Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006.

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of Chinese

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Zululand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy: Community Psychology in the Department of Psychology, 2008. / Increasing amounts of scientific evidence has suggested mat a mind-body exercise, such as Tai Chi, is related to improvements in mental health, emotional well-being and stress reduction. No prior study has examined the effect of Tai Chi exercise amongst street children. Working within the context of community health psychology, the present study evaluated a Tai Chi program with street children within the South African context. The research design was quasi-experimental with the participants from places of safety within the surrounds of Durban attending Tai Chi exercise sessions twice per week for 16 weeks. This programme was pre- and post-tested with a focus group interview and Carol Ryff s standardized psychological well-being scale. Statistically significant improvements in the following measures of psychological well-being were found: autonomy, personal growth, environmental mastery, purpose in life, positive relations with others and total psychological well-being. Qualitative findings revealed an increase in positive feelings, improved physical fitness and mental health, and stress reduction. Further outcome evaluations by stakeholders (child care worker, Department of Health Officials, Tai Chi teacher) supported the qualitative findings, as well as indicating increased self-confidence and a positive synergy within the group. / The South African National Research Foundation (NRF)

This study examined the effects of three computer-assisted cuing programs on the observational learning of a Tai Chi action sequence by thirty-one novice adult learners. Digital video demonstrations with visual cues, verbal cues, and both visual and verbal cues as well as no cues were presented. On the first and fifth trial participants completed a cognitive resequencing task, and on each of five learning trials attempted to physically perform the sequence. A retention test was also administered. The Pictorial Cognitive Resequencing Task results were somewhat equivocal as some of the treatment programs facilitated enhanced performance but participants in the "control" group also improved their performance. Physical performance as measured by the Technical Action Score and the Flow Action Score showed that the "visual and verbal treatment" group significantly improved performance in comparison to the "control" group. Based on the results and post-test interviews suggestions for future research were presented.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, San Francisco, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Sports Science / Master / Master of Science in Sports Science

Luk Tze Chung. / "August 2003." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-105). / Available also through the Internet via Dissertations & theses @ Chinese University of Hong Kong. / 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 Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Luk Tze Chung.

In recent years, the progress of medical care has increased the longevity much. Hence, the aged people hold a growing proportion of total population in developed countries. Besides, people in Taiwan have more spare time because the authority regulates workers in Taiwan own two holidays per week. And under such trend, people put sports recreation and health care at a premium. Among a lot of sports that aged people engage in, Tai Chi Chuan is considered to benefit our health. At this moment, over 100 countries have established Tai Chi Chuan associations and some activities of them call more than 10 thousand people to participate in. However, most of present researches just focus on the advantages that Tai Chi Chuan do for physical and mental functions. But there is still in lack of research about their participative motives. Hence, this research is making efforts to find out the primary motives that influence the silver-haired people to participate in Tai Chi Chuan, and then separate the aged people into different groups by their motives. And the promoters will be able to work out their marketing strategy toward these aged participants. About the research methods, this research adopts in-depth interview first. By abundant experience of Tai Chi Chuan masters, the participative motives of their students and the features of Tai Chi Chuan are found out. Later, through a focus group interview, the motives of Tai Chi Chuan participants are also discussed. Then, these found motives are used to make the questionnaire. Because of lack of member book of the participants the questionnaires are distributed on a convenient basis. In the research, 380 questionnaires are distributed to silver-haired participants who are over 50 years old. 280 questionnaires are received and the valid samples attain to 259. After factor analysis, five factors are extracted, including ¡§Extrinsic behavior and identity¡¨, ¡§Improving physical and mental health¡¨, ¡§Pursuit of Tai Chi Chuan philosophy and skills¡¨, ¡§Recreation, escape from pressure, and making friends¡¨, ¡§Longevity and soul inspiration¡¨, and ¡§Body shaping¡¨. And then according to cluster analysis, three groups are separated on the basis of the five factors. Each of them is named ¡§Pursuit of extrinsic identity¡¨, ¡§Pursuit of soul inspiration and mental health¡¨, and ¡§Pursuit of balanced physical and mental health¡¨. Finally, by Chi-square test and ANOVA analysis, this research discovers that the average years of practice is significant related to ¡§Extrinsic behavior and identity¡¨, ¡§Improving physical and mental health¡¨, ¡§Longevity and soul inspiration¡¨. Therefore, promoters can find the needs of the silver-haired Tai Chi Chuan participants by these chief motives and design unique activities for each segment to make their promotion more effective.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-94).