervention plan, including communication plan with stakeholders, training of staffs and pilot testing will be carried out to facilitate the implementation of the innovation. The oral health programme will be evaluated for its effectiveness in achieving the patient outcomes, health providers’ outcomes and system outcomes in the proposed settings. / published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing

BACKGROUND: Researchers in the fields of health, education and psychology have established a causal relationship between levels of education and both health status and its management amongst adults and children. This has resulted in largescale ‘health literacy’ intervention programmes. The relationship between oral health literacy (OHL), health status and management is less understood. Indeed, ‘OHL’ is a relatively new field with limited research to date in Asia. Measurements of OHL on the whole have focused on the match or mismatch between reading fluency, vocabulary, background knowledge, and oral and written communication demands. While it may be difficult or impractical to comprehensively capture and measure all possible dimensions of OHL, several instruments have been developed to date, albeit mostly in English dominant contexts. OBJECTIVES: The major objectives of this study were to: a) to describe the relationship between caregiver reading habits and their OHL, and their child’s oral health status; b) assess the functional OHL levels of primary caregivers in an Asian population using two new instruments; c) to describe the relationship between caregiver OHL and the oral health status of their children. METHODS: A cross-sectional study using two locally-developed and validated OHL instruments; Hong Kong Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry-30 (HKREALD-30) and Hong Kong OHL Assessment Task for Paediatric Dentistry (HKOHLAT-P) was adopted. A random sample of 301 child/caregiver dyads was recruited from kindergartens in Hong Kong Island. Data included: socio-demographic information; caregivers’ self-reported reading habits and OHL levels; and child oral health status as a) dental caries experience - number of decayed, missing and filled teeth (dmft); and b) oral hygiene status - by the Visible Plaque Index (VPI). RESULTS: Caregivers’ reported reading of print Chinese was significantly associated with their OHL scores: HKREALD-30 and HKOHLAT-P (p<0.01). No associations were found between caregiver’s reading habits and their children’s oral health status (p>0.05). Both OHL assessment tasks were associated with children’s oral health status. Both HKOHLAT-P and HKREALD-30 remained associated with dmft in the adjusted negative binomial regression models (accounting for socio-demographics), but HKOHLAT-P had a stronger association (IRR 0.97, P=0.02 versus 0.96, P=0.03). HKOHLAT-P was associated with VPI in the adjusted model (IRR 0.90, P<0.05), but no significant association between HKREALD-30 and VPI was evident. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Caregivers’ habits of reading print and digital texts were significantly associated with their OHL scores. No significant associations were found between caregivers’ reading habits and their children’s oral health status, indicating that reading habits is a different attribute that may not directly affect their child’s oral health. Caregivers’ functional OHL was associated with their children’s oral health status in Hong Kong. A comprehension task tool (HKOHLAT-P) was more robust in determining such associations when compared to a simple word recognition based test (HKREALD-30). / published_or_final_version / Dentistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Public Health

Background Mental illness is one of the most stigmatized conditions in our society. Since 1990, Yankelovich [1] revealed that the mass media, including television and broadcast news, are the primary source of information about mental illness. The media are believed to play a major role in contributing to mental illness stigma via the images they portray of characters with mental illness as well as the misinformation communicated, inaccurate use of psychiatric terms, and unfavorable stereotypes of people with mental illness according to Wahl’s study [2]. However, little is known about the influence of Hong Kong media especially the TV broadcast. Therefore, this study is going to investigate Cantonese TV dramas which related on psychosis, which strongly influence the public recognition of the illness. Objective The objective of this study is to1)analyze the selected terms ‘ 痴線’ , ‘精神病’ ‘思覺失調’ and ‘精神分裂’ which were related to mental illness that present in the target dramas; 2) to investigate negative images of mental illness in the Cantonese TV dramas; 3)to investigate the relationship between the characters and the terms. Method This study investigated the domestic free television program service licensees TVB about the drama series they provide within 2001 to 2012 which broadcasted during 8pm to 10:30pm. The dramas in year 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2011 and 2012 would be chosen. The terms‘ 痴線’ , ‘精神病’ ‘思覺失調’ and ‘精神分裂were selected to be analyzed. All episodes were classified by category and analyzed quantitatively. Results the term of痴線still remained the highest than other terms within the same period of these six selected year. In year 2007, the term of ‘思覺失調’ started being used 0.7% but still in a low frequency comparatively to 痴線13.3% and 精神病1.9Similar results were found in the year of 2011 and 2012. There was a decreased in using 痴線, from approximately 30 % to 10% from 2001 to 2012. There was also an obvious decrease in using the term of ‘精神病’ from 10% to 1% from 2001 to 2012. In general, many of the references to mental illness were about a character's actions in a situation rather than a character's nature or mental state. Characters who received these terms were depicted negatively in the majority of occurrences. Conclusion The stigma of psychiatric illness is a negative factor in its presentation, detection and treatment. The mass media’s power to impact public perception and the degree to which people are exposed to media representations makes the mass media one of the most significant influences in developed societies. Many studies including this study showed that the media tends to skew reality. People with mental illness were depicted in negative ways and it damaged their self-esteem as a result, they would not going to seek treatment. / published_or_final_version / Psychological Medicine / Master / Master of Psychological Medicine

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