Dr. Gillian Chu will be the Principal Investigator for a Year-long, Cross-Discipline Psychology and Theology Research Project

Dr. Gillian Chu will be the principal investigator for a year-long, cross-discipline psychology and theology research project “The Theology and Social Role of Christian Organisations in Supporting Older Adults in Hong Kong whose Adult Children Migrated through the British National (Overseas) Visa Scheme”. The project was funded by the John Templeton Foundation and organized by the University of Birmingham.

Since the announcement of the British National (Overseas) (BNO) visa on 22 July 2020, many young Hong Kong families, aiming for a different lifestyle, education, and opportunities, moved to Britain. However, for various reasons (language barriers, cultural differences, and lack of community), the elderly parents of these young couples remained in Hong Kong. Various organisations have since released statistical analyses of increasing cases of loneliness, family disconnection, and suicide in the older adult population. Social identity and belonging to social groups provide meaning to an individual’s life (Haslam, Jetten, Postmes, and Haslam, 2009), and the identity as a parent and grandparent is an important one to older adults. How do they reconcile with this loss of social relationships, and how can their social identity as a member of a religious community support them in the midst of this transition? 

Many of Hong Kong’s non-profit organisations have religious affiliations, because Hong Kong, as a British crown colony before 1997, had many Christian social welfare programs. While the Hong Kong SAR government has a well-developed social welfare department, due to historic reasons, Protestant Christian social services continue to be an integral part of Hong Kong society. The social identity as a Christian is often a central one (Cameron, 2004), and this project explores how such self-identification of membership can be crucial to these older adults. 

The aim of this project is to determine how Christian social services and churches can facilitate the flourishing of older adults in midst of the loss they face in the migration of their adult children and grandchildren. This project aims to answer three key questions: (1) How do left-behind elderly parents understand their relationship with God? (2) How do Hong Kong Christian organisations support these left-behind elderly parents? (3) How do left-behind elderly parents understand their social identity, and the loss of such?  The project activities include archival study, field observation, and semi-structured interviews. The outputs include one journal article, two conference presentations, and two blog posts. This project is needed because it will provide a timely and in-depth analysis of these questions that will allow us to better understand how the left-behind elderly parents understand their social identity. This project aims to facilitate the construction of an original framework to understand the loss of social identity elderly parents of Hong Kong BNO visa migrants face in the midst of their adult children’s migration. Capturing the experiences and struggles of their left-behind elderly parents, as well as how Christian organisations can support them through this phase, will facilitate future policy making, such as how to care for and provide support to older adults who live by themselves in Hong Kong. The project aims to inform policymakers and Protestant Christian non-profit organisations in Hong Kong regarding how to better support older adults. This project has significant social impact on families and the community. Physical and mental health issues will have significant costs to the government and society. By understanding the role Christian organisations can play in this arena, this project will inform policymakers on how these organisations can contribute to reducing such societal costs.

More details: Grants - Cross Training Psychology and Theology