Programme Evaluation on Health in Mind 2003-2004

Health in Mind, the youth mental health promotion programme jointly organized by the Health InfoWorld of the Hospital Authority and MINDSET, was completed in July 2004. The University of Hong Kong's Centre on Behavioral Health has conducted an evaluation, which aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme and make recommendation for future programme development.

Both quantitative measurement and qualitative comments were collected for research purpose. Altogether, 80 mental health advocates (out of 101 advocates), 495 students from four experimental schools (i.e. schools with advocates), and 571 students from four control schools (i.e. schools without advocates) completed both questionnaires prior and after the programme.
Findings indicated that advocates and students from experimental schools benefited from the programme in various aspects. When compared to control group, advocates are higher in self-esteem, spiritual well-being and general mental health; and have less emotional problems. In particular, advocates are found to have statistically significant improvement than other students on helpfulness, concentration at work and having direction in life, reflecting the programme is particular effective in promoting positive change in these three domains.

Positive feedback is generally received from mental health advocates in session evaluations and overall evaluation, which supports the effectiveness of the programme. Advocates reflected that they have adopted a positive attitude towards life and work, have gained practical knowledge and skills for daily life application, have equipped with better emotional management skills and have better interpersonal relationship with others. Advocates also provided comments and suggestions for content and design of the programme.

Although the extent of improvement is not as strong as the advocates, the experimental group shows a positive improvement trend in various aspects. As compared to control group, students from experimental schools have an increase in self-esteem, spiritual well-being, inner peace, general mental health, and a decrease in disorientation in life purpose and emotional problems after the programme. They manage to maintain similar level of pro-social behavior and hyperactivity while students in the control group show a drop in these dimensions.
In conclusion, Health in Mind is successful in enhancing advocates' general mental health, especially in i) giving practical knowledge and orienting students in the midst of life, ii) promoting respect, teamwork and helping behavior and iii) widening horizon, enhancing awareness and cultivating positive attitude towards work. On the school level, the impact of the programme is diluted. Students in experimental schools show a positive trend of improvement, but the extent is only mild. It is suggested to strengthen the advocacy approach and to empower the advocates, so they can maximize their influence on health promotion in school. Critical elements for effective intervention and programme content design are also discussed.

This survey indicated that this programme is effective in conveying mental health knowledge to the target group and helps remove the stigmatization associated with mental illness.



2003-04年度「Teen使行動 - 青少年思健推廣計劃」成效評估

由思健及醫管局健康資訊天地攜手合辦的2003至2004年度「Teen使行動 -青少年思健推廣計劃」已經完滿結束。為對該計劃的成效作出一個客觀的評估，及對將來計劃的發展提供意見，香港大學行為健康教研中心對這計劃進行了一次評估。

研究調查所收集之資料包括數量上的量度及質量上的評價。受訪者包括思健大使(全數為一百零一位）、四百九十五名來自四間試驗學校（即思健大使就讀的學校）的學生，和另外五百七十一名來自四間控制組學校的學生，他們分別在參與計劃之前和之後填交了問卷。

評估結果發現，思健大使及試驗學校的學生在幾方面均受惠於這個計劃。 與控制組學生相比，思健大使在自尊、靈性健康和一般精神健康上都顯得較強，感情問題較少。尤其是在樂於助人、集中精神工作及對生活有目標這三方面，思健大使比其他組別學生有明顯的改善，顯示該計劃在培養學生在這三方面的人生問題上有正面的影響。
是項調查証明此計劃能有效及正確地將精神健康的訊息傳遞予中學生，從而改變他們對精神病患者的歧視與偏見。