Aim: Although the reasons behind the stigmatization of psychosis are manifold, poor mental health literacy among the general public is likely to be a major factor. In Hong Kong, the Early Psychosis Foundation (EPISO) was established in 2007 to tackle this issue by providing educational and mental health promotional activities, among other aims and services. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of a school-based interventional programme, the School Tour, developed by EPISO.; Methods: The School Tour differentiates itself from other interventional programmes by supplementing a traditional psychoeducational talk with 2 additional elements: an engaging drama performance and exercise demonstrations. Twelve secondary schools, with a total of 4520 students, participated in the study. Knowledge and attitudes towards psychosis were evaluated before and after the school programme.; Results: The School Tour was found to improve both students' knowledge of psychosis (P < .001) and their attitude (P < .001) towards the illness.; Conclusions: Its effectiveness in reducing the stigma towards psychosis validates the use of novel strategies like drama performances to engage adolescent students, and urges the government to support increased student participation in the programme by providing funding to the relevant organizations.
[Copyright of Early Intervention In Psychiatry is the property of Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia.]

Physical activity has numerous positive and psychological benefits. Therefore, a physically active lifestyle benefits both the individual and the society. Nevertheless, many people drop out from their sport or exercise regimen. In this inquiry three motivational factors in exercise adherence, including predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing factors, were studied from a cross-cultural perspective. A total of 235 male (n=151) and female (n=84) volunteers (mean age=21.4 ± 2.6 years) from Hong Kong (n=112) and United Kingdom (n=123) completed an exercise habits inventory and the Physical Activity Adherence Questionnaire (PAAQ). All participants were physically active, of whom 132 have once quit a sport/exercise in the past whereas 103 never quit. Results revealed that differences exist in predisposing and enabling motivational components of exercise adherence in both cross-cultural and gender comparison studies. Participants who quit a sport or exercise report lesser reinforcing experiences than those who never abandoned an adopted sport or exercise. It is concluded that reinforcing factors play a crucial role in the long term maintenance of a sport or exercise and that both cultural and gender differences need to be taken into serious consideration in the course of facilitation of various exercise/sport behaviours.
[Copyright © 2003 Department of Physical Education, Hong Kong Baptist University.]

Objective. To examine the independent, competing, and interactive effects of perceived availability of specific types of media in the home and neighborhood sport facilities on adolescents' leisure-time physical activity (PA).
Methods. Survey data from 34 369 students in 42 Hong Kong secondary schools were collected (2006-07). Respondents reported moderate-to-vigorous leisure-time PA, presence of sport facilities in the neighborhood and of media equipment in the home. Being sufficiently physically active was defined as engaging in at least 30 minutes of non-school leisure-time PA on a daily basis. Logistic regression and post-estimation linear combinations of regression coefficients were used to examine the independent and competing effects of sport facilities and media equipment on leisure-time PA.
Results. Perceived availability of sport facilities was positively (ORboys = 1.17; ORgirls = 1.26), and that of computer/Internet negatively (ORboys = 0.48; ORgirls = 0.41), associated with being sufficiently active. A significant positive association between video game console and being sufficiently active was found in girls (ORgirls = 1.19) but not in boys. Compared with adolescents without sport facilities and media equipment, those who reported sport facilities only were more likely to be physically active (ORboys = 1.26; ORgirls = 1.34), while those who additionally reported computer/Internet were less likely to be physically active (OR boys = 0.60; ORgirls = 0.54).
Conclusions. Perceived availability of sport facilities in the neighborhood may positively impact on adolescents' level of physical activity. However, having computer/Internet may cancel out the effects of active opportunities in the neighborhood. This suggests that physical activity programs for adolescents need to consider limiting the access to computer-mediated communication as an important intervention component.
[Copyright of International Journal of Pediatric Obesity is the