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(Hong Kong, Sept. 28, 2005) —The Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention (CSRP) at the University of Hong Kong, has won the Silver Award of the 8th Asian Innovation Awards in September 2005 for its website "Little Prince is depressed". The Asian Innovation Awards, organized by the Asian Wall Street Journal and the Singapore Economic Development Board in conjunction with Global Entrepolis @ Singapore 2005, is Asia's premier honor for individuals and companies who create new ideas, methods or technologies, or apply existing knowledge in unique, creative ways to improve the quality of life or productivity.
""Little Prince is depressed" is a collective effort of the centre working toward improvement of the mental health of the population among the young people. This is the first time the education tool of suicide prevention and depression, as far as I know, which is being honoured by a regional leading innovation award for its creativity. The impact of which will help to attract more public attention to the people who are suffering depression and encourage more empathy towards them. Indeed, public health communication is one of the major public health suicide prevention strategies, adopted by World Health Organization (WHO)," said Dr. Paul S. F. Yip, Director of CSRP.
"The whole idea of the "Little Prince is depressed" is to destigmatize depression," says Dr. Yip. "The Little Prince is just like you and me"
According to a community survey conducted by CSRP, 9%of HK people aged 15-59 had reported their major depressive symptoms, which was equivalent to about 400,000 people. Depression is one of the major risk factors for suicide.
Because of the long-standing stigmatization of mental illness, many HK people were or have been reluctant to know more about mental illness. And hence, most citizens have limited knowledge on depression. More importantly, without the understanding of depression, they would not be able to recognize warning sings of depression, the need to seek help, and utilize the help from the people around. The "Little Prince is depressed" is designed for viewers who want to learn more about depression in order to help themselves, their families, and others. The site consists of substantial information about depression and skills to make oneself mentally healthiness. It also emphasizes the importance of seeking help for selves and others.
According to the WHO, fewer than 25% of those people who might be affected (in some countries fewer than 10%) receive treatments. Barriers to effective care include the lack of resources, lack of trained providers, and the social stigma associated with mental disorders including depression. These barriers are more serious in Asian countries due to the difference in medical and health service provision between east and west. WHO has launched an initiative on Depression in Public Health by increasing awareness of depression and dissemination of resources for improving mental healthcare.
About "Little Prince is depressed"
The "Little Prince is depressed" (http://www.depression.edu.hk) is an innovative and interactive educational website; it provides an in-depth and easily digestible information on depression, common stressors among adolescents, hands-on self-help practical tips, and referral information. It is the first-of-its-kind website for adolescents in Asia and probably in the world. It contains evidence-based information based on empirical research results. At the moment, it has trilingual versions, with English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese, which has very extensive coverage to most of the places in the world. It is one of the most comprehensive website on depression. It is estimated that over 200,000 unique visitors have accessed the website since its launch last September. The website is sponsored by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust.
The "Little Prince is depressed" consists of a number of modules:
1)Introduction – cause of depression and symptoms
2)Psychological scale – self-rated measure on depression
3)Treatment – antidepressant, psychotherapies, and alternative methods
4)Healthy Life Styles– how to relax, mood management and healthy life style
5)Sharing – how to deal with academic problems, work stress, and interpersonal relationship
6)Interactive elements – e-card, e-quiz and wallpaper
The "Little Prince is depressed" is an innovation to solve a major public health communications problem – how to convey the mental health knowledge effectively to the community because:
1)It utilizes art, technology, and scientific knowledge to deal with a public health issue;
2)It is a perfect marriage of academic research and public health strategy. It simplifies the hard facts of clinical knowledge to easy-to-digest storyline for layman. Scientific evaluation has been done to prove its effectiveness to communicate the message of depression and help seeking.
3)An original animated character "Little prince is depressed" is deployed to attract people's attention. Customer satisfaction survey showed that it was successful in drawing people's attention.
Effectiveness of the "Little Prince is depressed" has been recognized. A pre-test and post-test evaluation was conducted to study the changes in respondents who visited the site. It was shown to be effective to increase people's knowledge on depression and encourage people to seek help.
The "Little Prince is Depressed", has been awarded as one of the top "Ten Healthy Websites 2004" and earned the unique "The Most Creative Website Award" from the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority of the HKSAR Government for its creativity and efforts in establishing healthy and interesting websites for today's young generation in 2004.
If you need further information, please feel free to contact Mr. Fu on 2241-5016.
