Before the main study commenced, empirical work was conducted to establish and validate the Chinese version of the Satisfaction with the Nursing Home Instrument (SNHI-C), which was an instrument used to measure resident satisfaction in the main study. Testing was conducted on a cluster sample of 330 residents from 16 elderly residential care homes in Hong Kong. Findings demonstrated that the SNHI-C had good content validity with an index of .93. It also demonstrated high construct validity by having significant correlation with depression (r = -.42, p < .001), the physical component of health-related quality of life (r = .16, p < .05), the mental component of health-related quality of life (r = .41, p < .001), and global quality of care (r = .49, p < .001). The SNHI-C also demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency and good stability by having a Cronbach's alpha of .79 and intra-class correlation coefficient of .94, respectively. / Current study adds new knowledge to the psychosocial health benefits of Tai Chi for the residents living in elderly residential care homes. Findings were discussed in relation to previous research findings and in the context of elderly residential care setting. The present study has the strength of evaluating the health benefit of Tai Chi using a more stringent research design, in comparing with the previous studies. Limitations of this study included the use of convenience sampling, without random assigning participants into groups, and inadequacy in quantifying Tai Chi learning. The implications of the findings support incorporating Tai Chi training in routine elderly residential care. Based on the study experience, recommendations for a successful implementation of a Tai Chi program were provided. Future research is advised to further explore the most beneficial mode of a Tai Chi program particularly for the elderly residential care home residents. Evaluation of its effect over a longer period of time and using various approaches are also suggested for obtaining a more comprehensive picture of the health benefit of Tai Chi. Finally, it is also worthwhile to investigate the experience of practicing Tai Chi through a qualitative approach to complement present findings. / Like many areas in the world, Hong Kong is facing an aging population. To accommodate the increasing elderly population, particularly those who are frail and have limited family support, elderly residential care homes are growing in size and number. Despite of the escalating demand, it has been documented repeatedly that the nature of residential living can predispose the residents to a number of psychosocial challenges. Study findings highlight consistently that residents are prone to experience lowered self-esteem, poor social support, and poor health-related quality of life. Providing psychosocial support to the residents is an important dimension in elderly residential care. It is because older residents, despite of their deteriorating physical functions that cannot be cured, can still have the potential to live with optimum psychosocial well-being. Even though a number of interventions have been considered in the past to address the residents' psychosocial needs, evaluation on the effectiveness of these interventions is inconclusive. There is still a paucity of evidence suggesting a promising intervention that can promote psychosocial health for the residents. Given the general consensus that exercise is beneficial for the psychosocial health, and considering that the characteristics of Tai Chi are particularly suitable for the elderly population, Tai Chi is considered as a possible means to promote psychosocial health for the residents. This study aimed to examine the psychosocial effects of a Tai Chi program on the residents of the elderly residential care homes. / The main study adopted a non-equivalent pretest-posttest control group design to examine the psychosocial effect of Tai Chi on residents of elderly residential care homes. Residents were recruited from six elderly residential care homes in Hong Kong by convenience sampling. The experimental group (n = 66) joined a 26-week Tai Chi program three times per week with each session lasted for one hour. The control group (n = 73) continued their daily activities as usual. Outcome variables encompassing state self-esteem, the physical component of health-related quality of life, the mental component of health-related quality of life, social support network, and social support satisfaction were assessed at baseline, the 13th and 26th week of the intervention period. Doubly multivariate analysis of covariance was performed to examine the effect of the Tai Chi program. / With the confounding effect of resident satisfaction controlled, findings demonstrated that participants in the experimental group experienced greater improvement in the psychological composite outcome of state self-esteem, the physical component of health-related quality of life, and the mental component of health-related quality of life (p < .05). No significant changes were detected in any of the three individual psychological outcome variables. Non-significant result was also found regarding the social effect of Tai Chi program on the participants. / Lee Yin King. / "May 2006." / Advisers: Diana Lee; Jean Woo. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-03, Section: B, page: 1558. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-269). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.