The present study is aimed at assessing the feasibility of delivering the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine to girls through a school-based program in Hong Kong, as well as to examine the facilitators and barriers associated with their participation. We approached 1,229 eligible girls aged 9 to 14 at eight schools in Hong Kong to join the program and then delivered the bivalent HPV vaccine at 0 and 6 months over the course of one school year. The students and their parents completed separate questionnaires to indicate their decision on whether or not to participate, and to assess their knowledge of cervical cancer and the HPV vaccine. The overall vaccine uptake was 81.4% (1,000/1,229) for the first dose and 80.8% (993/1,229) for the second dose. Parents and students were given separate questionnaires and asked whether or not they would like to participate in the vaccination program. 87.1% (1,010/1,160) of parents and 84.9% (974/1,147) of students indicated that they would join the program. The reasons associated with parents’ decision not to vaccinate their daughters primarily included concerns around side effects and safety. Multivariate regression analysis showed that parents who thought that the vaccine would protect their daughter from getting cervical cancer (OR = 3.16, 95% CI = 1.39–7.15, p < .01), and those who reported having a doctor’s recommendation (OR = 4.54, 95% CI = 1.05–19.57, p < .05) were more likely to join the program. In contrast, parents who had never heard of the vaccine (OR = .15, 95% CI = .03–.71, p < .02), those who were willing to pay more than HK$2,000 for the vaccine (OR = .39, 95% CI = .19–.81, p < .05), or had a preference to access it through a private clinic (OR = .44, 95% CI = .26–.75, p < .01) were significantly less likely to allow their daughter to join the program. Delivery of the HPV vaccine with high uptake rate in a school setting is feasible in Hong Kong. Engaging key stakeholders including school administrators, teachers and community physicians, and providing relevant information on safety and vaccine effectiveness to parents were important to the success of the program.

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Background Female sex workers are considered a reservoir of HIV and their psychological health has a role to play in HIV infections. In China, commercial sex workers were reported to account for nearly 50% of heterosexual transmission of HIV. Therefore, HIV prevention targeted at mental health could be an innovative strategy in controlling the infection. We aimed to provide an evidence-based resilience-promoting intervention targeting mental health and ultimately safe sexual practices of female sex workers. Methods This randomised controlled trial was done at three Hong Kong non-governmental organisations, namely Action for REACH OUT, JJJ Association, and the Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention. Participants in this study were women (aged ≥18 years) who had worked as a sex worker in the previous 6 months. We randomly assigned participants to either intervention or usual care (control) according to a predetermined, computer-generated randomisation list. Both group facilitator and partcipants were unmasked to the group allocation, but an independent researcher who was masked to the treatment allocation administered the questionnaires. About half of the participants were permanent residents of Hong Kong whereas the other half were from mainland China. The six-session resilience-promoting intervention was designed to improve the coping skills, self-esteem, and self-effi cacy (ie, the belief of an individuals' ability to control their actions to achieve desired goal), as measured by Brief-COPE, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, and the Generalised Self-effi cacy Scale of female sex workers. Questionnaires were administered by an independent assessor at baseline, post-treatment, and at 3 months follow-up. Participants in the control group received standard service, which included outreach visits, screening for HIV or sexually transmitted infections, and social activities provided by non-governmental organisations. The primary outcome of this study was the resilience scores measured by Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. We analysed the diff erences between the two groups using the intention-to-treat analysis. This study was approved by the University of Hong Kong/Hospital

The English version of the Condom Self-Efficacy Scale (CSES) was translated, back-translated, and tested among a representative sample of the Hong Kong general population. It then underwent reconsolidation, confirmation, and validation following standard procedures. Construct validity was performed by exploratory factor analysis and item-scale correlation. Independent t-test and effect size were used to identify the score differences between consistent and non-consistent condom users. The factor loading scores of 14 items ranged between 0.749 and 0.884. Cronbach's alpha for the traditional Chinese version of CSES (CSES-TC) was 0.96 for the overall scale. The CSES-TC was highly correlated with self-reported condom use among the 265 participants who indicated they had been sexually active in the past 12 months. The CSES-TC demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties in terms of validity, reliability, and sensitivity. This scale can be used as an instrument to measure condom use efficacy for condom promotion and intervention purposes.