Abstract: Recent studies on the use of Internet among youngsters suggest problematic behaviour and adverse impacts on overall health as there are uncharted boundaries of information and media through Internet. Such related problems include Internet addiction, shyness, alienation, psychological distress and academic performance decrement over time. As a consequence, the ability of students in tertiary education to communicate effectively and interact humanly could deteriorate as they become more accustomed to networking via Internet. However, students nowadays do increasingly rely on the Internet to perform research under the knowledge-based economy despite concerns over reliability and truthfulness of information available from Internet. There are a role and values of Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) for an optimal use of Internet. With reference to an interdisciplinary review, we suggest an interventionist approach to orient students in tertiary education to develop a strategic mindset that exploits Internet as a source for developing knowledge about learning outcomes while mitigating the risks associated with over-reliance and inadequate uses.
Abstract: This research aimed to understand health promoting practices of Hong Kong college students by collecting some preliminary data. The research was a cross-sectional study, which was conducted in Hung Hom Bay and West Kowloon campuses of the College of Professional and Continuing Education (CPCE). Participants were mainly college students who studied in CPCE. Information about health promoting behavior of the college students were obtained by a self-administered questionnaire. The participants were chosen by random selection. The data were collected from March to April 2015 in the two campuses and were analyzed generally and by gender through the application of the SPSS. A total of 616 questionnaires were distributed and 610 were returned. The response rate was 99%. 40.4% seldom did physical activity as a routine and only 35.4% lived on a balanced diet. About two-thirds of the college students were mentally well because of enough sleep and seldom having insomnia. The majority of the students was positive in their spiritual well-being, and found life interesting and challenging. It is nice to know that over three quarters of the subjects were confident with their outlook and thus self-esteem.
Abstract: The study aims to investigate the current utilization of health information for disease prevention and health promotion among college students in Hong Kong, to understand how they acquire health information through different electronic media and to what extent they trust these health information. A cross-sectional study was performed between October and November 2015, 821 questionnaires were distributed to respondents in different tertiary institutions in Hong Kong, data were collected and analysed through SPSS programme. The findings showed that the respondents were mostly likely to look for health information when they were feeling sick (50.4%). Both male (63.5%) and female (64%) respondents reported that they lacked appropriate health knowledge and it was important for them to obtain this kind of information. A majority of respondents used internet (85.4%) and social media (67%) as their main sources of health information. There were also 60% of respondents who demonstrated doubts towards the reliability of information from the internet (23.3%) and social media (32.9%). There was no significant gender difference in terms of how this health information was acquired. These results showed that internet and social media were the principle sources of health information for college students in Hong Kong. However, most of them were unsure about the validity and trustworthiness of this information. To prevent students from obtaining potentially unreliable health information on the internet or from social media platforms, more health promotion is recommended to be carried out among local tertiary institutions on enhancing students' awareness in obtaining reliable health information.
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