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This paper reports on the long-term effectiveness of a non-formal co-curricular educational program based on a campus ecogarden at a Hong Kong university in developing pro-sustainability awareness, attitudes and behavior among undergraduate students. This service-based, nature-based experiential learning program, termed the Ecogarden Farmer and Biodiversity Surveyor, has been running at the university since 2015. The program is divided into two consecutive phases: a training phase comprising various learning activities and a successive internship phase consisting of the all-round practical tasks involved in managing the garden. A retrospective evaluation of the program using phenomenographic approach and content analysis was adopted to reveal the diversity of students' learning experience, as the indicators of the success of the program. Of 112 participants from 4 cohorts, 32 completed online questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews were successfully conducted with twelve participants, three from each of the four cohorts. The results indicated that the program's outcomes could be categorized into five themes. Most outcomes fit into the theme 'an increase in knowledge and skill level,' followed by 'rise in environmental awareness,''facilitation of personal growth,' and 'enhancement of career development.' Many structural experiences revealed may suggest the success of the program. The longer the participants had participated in the program, the more in-depth and diversified reflection of the senior participants relating to personal development were mentioned. This study provides critical insights into the validity of retrospective program evaluation for assessing the long-term impact of EfS programs by introducing a cross-sectional study of different cohorts as a serial time-point sampling strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic is a large-scale public health emergency that likely precipitated sleep disturbances in the community. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and correlates of sleep disturbances during the early phase of COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: This web-based cross-sectional study recruited 1138 Hong Kong adults using convenience sampling over a two-week period from 6th April 2020. The survey collected data on sleep disturbances, mood, stress, stock of infection control supplies, perceived risk of being infected by COVID-19, and sources for acquiring COVID-19 information. The participants were asked to compare their recent sleep and sleep before the outbreak. The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) was used to assess their current insomnia severity. Prevalence was weighted according to 2016 population census.Results: The weighted prevalence of worsened sleep quality, difficulty in sleep initiation, and shortened sleep duration since the outbreak were 38.3%, 29.8%, and 29.1%, respectively. The prevalence of current insomnia (ISI score of ≥10) was 29.9%. Insufficient stock of masks was significantly associated with worsened sleep quality, impaired sleep initiation, shortened sleep duration, and current insomnia in multivariate logistic regression (adjusted OR = 1.57, 1.72, 1.99, and 1.96 respectively, all p < 0.05).Conclusion: A high proportion of people in Hong Kong felt that their sleep had worsened since the COVID-19 outbreak. Insufficient stock of masks was one of the risk factors that were associated with sleep disturbances. Adequate and stable supply of masks may play an important role to maintain the sleep health in the Hong Kong general population during a pandemic outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]