SMART Family-Link Project: Capacity Building Online Platform for Training, Learning and Sharing (i-TLS) for Social and Service-related Workers

In the past few decades, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) have rapidly developed as effective, and probably the most cost-effective tools to connect most, if not all, aspects of family lives. In Hong Kong, as of March 2016, the number of mobile service subscribers was 16.72 million, representing one of the highest penetration rates in the world at about 228.3 per cent; amongst these subscribers, 14.69 million were 3G/ 4G service customers and there is a surge to 20,557 Terabytes (or an average of 1,358 Megabytes per 2.5G/3G/4G mobile user) recorded for local mobile data usage, representing a growth of 1.18 times and 1.58 times over the same period in 2015 and 2014 respectively.

While alongside the growth in popularity of ICTs and its role in promoting family well-being, there is also an increasing appreciation that ICTs such as internet-enabled devices and web-based applications can offer many advantages compared to traditional face-to-face approaches when delivering behaviour change programmes. It is believed that ICT helps facilitate access to interventions from a large variety of settings at all times, bringing the intervention to participants at times convenient to them and diminishing the influence of the situational constraints on intervention participation rates. The rise of ICT has created promising and potential new avenues and demand for implementing interventions related to mental health and parenting.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust has initiated the Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project in collaboration with The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and NGOs, making effective use of information and communications technology (ICT) and data analytics, aimed at helping 26 NGO-operated Integrated Family Service Centres and Integrated Service Centres (Centres), to enhance the quality and efficiency of their family service. The project also aims at building the capabilities of front-line workers so as to achieve the goal of enhancing family well-being by building an online training platform.

The i-Training, Learning, and Sharing (i-TLS) platform will provide staff training and skills enhancing through carefully selected materials in one convenient location, forums for wisdom, experience, and information sharing between staff.

1. i-Training: Using a variety of computerized formats, the i-Training platform may bring professional training content to social workers at their convenience.
2. i-Learning: It provides a co-learning area for social and related service workers from different service centers to learn from and support each other, such as the NGO-shared best practice and the updated ICT information in relation to family services and activities. This may enhance service effectiveness.
3. i-Sharing: It provides social and service-related workers with an instant online means to share experiences and have discussions