Elsevier

Behavior Therapy

Volume 45, Issue 1, January 2014, Pages 137-152
Behavior Therapy

A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial to Decrease Adaptation Difficulties in Chinese New Immigrants to Hong Kong

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2013.10.003Get rights and content

Highlights

  • •

    Two interventions were designed to reduce migrants’ adaptation difficulties (AD).

  • •

    Intervention I was designed to impact AD by increasing knowledge.

  • •

    Intervention R was designed to impact AD by enhancing personal resilience.

  • •

    Both interventions had positive effects on AD compared to controls.

  • •

    Intervention R predicted AD via mediation of its effect on personal resilience.

Abstract

Immigration occurs globally, and immigrants are vulnerable to the development of adaptation difficulties. Little evidence is available for effective programs to enhance immigrant adaptation outside of the West. This pilot randomized controlled trial tested the effectiveness of two interventions used to decrease adaptation difficulties by (a) providing knowledge of resources that are relevant to the Hong Kong context or (b) enhancing personal resilience in immigrants to Hong Kong from Mainland China. A total of 220 participants were randomly assigned to three conditions: information, resilience, or control arms. They completed measures on adaptation difficulties, knowledge, and personal resilience at baseline, immediately after the intervention (postintervention), and at a 3-month follow-up. The information intervention resulted in higher increases postintervention in knowledge than did the other two arms. The resilience intervention reported greater increases in personal resilience than did the control arm at both postintervention and 3 months later; it also reported greater increases than the information arm did at the 3-month follow-up. Although both interventions reported greater decreases in adaptation difficulties than the control arm did at postintervention and 3 months later, no significant differences were found when they were compared with each other at both time points. Both programs had high acceptability and were feasible to implement in the community. Change in knowledge had no significant mediation effect on adaption difficulties, but change in personal resilience from baseline to postintervention mediated the effect of the intervention on the outcome of adaptation difficulties at the 3-month follow-up. These findings indicate evidence for benefits of the information and resilience interventions, and they inform further development of our programs.

Section snippets

Methods

This study was a component of the Hong Kong Jockey Club FAMILY Project, which was funded as an initiative to promote societal harmony and to prevent family conflicts in Hong Kong (Stewart, Fabrizio, Hirschmann, & Lam, 2012). The goal of the FAMILY Project was to enhance three key outcomes that were salient to Hong Kong’s social agenda for families—namely, health, happiness, and harmony—via three platforms: a cohort study to determine risk factors and causes of impairment in family function; the

Results

Table 1 shows that the participants were mainly housewives, with secondary education, with monthly family incomes of less than HK$15,000 (median family income for Hong Kong = HK$20,500), not receiving government financial assistance, and were living in Hong Kong for less than 6 months. Their mean score on the PHQ was 4.79 (SD = 3.86; Mean, SD for the Hong Kong population = 2.40, 3.39; Yu et al., 2012), suggesting a mild degree of depressive symptoms as might be expected given their new immigrant

Discussion

The information intervention was effective in increasing knowledge at postintervention as well as decreasing the outcome of adaptation difficulties at all follow-up points. The resilience intervention decreased adaptation difficulties and increased personal resilience also at all follow-up points. The changes in personal resilience mediated the effect of the intervention on decreasing adaptation difficulties at the 3-month follow-up. The two interventions had high acceptability and feasibility.

Author Disclosure Statement

The authors do not have any conflicting financial interests.

Role of Funding Source

This study was supported by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. This charities trust had no further role in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication.

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