Dr Wong (male in the middle) and Ms Wong Mei Yee, Senior Service Manager (Registered Social Worker), representative of Food Angel (2nd from right) and Ms Chan Wing Yee (2nd from left), Registered Nurse, PolyU’s School of Nursing
Dr Wong (male in the middle) and Ms Wong Mei Yee, Senior Service Manager (Registered Social Worker), representative of Food Angel (2nd from right) and Ms Chan Wing Yee (2nd from left), Registered Nurse, PolyU’s School of Nursing, talked about how the mHealth app and the Health-Social Partnership model service will strengthen primary health care in the community.
Dr Arkers Wong*, Assistant Professor, received a donation of over HK$11 million from the Li Ka Shing Foundation to carry out a project aimed at training food delivery female workers from Food Angel (惜食堂) to perform basic health check for older adults living alone in the community.
After the training, the delivery female workers will be equipped with basic health knowledge and the ability to measure physical vital signs, including blood oxygen level, blood pressure, and pulse and pain indices of around 100 older adults when they visit them to deliver meals. The health data collected by the delivery workers will be uploaded to the mHealth monitoring platform, developed by Dr Wong’s research team. Registered nurses (RNs) access to the platform to evaluate the health status of the older adults. When needed, a registered nurse will give in-depth personal care and interventions via the mHealth app to the older adult. Referrals to allied health professionals or social workers can also be made by the RNs for early interventions.
The team hope that this FIRST-of-its-kind grassroots community health model in combination with Health-Social Partnership will provide scientific research evidence for the Government to consider introducing the mHealth app and the service model to the community as a way to strengthen primary health care.
The mHealth app, is a pilot health management mobile app with an interactive nurse support function. The app enables nurses to monitor users’ health status and allow users’ to communicate with nurses when they have health concerns. Research findings released by the team in March 2023 showed that the use of the app for three to six months among the older adults resulted in a significant increase in self-efficacy, a significant decrease in depression level, a reduction in the use of medical services, and an improvement in the quality of life.
Click here to learn more about the project.
PolyU’s School of Nursing: Dr Arkers Wong, Principal Investigator; Co-Principal Investigator, Prof. Frances Wong, Chair Professor of Advanced Nursing Practice & Associate Dean (FHSS)]; Dr Cheung Kin, Dr Eva Ho & Dr Jed Montayre, Associate Professors; Dr Jonathan Bayuo, Postdoctoral Fellow.
PolyU’s School of Optometry: Dr Jinxiao Lian, Assistant Professor.
Press Contacts
Miss Helen Hsu
Communications Manager, School of Nursing
- (852) 2766 4129
- helen.hsu@polyu.edu.hk