"Little Prince is depressed" earns the Silver Winner in Asian Innovation Awards
29 Sep 2005
Multimedia features, beautiful graphics and original music presented in innovative way helps to destigmatize depression
(Hong Kong, Sept. 28, 2005) —The Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention (CSRP) at the University of Hong Kong, has won the Silver Award of the 8th Asian Innovation Awards in September 2005 for its website "Little Prince is depressed". The Asian Innovation Awards, organized by the Asian Wall Street Journal and the Singapore Economic Development Board in conjunction with Global Entrepolis @ Singapore 2005, is Asia's premier honor for individuals and companies who create new ideas, methods or technologies, or apply existing knowledge in unique, creative ways to improve the quality of life or productivity.
""Little Prince is depressed" is a collective effort of the centre working toward improvement of the mental health of the population among the young people. This is the first time the education tool of suicide prevention and depression, as far as I know, which is being honoured by a regional leading innovation award for its creativity. The impact of which will help to attract more public attention to the people who are suffering depression and encourage more empathy towards them. Indeed, public health communication is one of the major public health suicide prevention strategies, adopted by World Health Organization (WHO)," said Dr. Paul S. F. Yip, Director of CSRP.
"The whole idea of the "Little Prince is depressed" is to destigmatize depression," says Dr. Yip. "The Little Prince is just like you and me"
According to a community survey conducted by CSRP, 9%of HK people aged 15-59 had reported their major depressive symptoms, which was equivalent to about 400,000 people. Depression is one of the major risk factors for suicide.
Because of the long-standing stigmatization of mental illness, many HK people were or have been reluctant to know more about mental illness. And hence, most citizens have limited knowledge on depression. More importantly, without the understanding of depression, they would not be able to recognize warning sings of depression, the need to seek help, and utilize the help from the people around. The "Little Prince is depressed" is designed for viewers who want to learn more about depression in order to help themselves, their families, and others. The site consists of substantial information about depression and skills to make oneself mentally healthiness. It also emphasizes the importance of seeking help for selves and others.
According to the WHO, fewer than 25% of those people who might be affected (in some countries fewer than 10%) receive treatments. Barriers to effective care include the lack of resources, lack of trained providers, and the social stigma associated with mental disorders including depression. These barriers are more serious in Asian countries due to the difference in medical and health service provision between east and west. WHO has launched an initiative on Depression in Public Health by increasing awareness of depression and dissemination of resources for improving mental healthcare.
About "Little Prince is depressed"
The "Little Prince is depressed" (http://www.depression.edu.hk) is an innovative and interactive educational website; it provides an in-depth and easily digestible information on depression, common stressors among adolescents, hands-on self-help practical tips, and referral information. It is the first-of-its-kind website for adolescents in Asia and probably in the world. It contains evidence-based information based on empirical research results. At the moment, it has trilingual versions, with English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese, which has very extensive coverage to most of the places in the world. It is one of the most comprehensive website on depression. It is estimated that over 200,000 unique visitors have accessed the website since its launch last September. The website is sponsored by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust.
The "Little Prince is depressed" consists of a number of modules:
1)Introduction – cause of depression and symptoms
2)Psychological scale – self-rated measure on depression
3)Treatment – antidepressant, psychotherapies, and alternative methods
4)Healthy Life Styles– how to relax, mood management and healthy life style
5)Sharing – how to deal with academic problems, work stress, and interpersonal relationship
6)Interactive elements – e-card, e-quiz and wallpaper
The "Little Prince is depressed" is an innovation to solve a major public health communications problem – how to convey the mental health knowledge effectively to the community because:
1)It utilizes art, technology, and scientific knowledge to deal with a public health issue;
2)It is a perfect marriage of academic research and public health strategy. It simplifies the hard facts of clinical knowledge to easy-to-digest storyline for layman. Scientific evaluation has been done to prove its effectiveness to communicate the message of depression and help seeking.
3)An original animated character "Little prince is depressed" is deployed to attract people's attention. Customer satisfaction survey showed that it was successful in drawing people's attention.
Effectiveness of the "Little Prince is depressed" has been recognized. A pre-test and post-test evaluation was conducted to study the changes in respondents who visited the site. It was shown to be effective to increase people's knowledge on depression and encourage people to seek help.
The "Little Prince is Depressed", has been awarded as one of the top "Ten Healthy Websites 2004" and earned the unique "The Most Creative Website Award" from the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority of the HKSAR Government for its creativity and efforts in establishing healthy and interesting websites for today's young generation in 2004.
If you need further information, please feel free to contact Mr. Fu on 2241-5016.
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