Two MHRC Associate Directors receive over HK$3.2 million funding from the Health Bureau of the HKSAR Government

Two projects led by two Associate Directors of the Mental Health Research Centre (MHRC), Prof. Hector TSANG, Chair Professor and Head of Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, and Prof. Sylvia CHEN, Associate Dean of Faculty of Health and Social Sciences and Professor of the Department of Applied Social Sciences, received funding totaling HK$3.2 million in Phase 2 of the Mental Health Initiatives Funding Scheme of the Health Bureau. Launched in 2021 and coordinated by the Advisory Committee on Mental Health, the Scheme aims to fund projects that could help provide better support to those in need in the community and to raise public awareness on mental health.

The two awarded projects devise sustainable solutions to address the mental health issues of different people, including the implementation of short-term certificate programmes for caregivers of persons with disabilities, and the application of virtual reality technology to support adolescents with special educational needs (SEN).

Prof. David SHUM, Dean of the Faulty of Health and Social Sciences, member of MHRC, said, “Mental health is an imperative issue that we cannot ignore. Under the impact of the pandemic in recent years, different groups in the community are faced with urgent needs for mental health support. The Faculty of Health and Social Sciences has been committed to mental health research over the years. The funding support combined with our strengths in scientific research and practice will bring impactful solutions for the benefit of various community groups.”

Two projects awarded under Phase 2 of the Mental Health Initiatives Funding Scheme:

Principal Investigator:	Prof. Hector TSANG Associate Director of MHRC, Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences
Project Title:	Enhancing the Mental Health of Carers of Persons with Disabilities with Support Services Delivered by Trained Carer Support Ambassadors
Project Summary:	The project aims to support carers of persons with disabilities. It will implement a short-term certificate programme for frontline workers such as occupational therapy assistants, rehabilitation assistants, patient care assistants and welfare workers to become Carer Support Ambassadors who will deliver mental health support to carers. This innovative approach is designed to address the shortage of manpower in mental health services and the growing support needs for carers.
Funded Amount:	HK$1.3 million

Principal Investigator:	Prof. Sylvia CHEN Associate Director of MHRC, Associate Dean of Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Professor of the Department of Applied Social Sciences
Project Title:	Reducing Social Avoidance and Enhancing Prosocial Behaviour among Adolescents with Special Educational Needs
Project Summary:	The project aims to foster prosocial behaviour of adolescents with special educational needs (SEN) in transition with the use of virtual reality (VR) technology. It will implement social anxiety intervention based on a cognitive-behavioural approach with a virtual coach acting as the therapist and develop a gamified prosocial VR intervention for adolescents with SEN. This VR-assisted social avoidance and prosocial behaviour intervention would benefit individuals and society by cultivating psychological and socially healthy young people.
Funded Amount:	HK$1.9 million
Co-PIs:	Prof. Winnie Mak (Member of MHRC and Professor, Department of Psychology, CUHK) Dr Bryant Hui (Member of MHRC and Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Social Sciences, PolyU)
Co-Is:	Dr Jeffrey Ho (Assistant Professor, School of Design, PolyU) Dr Richard Li (Research Assistant Professor, Department of Computing, PolyU) Dr Rosetta Wong (Teaching Fellow, Department of Applied Social Sciences, PolyU)