title: Happy Family Kitchen II: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of a Community-Based Family Intervention for Enhancing Family Communication and Well-being in Hong Kong.
abstract: Long working hours and stressful urban lifestyles pose major challenges to family communication and well-being in Hong Kong. A community-based family intervention derived from a positive psychology framework, by using cooking and dining as a platform, was developed for improving family communication and well-being. Social workers and teachers from 31 social service units and schools in collaboration with an academic partner organized and conducted the intervention programs for 2,070 individuals from 973 families in a deprived district in Hong Kong. The participants were randomly assigned into the intervention or control group in a cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT). The core intervention covered one of five positive psychology themes: joy, gratitude, flow, savoring, and listening. Assessments at pre-intervention, immediate post-intervention, and 4 and 12 weeks post-intervention showed improved family communication and well-being with sustainable effects up to 12 weeks. Positive changes in family happiness and family health were greater in the intervention group than in the control group. The savoring intervention had the most improved outcomes among the five themes. We concluded that this large-scale brief cRCT developed and conducted in real-world settings provided evidence for the feasibility and effectiveness of a community-based family intervention. This study was registered under ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01796275).
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Henry C Y
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.affiliation: Service Development, The Hong Kong Council of Social Service Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Moses
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mui
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Yin-Lam
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Sunita M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.affiliation: United Centre of Emotional Health and Positive Living, United Christian Nethersole Community Health Service Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yew
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Tai Hing
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Sophia S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Chan
keywords: community-based intervention; family communication; family well-being; positive psychology; randomized controlled trial