The Review 2009

52 The Review 2009 • Community Family Health, Happiness and Harmony Families are the foundation of society, but their fabric has been tested under the stresses of modern-day living. In Hong Kong, there have been well- publicised family tragedies. A new project at the University aims to address the problems and promote family health, happiness and harmony across the territory. The project, entitled ‘FAMILY: A Jockey Club Initiative for a Harmonious Society’, is a $250 million initiative of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust in collaboration with the School of Public Health. The School is establishing a cohort of 20,000 households who will be interviewed and tracked over several years to identify the sources of family problems and to monitor changes. The aim is to gain information for devising prevention policies and measures and promoting better family health and relations in the community. By October 2009 more than 5,000 households had been interviewed. The School is also conducting five randomised control trials to test the effectiveness of interventions on such topics as better parenting and positive psychology. The trials are being conducted in co-operation with the Family Health Service of the Department of Health and non-governmental organisations (including Caritas, the Family Welfare Society, Sheng Kung Hui and Hong Kong Christian Service). Additionally, the School is involved in public health education and health communication related to the project. Professor Lam Tai-hing, Director of the School of Public Health, said the project is unique in taking a public health, evidence-based and evidence- generating approach to identify how family problems could be prevented and how the ‘3Hs’ of family health, happiness and harmony could be promoted. “There are a lot of projects helping people in trouble in Hong Kong. Our approach is more upstream to see if families and the community can be made more aware of the issues and be motivated to do something before a problem gets out of control. We are targeting the whole family, rather than individuals in isolation,” he said. The project also includes a strong public education component, with activities including an annual telephone survey on the use of health information in the community, training workshops and seminars, an annual symposium and the use of media outlets and community and district campaigns to promote the 3Hs. “We are targeting the whole family, rather than individuals in isolation” 53 The Review 2009 • Community