Raymond Ngan

Program Effectiveness of a Restorative Whole- School Approach for Tackling School Bullying in Hong Kong

With bullying in schools high on policy makers’ agendas, researchers are looking for effective strategies to tackle its disruptive effects. The present study sets out to address this issue. First, the prevalence of bullying is examined in Hong Kong High Schools, and second, the effectiveness of a Restorative Whole-school Approach (RWsA) in reducing bullying is examined in a quasi-experimental design. The RWsA emphasizes the setting up of restorative goals, clear instructions, team building, and good relationships among students, parents, and teachers. Over the course of 2 years, and across four schools, the effectiveness of this program was observed by comparing an intervention group with a partial intervention group (which did not receive the full treatment) and a control group (which received no treatment whatsoever). The group that received the RWsA treatment exhibited a significant reduction of bullying, higher empathic attitudes, and higher self-esteem in comparison to the partial intervention and the control group.

China: developmentalism and social security

China began its social security reform when the market-oriented economy was first promoted in the late 1970s. Initiatives have been taken to replace the employer-based labour insurance model with a largely social insurance model. However, it is a mistake to argue that China is pursuing a neo-liberal agenda in its social initiatives. Instead, the state has played a major role in the process. Based on a developmental analysis, it is argued that the direction of change is generally encouraging. The emerging social insurance programme has the following advantages: it widens coverage, facilitates economic development, seeks a minimum entitlement, fosters social integration, and enhances individual participation and responsibility. The creation of an economically and socially viable social insurance programme will support the economic development of the country in the twenty-first century.

Age discrimination in the labour market from the perspectives of employers and older workers

This article presents the findings of a study on age discrimination against older workers in Hong Kong. The study collected survey data from 787 older workers aged 45 or above and 283 employers who were managers responsible for personnel or human resources management, or for hiring people for organizations. The focus is on revealing the influences of the organizational goals of profit-making and social responsibility on age discrimination, along with influences from negative stereotyping and other factors. Results indicate that the social responsibility goal tends to be more influential than negative stereotyping on age discrimination. In contrast, the profit-making goal did not display a significant effect on age discrimination. They offer implications for policies and practices for managing the ageing workforce in the labour market.

The Mental Health Status and Long Term Care Needs of the Chinese Elderly in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT This paper examines the mental health status of 945 Chinese older people who are in need of long term care services in Hong Kong. It was found that for those aged respondents who are already waiting for admission to infirmary, over 59.3% were already living in private aged homes, and only as few as 17.8% of these applicants were still living in their own homes. Besides, it was found that the mean SPMSQ score was lowest amongst those living in medical infirmary (1.52) and highest for those living in their own residences (5.99). Analysis of the relationship between GDS scores and residential types reveals that there were higher proportion of respondents residing in their own residences that fell into the highly depressed category. There is a need for the overall revamp of the planning, provision and financing for long term care and psychogeriatric services for Chinese older people in Hong Kong.

Improving Older Adults' Functional Ability Through Service Use in a Home Care Program in Hong Kong

Objective: Despite past findings about the contribution of home care services to older users’ functional ability, the effective processes and components of the services are not transparent. Such processes appear to rely on the actual use of component services of the home care program. Method: The study gathered 116 observations during 2 years concerning 49 home care service users in Hong Kong. Results: The study shows that an older user maintained better functional ability with a longer time of using a home care program in Hong Kong using the service. The time effect, in turn, was primarily due to the increased use of seven services provided by the program. Among the service components, the home-nursing services generated a unique contribution to the users functional ability, with its prior score controlled. Conclusions: Multidisciplinary services under case management underpin an effective home care program.

Economic and social development in Hong Kong and Southern China: implications for social work

What are the objectives of development? Although many policy makers and politicians believe that development promotes the wellbeing of all citizens, in reality development means economic growth. In practice, development is closely linked with economics. Indeed, economists are primarily responsible for the implementation of development strategies in many parts of the world (Hall and Midgley, 1988). However, experience shows that economic growth does not solve social problems. In Hong Kong, for example, rapid economic growth brought about by unrestricted capitalist development has fostered the concentration of wealth and inequality. Instead of poverty being abolished, as the proponents of economic development have predicted, poverty continues to be a serious problem and inequality has become more marked (Ngan and Li, 1994). Following a series of economic reforms since 1979, a socialist market economy has been established in China (Cheng, 1993). The introduction of market elements into China’s development strategies has fostered rapid economic growth in many parts of the country and improvements in income levels have been recorded. However, income inequality between urban workers and rural farmers has become more marked. Reviewing development trends in the Guangdong province in Southern China, MacPherson (1995) observed that economic development has been highly uneven. While there has been rapid economic growth in the Pearl River Delta and the Special Economic Zones, in the hilly and mountainous areas of the province mass poverty persists.

The Caring Paradox: Family Care for Chinese Elderly

With prolonged longevity and present inadequate provisions of community support services, the stress of caregiving is profound. An analytical framework, namely, the “paradox of community care”, is presented and its effects for caregivers and receivers are analysed at both micro and macro levels with support from empirical data among elderly Chinese in Hong Kong. The implications are directed towards shared family care and developments for “Community-Based Geriatric Care Services.”

Opportunity and Discrimination in Employment

Older workers, especially females, have suffered higher rates of unemployment. Elderly people are also marginalized in terms of wages and employment type. In promoting equal opportunity in the workplace for older people, education against prejudices, protective legislation and empowerment of elderly people are recommended.

Assisting Disabled Chinese Old People through Informal Caring Networks

It has been taken for granted that Chinese communities in Hong Kong would have an extended family or large kinship network to render such ‘care in the community.’ This exploratory study was conducted in a community based rehabilitation project. A great majority of disabled elderly peoples informal caring networks were limited. Although they were physically ‘in the community’, they had limited access to timely care from their family members, friends and neighbours. More active roles as ‘brokers’ linking the disabled and elderly to community support services and ‘facilitators’ informal self-help groups are suggested.

Economic Crisis and Social Development in Hong Kong Since 1997

Abstract Hong Kong emerged from the Asian financial crisis with record-high levels of unemployment and budget deficit, though its currency is stable as the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar is linked to the U.S. dollar. With soaring rates of unemployment, poverty, income inequality, and salary cuts, the popularity rating of Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa is plunging to another all-time low. This paper examines the economic and social problems in Hong Kong since 1997, and discusses attempts made by the Hong Kong government to tackle the financial crisis. It calls for a reexamination of the effectiveness of such measures to a change of mindset by policymakers from the neo-liberal tradition to the Social Development approach. “In the face of our current economic difficulties, the most reliable source of strength is ourselves—the people of Hong Kong. In the past, when confronted with adversity, Hong Kong people always rise to the occasion. We maintain our composure, walk the extra mile, strive for excellence, better ourselves and break new ground. I firmly believe that with our intelligence, determination and adaptability, we can overcome all difficulties as we forge ahead towards a bright future.”—Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa, 2001 policy address, October 10, 2001