Nowadays, Hong Kong students face considerable challenges to their health. Young people are potential civic leaders and parents of tomorrow. They should acquire understanding and moral appreciation of health concepts. A student's health is influenced by interaction with family, peers and the media among others. In this study, the school and the family considered as they are the two major sources of health education support for students.
Findings in this and other local research show that the fragmented school curriculum leads to a lack of comprehensive school health education programs. Health education in Hong Kong is not a separate subject. Health elements are acknowledged in General Studies for primary schools and Integrated Science as well as a number of elective subjects in secondary schools. In addition, Hong Kong lacks comprehensive health education training for school teachers and parents. A forthcoming new senior secondary curriculum will include some health education elements in the core subject Liberal Studies, however students should be exposed to health education earlier, as major health related habits and beliefs develop during the adolescent and pre-adolescent years.
The health education needs of students were investigated by reviewing two comprehensive surveys in 1996 and 2000 for primary and secondary students respectively, carried out using versions of a Health Related Behavior Questionnaire (HRBQ) originating from the United Kingdom, but adapted for the Hong Kong situation. The outcomes reflected that students may generally need to be offered better health education for a more healthy life-style.
Medium scale survey research was adopted here to investigate the awareness of parents and teachers for health topics to be taught within the curriculum and their confidence on teaching or talking about health issues with young people. A total of 2,493 parents and 205 teachers from 22 primary and 19 secondary schools were surveyed. Results showed

In this rapidly changing health care environment, practitioners and educators need to be flexible thinkers and skilled in clinical reasoning. They need to develop divergent approaches to solutions to complex, ill structured problems. Ill-structured problems in health care are problems that are not clearly delineated in that the nature of the problem, intermediate steps and goals are often unknown at the referral and initial interview stages of intervention. The clinical reasoning used to understand and solve this type of problems requires more than just guessing, ignoring, appealing to authority, or using rote protocols (Facione & Facione, 1996). Students need to develop these skills of reasoning, establish the connection between theory and practice, and apply these skills in client intervention. My interest in the development of clinical reasoning and reflective practice grew out of a particular concern for discovering how we can facilitate students to develop these skills beyond the technical rational approach that has been adopted in the past. Thus the purpose of this qualitative research is to explore the clinical reasoning and thinking of occupational therapists and students in Hong Kong within the context of the local culture. I used an action research approach informed by grounded theory. This involved a dynamic interaction between my research, teaching, and reflection in constructing and generating propositions, thus I incorporate insights about clinical reasoning development into my teaching and my teaching informs my research development. I incorporate the literature to substantiate and expand my understanding of clinical reasoning development and constructivist approaches to learning. I refer to clinical reasoning strategies that correlate with my study and suggest relationships. I discuss methods I have developed for promoting the learning of these clinical reasoning skills by our occupational therapy students. The teaching and learning strategies reflect

This study attempts to understand how students construct their knowledge in a new learning environment guided by constructivist learning principles as well as to find out whether such environment can produce a deeper learning outcome than one that is based on existing mode of classroom teaching.
A constructivist learning environment includes such crucial elements as intentional learning, active, authentic and cooperative learning. This involves using information technology to build up learning community as well as encourage learners to obtain information for knowledge construction.
A quasi-experimental design was employed. The experimental group comprised of 16 students taking a Social Policy Issues course via an online learning environment while the comparison group comprised of 18 students attending the same course in the existing classroom teaching. All students came from the same class studying in the final year of the BSW program of the University of Hong Kong. Background information indicated that the two groi.lps of students were largely, homogeneous.
The outcome indicates that students had a positive evaluation of the online learning environment. However, the learning outcome analyzed by the SOLO Taxonomy does not show any significant difference. The students with better performance are more active in logging on the online course and post more messages on the bulletin board.
Patterns of students' participation in the bulletin board discussion were analyzed Students were enthusiastic in the beginning and the more active students tended to remain so throughout the course. Quality of postings improved with time on each discussion topic. Quite a few students reported that they preferred reading others' postings than giving their opinions. Teachers' roles were investigated. Giving encouragement, asking short and thought provoking questions and summarizing students' discussion were considered important for students' learning.
The study suggests

This research evaluated an innovative and uniquely structured nursing student exchange programme which was designed with the aim of contributing to the accomplishment of Strategic Objective One of a University in Hong Kong. The six week programme was conducted between the School of Nursing of a University in Hong Kong and the School of Nursing of a University in Shanghai. Students from both Schools constituted two classes, one of which was held in Hong Kong and the other in Shanghai. Each class contained a mix of students from both Hong Kong and Shanghai, i.e. exchange and non-exchange students. The learning experiences arranged in the programme included theory taught in classroom lectures and in tutorials, clinical visits and social activities. The lectures were given by teachers from both Schools. The teacher from the School of Nursing in Hong Kong gave the lectures on 'Health Counselling', using English as the teaching language medium. Two teachers from the School of Nursing in Shanghai gave the lectures on 'Interpretation of Clinical Data', using Putonghua as the teaching language medium. With the use of videoconferencing, students in the classes in both sites received the lectures simultaneously. The tutorials were conducted in each of the Schools separately without the use of videoconferencing. Following initial access negotiations by the teachers, the non-exchange students organised the clinical visits to different health care settings which they attended together with their exchange student classmates. They also organised and, together with their exchange student classmates, shared in various social and cultural activities. The objectives of the research were firstly to determine whether the objectives of the student exchange programme had been met. These programme objectives addressed the enhancement of participating students' all-round development in seven elements which were stated in the Strategic Objective One of the University in Hong Kong. The second objective

The past decade has seen immense change within the radiography profession internationally, as technical advancements and education and training initiatives have evolved to keep pace with the demands of the clinical environment. In Hong Kong (HK), it is necessary to establish a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) model for radiographers, to objectively monitor and assess the performance of individual radiographers throughout their working lives. Consequently, the current thesis aims: To investigate the need to implement a CPD scheme for Diagnostic Radiographers in HK, which will guide clinical performance and act as a means of monitoring the career progression of individuals within the profession. Information gained in this study will be used to identify the potential for improvement in radiography services and education via the creation of a CPD driven performance model. Objectives The objectives of this study are to: i) investigate and evaluate the current means of assessing clinical performance of Diagnostic Radiographers within the public hospitals in HK; ii) ascertain the views and opinions of relevant stakeholders on specialisation, CPD and role extension of Diagnostic Radiographers in HK; iii) suggest a CPD model for monitoring clinical performance of diagnostic radiographers at all levels of progress within the profession, based on the competencies identified and the consensus views of relevant stakeholders; iv) consult and seek professional views on the CPD model within the clinical environment in HK; v) establish a CPD model, following consultation feedback, for assessing clinical performance of Diagnostic Radiographers in HK that supports professional development. Methods The study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to collect data, by means of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The target population included all radiographers and radiologists employed within the HA, all radiography academics, and an Executive Manager (Allied Health