Our Centre for Psycho-oncology Research and Teaching, which is recognised as the regional benchmark in East Asia, collaborates with the Departments of Paediatrics, Clinical Oncology, Surgery and Nursing Studies. We have shown that the high levels of psychosocial morbidity that follow cancer are essentially avoidable through tailored clinical diagnostic and
treatment-planning consultations.

The Health Behaviour Research Group (HBRG) recently initiated two major regional collaborative studies. The first, which is in collaboration with the HKU Department of Medicine (Endocrinology) and the CUHK Nethersole School of Nursing and involves 12 medical centres across China, entails the initiation and coordination of a project on coronary heart disease. (We are also advising a group at Peking Medical College on a QoL study of children after cardiac surgery.) The second, which is in collaboration with the Schools of Public Health in Bangkok and Hanoi and the No. 12 People's Hospital in Guangzhou, is a regional study of the infectious disease risk perception that is involved in traditional food marketing practices.

The HBRG began gathering data on the risk perceptions of the Hong Kong population in mid-2002. This baseline enables an examination of the impact of SARS and avian flu on risk perception and behaviour. Additionally, we have data on other perceived health risks in the HKSAR, such as air pollution, passive smoking and traffic conditions. We have developed a new focus on the psychosocial issues that are related to infectious diseases such as SARS and avian flu. We aim to improve the understanding of risk perception, behaviour and communication with an infectious disease focus and to strengthen risk behaviour education
and modification.

We continue to develop and refine instruments for behavioural assessment and to build on our expertise in qualitative research methods. In particular, there is a need to develop instrumentation that is suitable to the cultural context of the HKSAR. A more systematic integration of qualitative methods with quantitative approaches has resulted in an extremely successful exploration and clarification of the role of patient decision-making involvement in
cancer care.