Cognitive behavioural stress management program for Mainland college students in Hong Kong: A randomized controlled trial

In responding to the internationalization of higher education, the number of Mainland college students has increased rapidly since the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997. As a group of international students, they experience a variety of adjustment problems in their adaptation to Hong Kong, which cause acculturative stress and various mental health problems. However, intervention programs aiming at facilitating the psychological adaptation of international students are lacking. Although cognitive behaviour therapy is widely used in university student counselling services in Hong Kong, few studies have examined its effectiveness. This project aims at developing and evaluating a culturally-attuned cognitive behavioural stress management program for Chinese international students, tested with Mainland college students in Hong Kong. A waiting-list control group design will be adopted. A total of 76 participants with a moderate to high level of psychological distress will be recruited and randomly assigned to 4 experimental groups and 4 control groups, respectively. A package of outcome measurements will be developed and administered at pre- and post-test for both experimental and control groups. MANOVA with repeated measures will be conducted to test program effectiveness at both cognitive and affective levels. Theoretical and practical implications for working with Chinese international students, especially in the Hong Kong context, will be proposed