Newsletter No. 263

CUHK Spearheads Programme for Holistic Education A cademics from the Department of Social Work and the Department of Educational Psychology of the University have been invited by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust to lead a research team to develop a multi-year universal positive youth development programme. The programme w i ll promote holisti c adolescent development in Hong Kong. The HK$29.65 million programme is part of the P.A.T.H.S. to Adulthood: A Jockey Club Youth Enhancement Scheme, w i th P.A.T.H.S. representing Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social Programmes. The schem e has been launched with HK$400 million from the Jockey Club Charities Trust. The programme comprises two tiers. Tier 1 is a universal positive youth development programme involving students from Secondary 1 to 3; tier 2 is a selective programme provided to at least a fifth of the students of each grade who have greater psychosocial needs. Members of the CUHK team are Prof. Daniel Shek, Prof. Patrick Lau and Prof. C.M. Lam. Also involved in the project are the Social Welfare Department and the Education and Manpower Bureau. Studie s Fin d Dialogic Readin g Improve s Children' s Vocabulary I n three separate studies of Hong Kong Chinese kindergartners, researchers at CUHK demonstrated that parents who were trained to read to their children using the dialogic reading technique significantly improved their children's vocabulary knowledg e over time as compared to children reading with their parents the way they typically did at home or not reading at all. Dialogic reading involves encouraging children to interac t with storybooks in a very active way. Parents ask children different types of questions that require them to elaborate on the text and express their ideas about the story freely. Ideally, the c h i ld becomes the storyteller, and the parent becomes the facilitator and cheerleader for the child's ideas about the story. These studies are part of on-going research on early language and literacy development in Hong Kong conducted by Prof. Catherine McBride-Chang, M.Phil. student Bonnie Chow Wing- Y i n, and Prof. H i m Cheung in the Centre for Developmental Psychology. The first study showed p r omi s i ng effects of dialogic reading for both vocabulary knowledge and literacy skill among 86 Chinese kindergartners after just two 20-minute sessions per week across eight weeks of parent- child reading. The second study, demonstrated that vocabulary knowledge of 28 hard-of- hearing children in their last year of kindergarten, first, and second grades, improved substantially among families using a combination of the dialogic readin g technique and visual aids. Both of these research studies have since been published in academic journals. The third study, involving 110 kindergarteners and their parents, compared groups of families randomly assigned to one of three conditions. One group was given no reading instruction and no extra books. Children in this group were initially teste d on reading- related interest and skills and were subsequently tested 12 weeks later. The second group was given a new book to read every week, and families were asked to read the new book with their children the way they normally would. In the third group, the dialogic reading group, parents were initially trained on dialogic reading for one hour. They were asked to use the dialogic reading technique in reading to their children the new books they receive d each week. Results of this study demonstrated that, compared to the first two groups, the dialogic reading group improved substantially more on vocabulary knowledge over the 12 weeks. In addition, only the children from the dialogic reading group showed a statistically significant increase in enthusiasm for reading, as measured by a questionnaire about enjoyment of reading. Parents' reactions to the dialogic reading programme were also strong. More information on specific techniques for dialogic reading can be found on the dialogic reading website at http://www.psy. cuhk.edu.hk/~qefproject. Laurels f or Young Researchers The presentation ceremony of the Young Researcher Award 2004 and the Award for the Best Research Output by Research Postgraduate Students 2004 took place on 16th June 2005 at the Esther Lee Building. The ceremony was officiated by Prof. Lawrence J. Lau (centre), vice-chancellor of the University. The awardees were: ‧ The Young Researcher Award 2004: Prof. Jessica Kw o ng Yuk-yee (Business Administration), Prof. Chiu Ming Ming (Education), Prof. Wong Tien Tsin (Engineering), Prof. Yu Cheuk Man (Medicine), Prof. Wei Juncheng (Science), and Prof. Maggi Leung Wai-han (Social Science). ‧ The Award for the Best Research Output by Research Postgraduate Students 2004: Mr. Cheung L i k - kwan (Arts), Mr. L oi Chi-ho (Business Adm i n i s t r a t i o n ), Mr. Wen Zhonglin (Education), Dr. Liang Tak Keung (Engineering), Dr. Zhou Chen X i (Medicine), Mr. Tse Yu Chung (Science), and Mr. Chen Hon Fai (Social Science). Awardees (back row) posing with senior administrators and faculty deans Asia. And among Chinese, Hong Kong Chinese have the highest risk of developing colorectal neoplasm. The results indicate a pressing need to implement a colorectal cancer screening programme in Hong Kong. HK Children Susceptible to Bum I n j u ry Students from the Faculty o f Me d i c i ne undertook detailed interviews w i th parents of children who had suffered bums and found that 85 per cent o f the incidents had occurred at home and most had taken place during summer. Over 90 per cent of the burns were scalds and boys are at greater risk than girls. The study also found that less than half o f the children received appropriate first-aid treatment. The parents in the vast majority of these cases had completed secondary education. The results of the survey were released on 2nd August. Intragastric Balloon to Fight Obesity The Department of Surgery and the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics has, since November 2004, introduced the use of the intragastric balloon, a newly developed non-surgical weight reduction treatment, at the Prince of Wales Hospital to treat obese patients and the initial results are promising. The procedure involves the placement of a saline- filled silicon balloon inside the stomach for four to six months by endoscope t o decrease the capacity and emptying of stomach, and subsequently, f o od consumption. The procedure can be easily performed within 30 minutes on an out-patient basis and does not require general anaesthesia. It can be r e p e a t ed and i s t o t a l l y reversible. Side-effects are m i ld and usually subside after two weeks of placement. A significantly higher acceptability of the technique is observed in Chinese patients than other kinds of obesity surgery. Drug-associated Heatstroke The Centre for Food and Drug Safety analysed cases of heatstroke admitted to the Prince o f Wales Hospital during 1998 to 2004 and found that, apart f r om high environmental temperature and strenuous physical exertion, certain drags and herbs can affect the body's ability to regulate its own temperature and cause heatstroke. Anticholinergic drugs can inhibit sweating. Antipsychotics have anticholinergic and central thermoregulatory effects. Sympathomimetrics can elevate the body temperature. Diuretics may induce or worsen heat-related illnesses. Certain herbs and drugs of abuse may impair thermoregulation or raise metabolic heat production. Alcohol can be dangerous in the heat. Patients on these drugs and herbs should pay more attention to preventive measures against heat-related illnesses. They should also consult doctor s and pharmacists about the possible effects of these drugs on thermoregulation. The findings were announced on 16th August. (From left) Dr. Wilfred Mui, Prof. Enders Ng, Dr. Francis Chow, and Dr. So Wing-yee 3 No. 263 4th September 2005