Spreading Joy Through Music & Exercises
Joyful mood relieves stress and frustration associated with the everyday hassles of life, thus it is essential for us to develop hobbies or take part in activities which generates positivity and maintain our mental well-being. Two pilot studies - “Fun．Feel．Share - Lyrics Writing and Singing Show Pilot Project” and “Joyful Adventure Day Pilot Project” were collaboratively conducted by the School of Public Health of The University of Hong Kong and The Boys' and Girls' Clubs Association of Hong Kong, aiming to promote “Sharing, Mind and Enjoyment (SME)” to adolescents and their families through physical activities and lyrics competitions.
The two projects were supported by the HKSAR Government’s Health Care and Promotion Scheme and “Joyful@HK”, a territory-wide 3-year mental health promotion campaign launched by the Department of Health. Two to three sessions of intervention activities were introduced to the participating schools, with each lasted for around 1 to 2 hours. A Wisdom Sharing Session was held on 1 June 2018 to wrap up the wisdom and experiences of collaborators and enhance knowledge exchange among school teachers and social workers.
During the sharing session, Professor Lam Tai-hing, Chair Professor of Community Medicine and Sir Robert Kotewall Professor in Public Health, shared the benefits of introducing lyrics writing and physical activities as brief, preventive intervention activities at schools, and suggested these brief interventions to be adopted widely and sustainably if effective.
Dr Daniel Ho, Associate Professor of School of Public Health, demonstrated the importance of short measurements and subjective assessments in exploratory pilot studies and shared the preliminary quantitative and qualitative results of the studies. At 1-month follow-up, 30% to 40% of the participants reported self-perceived improvements of happiness and health. Students who participated in the “Joyful Adventure Day Pilot Project” enjoyed the physical fitness tests, coordination games and Zero-time Exercise (ZTEx); while those who joined “Lyrics Writing and Singing Show Pilot Project” enjoyed learning lyrics writing skills and even suggested more popular songs to be included in the project. The effectiveness of the interventions is to be further revealed in the 3-month follow-up assessment.
Dr Daniel Ho, Associate Professor of School of Public Health, demonstrated the importance of short measurements and subjective assessments in exploratory pilot studies and shared the preliminary quantitative and qualitative results of the studies. At 1-month follow-up, 30% to 40% of the participants reported self-perceived improvements of happiness and health. Students who participated in the “Joyful Adventure Day Pilot Project” enjoyed the physical fitness tests, coordination games and Zero-time Exercise (ZTEx); while those who joined “Lyrics Writing and Singing Show Pilot Project” enjoyed learning lyrics writing skills and even suggested more popular songs to be included in the project. The effectiveness of the interventions is to be further revealed in the 3-month follow-up assessment.
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