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Purpose: This study developed and evaluated an adventure-based cognitive behavioral intervention (aCBI) program to respond to the higher education mental health crisis in Hong Kong. Methods: The aCBI program was delivered in the form of a 13-week general education (GE) course and was evaluated at pre-, post-, and 3-month follow-up. A total of 544 undergraduate students who experienced psychological distress were randomized to either the aCBI group (n = 197) or the wait-list control group (WLC) (n = 347). Results: Compared with their WLC counterparts, the aCBI participants showed significantly stronger improvements in psychological distress, perceived stress, positive and negative emotions, and resilience at the posttest and 3-month follow-up. Positive and negative thoughts and sense-making coping partially mediated the treatment effects of aCBI. Conclusions: The aCBI program shows promise for inclusion in higher education curriculums to bridge the mental health service gaps for Chinese university students.

Objectives: This pilot study developed an adventure-based cognitive behavioral intervention (aCBI) program and tests its effectiveness in improving the mental health of Chinese university students in Hong Kong. Method: A total of 217 undergraduate students participated in an aCBI program in the form of an interdisciplinary general education course in a university in Hong Kong. A battery of standardized online questionnaires was administered to the students before joining and upon completion of the course, and at a 3-month follow-up test. Results: The participants showed a significant reduction of psychological distress, perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and negative thoughts and emotions and a significant increase of positive thoughts upon immediate completion of the program. The positive effects maintained at the 3-month follow-up test. Conclusion: The integration of cognitive behavioral intervention and adventure training in a class setting might be an effective and feasible approach for the mental health counseling of university students.

Purpose: This study examined the efficacy of a 10-week internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) program "REST Online" for Hong Kong university students with mild to moderate levels of psychological distress. Method: A total of 206 Hong Kong university students were randomized into: (1) web-based and (2) app-based iCBT, and (3) waitlist control (WLC) groups. Results: Compared with the WLC group, the participants in the two iCBT groups showed a significant reduction in psychological distress, depression and anxiety symptoms, and negative thoughts and emotions, and significant increase in positive thoughts and emotions, with medium to large effect sizes. The positive effects were sustained at the 3-month follow-up test. No significant intervention effects were found between the two iCBT groups except for anxiety symptoms. Discussion: The findings were discussed in terms of program design and service delivery, and suggestions for delivering digital mental health service in Hong Kong universities were proposed.

Purpose:This study developed a culturally appropriate cognitive behavioral group prevention program for Mainland Chinese university students in Hong Kong and tested its effectiveness.Method:A total of 74 Chinese students were recruited and randomly assigned to an 8-week cognitive behavior prevention program (experimental group) or a waiting list control (WLC) group.Results:Compared with the WLC group, participants in the experimental group significantly reduced psychological distress, acculturative stress, negative emotions, and negative thoughts and increased positive emotions, positive thoughts, and postmigration growth, with medium to large effect sizes. Upon immediate completion of the program, about 46% and 30% of the participants in the experimental group and WLC group, respectively, were classified as non-at-risk cases for developing mental health problems.Discussion:The positive intervention effects and clinical implication of cultural adaptation of cognitive behavioral group therapy to Chinese students are discussed.

Objective: This study examined the effectiveness of group cognitive behavioral intervention (CBI) in improving mental health and promoting postmigration growth for Mainland university students in Hong Kong. Methods: Thirty-six Mainland students with mild-to-moderate levels of psychological distress have completed a 8-session CBI group. Various mental health measures have been administered at the pre-, post-, and 3-month follow-up tests. Results: The levels of psychological distress, acculturative stress, and negative emotions and negative thoughts of the participants were significantly reduced, while their positive emotions and postmigration growth were significantly increased upon completion of the CBI group. The positive effects were maintained at 3-month follow-up. Conclusions: CBI group appears to be an effective intervention approach for improving the mental health and promoting postmigration growth for Mainland university students in Hong Kong. Implications for social work practices when engaging with Chinese international students were provided.

Objectives: The concept of recovery has begun shifting mental health service delivery from a medical perspective toward a client-centered recovery orientation. This shift is also beginning in Hong Kong, but its development is hampered by a dearth of available measures in Chinese. Method: This article translates two measures of recovery (mental health recovery measure and the recovery subscale of peer outcomes protocol) and one measure of recovery-promoting environments (recovery self-assessment) into Chinese and investigates their psychometric properties among 206 Hong Kong Chinese people with severe mental illness. Result: Multifactor solutions from earlier studies were not replicated; our evidence pointed to one-factor solutions. Since all recovery measures demonstrated high internal consistency reliability (.92 to .96), we analyzed total scale scores. Conclusion: Moderately high correlations among the recovery measures (.33 to .56) provide some support for construct validity, yet further investigation of recovery measures in a Chinese population is needed.

Purpose: This study aims to translate and test the reliability and validity of the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness-Cantonese (ISMI-C). Methods: The original English version of ISMI is translated into the ISMI-C by going through forward and backward translation procedure. A cross-sectional research design is adopted that involved 295 participants randomly drawn from a population of Chinese consumers participated in different kinds of community-based mental health services. Results: Results show that the Cronbach's α coefficient of the ISMI-C is .93. With regard to validity test, the ISMI-C shows significant and negative correlation with measures on self-esteem and quality of life. Also, an explorative factor analysis yields five factors that are consistent with previous research results. Discussion: This study shows that the ISMI-C is a reliable and valid measure. ISMI-C can facilitate the development of interventions in reducing self-stigma for people with mental illness across Chinese societies.

In China, there are over 170 million people suffering from mental illness. However, there is a lack of a critical review of the policies governing the provision of mental health services. Drawing on the framework of mental health policy developed by the WHO, this article critically examines mental health policies regarding legislation, financing, model of care and delivery, as well as manpower and the training of mental health professionals in China. This analysis raises a number of policy‐related questions concerning the lack of community‐based psychiatric services, inadequate coverage of mental health services in the rural areas, poor standard of education and an insufficient number of trained mental health professionals, and insufficient protection of the human rights of people with mental illness. The article ends by urging the various levels of governments to make a firm commitment to improve mental health care for people with mental illness in China.

Objective: The objective of this study is to develop and validate the Chinese Making Sense of Adversity Scale (CMSAS) to measure the cognitive coping strategies that Chinese people adopt to make sense of adversity. Method: A 12-item CMSAS was developed by in-depth interview and item analysis. The scale was validated with a sample of 627 Chinese international students in Australia and Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong. Results: Exploratory factor analysis identified two factors: making positive sense and making negative sense of adversity. The CMSAS exhibited high internal consistency reliability and good concurrent validity. Conclusion: The CMSAS is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring the coping strategies used by Chinese people to make sense of adversity. However, further validation of the scale is needed.