The Effectiveness of Mental Wellness Youth Hubs in Hong Kong

This study sets out to evaluate (i) whether the model in phase two can improve symptoms, quality of life, functioning, and psychological outcomes in young people utilising the hub services (n = 600) compared to those in the community controls (n = 600), (ii) the mechanisms that may drive these improvements, and (iii) whether any particular subgroup(s) of youths (e.g., gender, socio-economic status, migrant status) may benefit more from this service model. The experiment group will include 600 hub users who are not currently using psychiatric medications and do not have a formal diagnosis at the time of enrolling in the hub activity. The control group will also comprise of 600 young people, recruited from a community cohort managed by the research team. The community cohort is accessible via the Youth Epidemiological Study Online platform (YES online), which recruits young people aged 12 to 24 years. Only YES online participants who are not using the service of LevelMind@JC and psychiatric medications will be recruited for this study. The two groups will be matched in age, gender, and baseline distress level measured by the 6-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6). There will also be a substudy assessing the effect of four service models: NLPRA eClinic, Integrated Community Centre for Mental Wellness (ICCMW) step-up care, general practitioners, and hub casework support service on symptom-based mental health outcome, comparing a cohort of young people receiving these four services respectively. A total of 252 participants will be recrruited. Another substudy will be conducted to investigate the extent to which participation in Tier 1 activities contributes to improvements in targeted outcome areas, assessing young people (n = 675) before and after their participation of Tier 1 activities. A consecutive sampling will be used, where a subject who meets the criteria of inclusion will be selected until this required sample size is achieved.

NCT Number	NCT06868303
Lead Sponsor	The University of Hong Kong Collaborators: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, The Boys' and Girls' Clubs Association of Hong Kong, Caritas Medical Centre, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Christian Service, Neighbourhood Advice-Action Council, St. James' Settlement, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, Hong Kong Young Women's Christian Association, Yan Oi Tong, Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong, New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, The Salvation Army, Hong Kong and Macau Command, Hong Kong Playground Association (HKPA), Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council Limited, Hong Kong Children and Youth Services, Hong Kong Federation of Youth's Group
Conditions	Mental Stress
Enrollment	1,300 participants
Start Date	2025-05-06
Primary Completion	2028-01-01 (estimated)
Study Completion	2028-04-01 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2025-06-06