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4. Funded Research Projects

4.11 Social inclusion and Internet use among mental health
services users in Poland (on-going project)

Principal Investigator: Prof. Kara Chan

Convenor of Environment, Health and Sustainability
Working Group of LEWI and
Professor of Communication Studies

Source of Funding: Faculty Research Grant, HKBU
Amount Awarded: HKD135,000

Brief Introduction:

The study of the relationship between mental health and social inclusion has

generated much interest among social services providers, policy makers, and
academics (Huxley et al., 2008). This proposal seeks funding to support a survey

of subjective social inclusion experience and its relationship with Internet usage
among 180 mental health services users in Poland through a non-probability

sample survey. A scholar in Gdansk, Poland was recruited into the team and
would work together to extend our current research agenda into Eastern Europe.
A Polish version of the Social and Communities Opportunities Profile (i.e. SCOPE-

P) would be developed based on the research team’s previous work in Hong
Kong and the UK. Participants in Poland will be recruited through the professional

contact of our Polish research partner. A supplementary questionnaire on amount
and motivations of Internet use will be developed and be included in the survey

document. Social inclusion experience and health conditions of Polish participants
would be compared to the experience of mental health services users in Hong

Kong and the UK. The relationship between social inclusion experience and new
media usage would be explored in this study.

HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY | David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies 36