Evaluations on Phase I Project (2016-2018)

JCECC 賽馬會安寧頌計劃 > Evaluations on Phase I Project (2016-2018)

Professional Capacity Building

Capacity Building in RCHEs

Community-based EoLC programmes

Volunteer Capacity Building

Knowledge and Skill Transfer

The JCECC Project involves multi-level of intervention for different target groups. Each component in the Project targets on specific types of service users, including health and social care professionals, residents and families in residential care homes for elderly (RCHEs), community-dwelling patients and their family members, other community stakeholders in the EoLC programmes, volunteers, and the general public. To evaluate the outcomes and impacts of the Phase I Project between 2016-2018, the Faculty of Social Sciences, the University of Hong Kong has adopted a mixed methods evaluations involving both quantitative and qualitative studies. The findings not only inform us the effectiveness of the core components of this project, but also to ensure sustainability.

The evaluation was conducted in line with the 5 project components:

1. Professional Capacity Building

The Professional capacity building programmes provided training to health and social care professionals in various settings. The capacity building programme in the community, led by the University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Social Sciences, emphasises on changing attitude, enriching knowledge and enhancing skills for health and social care professionals working in the wider community settings. The Hong Kong Association of Gerontology (HKAG) endeavored to enhance RCHE’s capacity to provide EoLC through a capacity building programme which consists of systematic and intensive training to RCHE staff of different levels. The Jockey Club Institute of Ageing of the Chinese University of Hong Kong implemented a capacity building programme in hospitals in New Territories East cluster. They provided a series of seminars and workshops as well as e-learning materials to enhance the capacity of healthcare professionals in providing EoLC. The outcomes on training participants regarding their changes in EoLC competencies were examined. Moreover, the impacts of the professional capacity building programme on health and social care professionals in the wider community were explored.

2. EoLC in Residential Care Homes for the Elderly (RCHEs)

The capacity building programme in RCHEs led by the HKAG also aimed to improve quality of life of RCHEs residents with end-of-life issues and their family members. District based professional EoL team of HKAG supported the RCHEs which joined the programme, and collaborated with hospitals and Community Geriatric Assessment Service Team (CGATs), to provide EoLC to RCHE residents. The programme’s effectiveness on promoting residents’ quality of life and reducing unnecessary hospitalisation were studied.

3. Community-based EoLC programmes

Four NGO partners, namely St James’ Settlement (SJS), Haven of Hope Christian Service (HOH), Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation (HKSR), and S.K.H. Holy Carpenter Church District Elderly Community Centre (HCCDECC), have launched innovative community EoLC programmes based on four different service models. The community EoLC programmes aim to pioneer new services to empower the community infrastructure to offer EoLC and complement the existing service gap on hospitals, eventually promoting the quality of life of end-of-life patients, their family and caregivers. All of these models involve medical-social collaboration between the service team of our NGO partners and public hospitals and other social services. In evaluating the outcomes and impacts of the programmes, quality of life and service satisfaction of both patients and their family caregivers were surveyed, patient’s medical service utilisation was also examined. In addition, community stakeholders, predominantly service agencies and medical care service teams that refer cases to the RCHE or community-based EoLC programmes, were also surveyed about their satisfaction towards the EoLC programmes.

4. Volunteer Capacity Building

Embedded in the Community-based EoLC programmes is the volunteer capacity building programme, in which community volunteers were recruited and trained by the four NGO partners and the Faculty of Social Sciences, the University of Hong Kong to support EoL patients and their family members. Programme evaluation looked into the effectiveness of the volunteer training in enhancing the competences of volunteers in offering support to EoL patients, as well as the influence of the volunteering experiences on volunteers’ well-being.

5. Knowledge and Skill Transfer

Knowledge and skill transfer was jointly conducted by all partners of the project. The component increases public awareness on EoLC and promotes conversations and dialogues on EoL issues. Through annual community-wide surveys, the research team continuously assess the knowledge and attitude of the general public towards EoLC.