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Objective: Due to global urbanization, technological advancements, and increasing convenience in daily activities, reduced energy expenditure in all aspects of life has become a major public health concern. A positive physical activity (PPA) intervention was developed to promote physical activity and fitness among Hong Kong families. PPA utilizes positive affective attitudes to circumvent barriers to health behavior change by helping families associate feelings of enjoyment with physical activity. Zero-Time Exercise (ZTEx) was introduced and promoted as a foot-in-the-door approach. Method: Using a community-based collaborative approach, the research team worked with social service organizations, a government department, and schools to implement a cluster randomized controlled crossover trial at a citywide scale. A total of 1,983 eligible participants from 1,467 families were recruited from all 18 districts in Hong Kong. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and physical fitness assessments at preintervention and 1-month and 3-month follow-up. Results: PPA was effective in increasing ZTEx and ZTEx with family members at 1-month and 3-month follow-up and in improving balance and endurance at 3-month follow-up. Semistructured focus groups provided further support for the intervention effectiveness and added in-depth insights into the participants' motivational, interpersonal, and affective experiences. Conclusion: The results not only shed light on the intervention's effectiveness for physical activity and fitness but also demonstrated that the community-based collaborative approach was successful in engaging relevant stakeholders in an active and fruitful partnership with effective capacity building for program development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for information sharing among family members is increasing dramatically. However, little is known about the associated factors and the influence on family well-being. Objective: The authors investigated the pattern and social determinants of family life information sharing with family and the associations of different methods of sharing with perceived family health, happiness, and harmony (3Hs) in Hong Kong, where mobile phone ownership and Internet access are among the most prevalent, easiest, and fastest in the world. Methods: A territory-wide population-based telephone survey was conducted from January to August 2016 on different methods of family life information (ie, information related to family communication, relationships with family members, emotion and stress management) sharing with family members, including face-to-face, phone, instant messaging (IM), social media sites, video calls, and email. Family well-being was assessed by three single items on perceived family health, happiness, and harmony, with higher scores indicating better family well-being. Adjusted prevalence ratios were used to assess the associations of sociodemographic factors with family life information sharing, and adjusted beta coefficients for family well-being. Results: Of 2017 respondents, face-to-face was the most common method to share family life information (74.45%, 1502/2017), followed by IM (40.86%, 824/2017), phone (28.10%, 567/2017), social media sites (11.91%, 240/2017), video calls (5.89%, 119/2017), and email (5.48%, 111/2017). Younger age and higher education were associated with the use of any (at least one) method, face-to-face, IM, and social media sites for sharing family life information (all P for trend <.01). Higher education was most strongly associated with the use of video calls (adjusted prevalence ratio=5.61, 95% CI 2.29-13.74). Higher household income was significantly associated with the use of any method, face-to-face, and IM (all P for trend <.05). Sharing family life information was associated with a higher level of perceived family well-being (beta=0.56, 95% CI 0.37-0.75), especially by face-to-face (beta=0.62, 95% CI 0.45-0.80) and video calls (beta=0.34, 95% CI 0.04-0.65). The combination of face-to-face and video calls was most strongly associated with a higher level of perceived family well-being (beta=0.81, 95% CI 0.45-1.16). Conclusions: The differential use of ICTs to share family life information was observed. The prevalence of video calls was low, but associated with much better family well-being. The results need to be confirmed by prospective and intervention studies to promote the use of video calls to communicate and share information with family, particularly in disadvantaged groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Inequalities in Internet use and health information seeking are well documented, but less is known about information for family life activities. Objective: We investigated the social determinants of online family life information seeking behaviors and its associations with family well-being among Chinese adults in Hong Kong. Methods: A probability-based telephone survey was conducted in 2012 to record family life information seeking behaviors, including frequency of seeking and paying attention to family life information, levels of trust, and perceived usefulness of family life information. Family well-being was assessed using 3 single items on perceived family harmony, happiness, and health, with higher scores indicating greater well-being. Adjusted odds ratios for family life information seeking behaviors by socioeconomic characteristics and lifestyle behaviors, and adjusted beta coefficients for family well-being by family life information seeking behaviors were calculated. Results: Of 1537 respondents, 57.57% (855/1537) had ever and 26.45% (407/1537) sought monthly family life information through the Internet. Lower educational attainment and household income, smoking, and physical inactivity were associated with less frequent seeking and paying attention (all P<.05). Greater perceived family health was associated with more frequent attention (adjusted β=.32, 95% CI.11-.52), greater levels of trust (adjusted β=.28, 95% CI .07-.48), and perceived usefulness (adjusted β=.23, 95% CI .01-.45) of family life information. Frequent attention and higher level of trust were also associated with greater family harmony (adjusted β=.22, 95% CI .002-.41) and happiness (adjusted β=.23, 95% CI .003-.42), respectively. Conclusions: This is the first study investigating family life information seeking behaviors and suggested inequalities of online family life information seeking behaviors. The association between family life information seeking behavior and family well-being needs to be confirmed in prospective studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]