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The COVID-19 pandemic has substantially induced worries and affected individual mental health and subjective well-being. Nonetheless, a high level of social capital could potentially protect individuals who suffer from mental health problems and thus promote their subjective well-being, especially under the social distancing policies during the pandemic. To this end, based on a random sample of 1053 Hong Kong adults, structural equation modeling was applied to study the path relationships between the worries of COVID-19, social capital, mental health problems, and subjective well-being. The study found that worries during the pandemic were associated with mental health and subjective well-being, through social capital as a mediator. Moreover, social capital exhibited a stronger influence on mental health and subjective well-being in the economically inactive group than in the economically active group. This study highlights the important role of social capital during the COVID-19 pandemic. While Hong Kong's COVID-19 response has primarily focused on disease prevention, it must be noted that social services and mutual-help activities are also crucial for people to withstand the crisis., Author(s): Siu-Ming Chan [sup.1] [sup.2] , Gary Ka-Ki Chung [sup.1] , Yat-Hang Chan [sup.1] , Jean Woo [sup.1] [sup.3] , Eng Kiong Yeoh [sup.1] [sup.4] , Roger Yat-Nork Chung [sup.1] [...]

This paper introduces an e-Learning for urban tourism education through a scenario-based game of a hypothetical city. This scenario game set a good example to integrate components of e-Learning, gamification and scenario-based platform in tourism geography and planning education. This study evaluated the effectiveness of urban tourism scenario game in terms of knowledge enrichment, attitudinal change and platform usability reported by a sample of voluntary university students (n = 30). The overall effectiveness of the game is found generally positive. Paired-sampled t-test results show that this game platform is successful in improving participants' fundamental knowledge about new concepts, models and issues in the urban tourism context. The nature of tourism study in social science involves dynamism of perception and views, and thus leading to attitudinal changes of the game players although these changes are only statistically significant in one-fourth of the attitudinal attributes. The usability is the shortcomings of the game since this dimension is difficult to control except some technical elements. From the statistical results, the game does not reach a high expectation of usability except the educational design of the game. Some discussions and suggestions are made to enhance the effectiveness of game-based learning in tourism education through clever integration of modes of learning and other e-Learning elements.

As coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continued to spread globally, studies of transmission mainly focused on clusters of [greater than or equal to] 2 epidemiologically linked cases. Some governments, including those of [...]

Background: Hong Kong has a relatively low incidence rate of COVID-19 across the globe. Nevertheless, ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, especially South Asians (SAs) and Southeast Asians (SEAs), face numerous physical, mental, social, economic, cultural and religious challenges during the pandemic. This study explores the experiences of SA and SEA women in a predominantly Chinese metropolitan city. Methods: Ten SA and SEA women were recruited and face-to-face interviews were conducted. Questions about participants' daily life experience, physical and mental health conditions, economic situation and social interaction amid COVID-19 pandemic were asked to assess the impact of COVID-19. Results: SAs and SEAs have a distinctive family culture, and women experienced significant physical and mental impact of COVID-19 due to their unique gender role in the family. In addition to taking care of their family in Hong Kong, SA and SEA women also had to mentally and financially support family members residing in their home countries. Access to COVID-related information was restricted due to language barrier. Public health measures including social distancing imposed extra burden on ethnic minorities with limited social and religious support. Conclusions: Even when COVID-19 incidence rate is relatively low in Hong Kong, the pandemic made life even more challenging for SAs and SEAs, which is a community already struggling with language barriers, financial woes, and discrimination. This in turn could have led to greater health inequalities. Government and civil organizations should take the social determinants of health inequalities into account when implementing COVID-19-related public health policies and strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]