Camouflaged WeChat-based Intervention for Abused Women (IPV)

February 4, 2026 updated by: The University of Hong Kong

Camouflaged WeChat Mini-program-based Intervention for Women Victims of Intimate Partner Violence: Protocol for a Pilot Mixed Methods Study

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major public health issue and human rights threat worldwide, especially for Chinese immigrant women victims in Hong Kong. Interventions that address negative physical and emotional outcomes from IPV could therefore play a crucial role in enhancing empowerment, social support, and healthy lifestyle among these women. The overall objective of this pilot mixed methods study is to determine the feasibility and acceptability of a camouflaged WeChat mini-program-based WOMEN Health intervention for women victims of IPV. This study will evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a camouflaged WeChat mini-program-based WOMEN Health intervention for women victims of IPV.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major public health issue and human rights threat worldwide, especially for Chinese immigrant women victims in Hong Kong. Interventions that address negative physical and emotional outcomes from IPV could therefore play a crucial role in enhancing empowerment, social support, and healthy lifestyle among these women. Previous studies in Hong Kong and the United States provided evidence on IPV interventions among Chinese abused women; however, there is a scarcity of evidence on the use of mHealth for abused women while fully considering their safety studies on mobile technology for Chinese immigrant women victims are limited, and there lacks safe, low-cost, and evidence-based mHealth interventions for empowering and supporting women victims who immigrate to Hong Kong and face more vulnerabilities and needs. This study will evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a camouflaged WeChat mini-program-based WOMEN Health intervention for women victims of IPV.

This pilot mixed methods study will adopt the randomized, wait-list controlled trial with two groups (1:1 ratio), followed by in-depth interviews with participants in the WOMEN Health programme group at post-intervention. It will evaluate feasibility and acceptability as the primary outcomes and compare scores changes after 12 weeks interventions between Chinese immigrant women who are screened positive for IPV randomly assigned to receiving genuine IPV intervention and disguised healthy lifestyle intervention, and Chinese immigrant women who are screened positive for IPV in a control procedure. The wait-list control group will also receive the WOMEN Health programme after the intervention group completed the programme.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

86

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

  • Name: Quanlei Li
  • Phone Number: +852 39177577
  • Email: qli1@hku.hk

Study Locations

  • China
      • Hong Kong, China
        • The University of Hong Kong
        • Contact:
          • Quanlei LI, PhD
          • Phone Number: +852 39177577
          • Email: qli1@hku.hk

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Chinese-speaking (Mandarin or Cantonese)
  2. women aged 18 to 45 years
  3. originally from mainland China and have moved to Hong Kong for at least one year
  4. screened positive for IPV during heterosexual relationships in the past year
  5. have a smartphone with WeChat installed
  6. with no plans to move outside Hong Kong in the next one year

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. unwilling to provide informed consent
  2. severe chronic diseases (e.g., cancer, heart failure, kidney failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and HIV/AIDS)
  3. currently experience severe IPV (identified using the revised 11-item Danger Assessment)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: WOMEN Health group
The WOMEN Health programme
Behavioral: WOMEN Health programme
(i) Empowerment (IPV information, ie, 30-min one-to-one interview, WeChat mini-program); (ii) Telephone social support (ie, weekly calls); (ⅲ) Healthy lifestyle intervention (ie, healthy lifestyle information and discussion)
Active Comparator: Wait-list control group
Healthy lifestyle intervention
Behavioral: Wait-list control group
(i) Healthy lifestyle intervention (ie, discussion and weekly calls for body weight)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Feasibility and acceptability of the WOMEN Health programme
Time Frame: Week 12
Feasibility and acceptability will be assessed using a 12-item self-developed questionnaire. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1-5), with higher scores indicating greater acceptability, satisfaction, and usefulness.
Week 12

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Changes in depressive symptoms
Time Frame: Baseline and Week 12
Depressive symptoms will be assessed using the Chinese version of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), a 21-item self-report questionnaire measuring depressive symptoms experienced over the past two weeks. Total scores range from 0 to 63, with higher scores indicating more severe depressive symptoms.
Baseline and Week 12
Changes in quality of life
Time Frame: Baseline and Week 12
Quality of life will be assessed using the Chinese version of the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey, version 2 (SF-12v2), which measures physical and mental health status. Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better quality of life.
Baseline and Week 12
Changes in intimate partner violence (IPV)
Time Frame: Baseline and Week 12
Intimate partner violence will be assessed using the Chinese version of the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2), which measures the frequency and severity of psychological aggression, physical assault, sexual coercion, and injury within intimate relationships. Higher scores indicate greater exposure to intimate partner violence.
Baseline and Week 12
Changes in Body Mass Index (BMI)
Time Frame: Baseline and up to 12 weeks
Body weight will be self-measured by participants at home in the morning under fasting conditions, wearing light clothing and without shoes. Height will be measured at baseline using a wall-mounted stadiometer. BMI will be calculated as body weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared (kg/m²) and categorized according to the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations for Asian populations.
Baseline and up to 12 weeks
Changes in healthy behaviors
Time Frame: Baseline and Week 12
Healthy lifestyle behaviors, including physical activity and dietary behaviors, will be documented by self-report data
Baseline and Week 12

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

The University of Hong Kong

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

February 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

February 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 29, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 4, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

February 12, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 12, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 4, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 22232811 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Health and Medical Research Fund)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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