The key research foci of the group are around three areas: frailty, community and long-term care, and dementia care. Researchers in this theme are dedicated to advancing nursing practice and education, nurturing nurse leaders for the future, and improving community and long-term care for the older population in Hong Kong and Chinese societies.
The Centre for Gerontological Nursing was established in 2012 to bring together colleagues with research interest in ageing and health to develop concerted research projects and promote interdisciplinary research. The centre also provides health and cognitive assessment services to the local community.
Frailty
With an ageing population and increasing longevity worldwide, prevalence of frailty in older people is expected to rise. Frail older people are at a higher risk of developing physical and/or cognitive impairment. Higher health care and social cost, increased burden of caregiving may reduce the quality of life of the frail older people and their families.
Researchers in this theme collect cross-sectional and longitudinal data to develop a model that can characterize frailty over time, identify older people at risk of frailty and the associated risk factors, design and test interventions or programmes to minimize negative clinical and socio-economical outcomes.
Community and Long-term Care
This programme of research focuses on improving the physical and psychological well-being and the quality of life of older people in the community or long-term care settings, as well as their families. This goal is achieved through practising evidence-based nursing, undertaking collaborative research, working with stakeholders, and engaging older people and their families in health education activities to enhance their health knowledge and self-care.
Our expertise areas include: pressure ulcer prevention and wound care, pain assessment and multi-modal intervention for pain management, restraint reduction and fall prevention programmes, biographical approaches for psychological well-being, infection control, medication adherence, chronic illness management/prevention and technological innovations such as air quality monitoring in residential care facilities and use of mobile application in chronic illness prevention.
Dementia Care
Team members aim to improve the community's awareness of Alzheimer's disease and provide better services for the local community. Our scope of work includes: to collaborate with local agencies to conduct studies on dementia care and exchange educational and research data; advance nursing practice and scholarly activities; offer training to undergraduate and postgraduate students; and develop educational materials based on the local context.
Developing innovative interventions for people with dementia to manage behavioural and psychological symptoms is an important part of the group's research. Studies have been carried out on different intervention strategies, for example, music and movement, acupressure, and horticultural therapy. Another two foci are on pain and advance care planning in people with dementia.
With the support of the School, the Centre for Gerontological Nursing has been offering Health and Cognitive Assessment Service (HeCAS) to the public at the School's Integrative Health Clinic since 2009. HeCAS is a comprehensive physical, functional, cognitive and mental health assessment for older adults. Referrals can be made to local memory clinics for further investigation and management.