The Linking Hearts Project, launched in 2018, was an interdisciplinary implementation research partnership between Canada and China. Our team aimed to study the cultural adaptation and implementation of the Acceptance and Commitment to Empowerment (ACE) intervention, an evidence-based intervention developed and evaluated with Asian and racialized immigrants in Canada. The Canadian team partnered with researchers at six universities in Jinan, Shandong, China. Despite disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, we completed the study in December 2024. Using a capacity building for collective empowerment approach, we trained 24 mental health professionals to become ACE Core Champions in Jinan. These Champions were supported to implement the ACE intervention with two cohorts of on-campus service providers (OSPs) and university students. In Cohort One, 136 OSPs completed ACE, and 57 (40%) joined the Champions and co-facilitated Cohort Two, whereby 230 OSPs and 337 students successfully completed the ACE intervention. We applied the RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance) Framework to evaluate the implementation of ACE in Jinan. This presentation reports on key study results: (1) barriers and facilitators of help-seeking among students; (2) contexts matter in cultural adaptation of the ACE intervention; (3) ACE enhanced personal and group empowerment as demonstrated by post-intervention action of OSPs; (4) ACE was effective in sustained stress reduction; and (5) shared leadership in global health research. Our study results show that global health research partnerships, built on shared leadership, epistemic justice and global health equity, can contribute to knowledge exchange that strengthens student mental health locally and globally.

Authors:
Josephine Pui-Hing Wong, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada
Kenneth Po-Lun Fung, University of Toronto, Canada

About the Presenter(s)
Josephine Pui-Hing Wong (RN, PhD) holds the position of Professor in the Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), Canada.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Monday Schedule

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