The design, adaptation, and rigorous evaluation of digital, scalable, and community-based interventions to reduce the population burden of non-communicable diseases, mental health, and infectious disease, and their comorbidities, among the general population, and among those most disadvantaged and marginalized in China and the region. Implementation science approaches will be employed to ensure maintenance and long-term impact of intervention programs.
The World Health Organization developed Step-by-step, the first digital mental health intervention designed to address depression in diverse populations globally. Our research team is the first in Asia to engage in the cultural adaptation and evaluation of this program; we culturally adapted Step-by-Step for Chinese young adults, and for Overseas Filipino Workers.
Our clinical trials of Step-by-Step are ongoing.
Chinese youth
*Sit, H. F., Hong, L.W., Burchert, S., Sou, E.K.L., Wong, M., Chen, W., Lam, A.I.F., & Hall, B. J. (2022). A feasibility study of the WHO digital mental health intervention Step-by-Step to address depression among Chinese young adults. Frontiers in Psychiatry, Digital Mental Health, 12:812667. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.812667.
*Ling, R., Sit, H.F., Lam, A.I.F., Tucker, J., Latkin, C. A., & Hall, B. J. (2021). Crowdsourcing to design a marketing package to promote a WHO digital mental health intervention among Chinese young adults. Internet Interventions, 25, 100397.
*Sit, H.F., *Ling, R., Lam, A.I.F., Chen, W., Latkin, C., & Hall, B. J. (2020). The cultural adaptation of Step-by-Step: An intervention to address depression among Chinese young adults. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, 650. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00650
Filipino Overseas Foreign Workers
Liem, A., Pakingan, K. A., Garabiles, M.R., Sit, H.F., Burchert, S., Lam, A.I.F., & Hall, B. J. (2022). Evaluating implementation of a mental health app for overseas Filipino workers in Macao China: A mixed-methods study of stakeholders’ perspectives. Frontiers in Psychiatry, section Public Mental Health, 13:836156. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.836156
Liem, A., Garabiles, M.R., Pakingan, K. A., Chen, W., Burchert, S., Lam, A.I.F., & Hall, B. J. (2020). A digital mental health intervention to reduce depressive symptoms among overseas Filipino workers: Protocol for a pilot hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation randomized controlled trial. Implementation Science Communications, 1, 96. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s43058-020-00072-y
Garabiles, M. R., Harper- Shehadeh, M., & Hall, B. J. (2019). Cultural adaptation of a scalable World Health Organization E-mental health program for Overseas Filipino Workers, Journal of Medical Internet Research-Formative, 3(1):e11600. doi: doi.org/10.2196/11600
Hall, B. J., Shi, W., Garabiles, M. R., Chan, E. W.W. (2018). Correlates of expected eMental Health intervention uptake among Filipino domestic workers in China. Global Mental Health, 5, e33. doi: doi.org/10.1017/gmh.2018.25