Official Title: Assistant Professor | Research Coordinator for the Faculty of Health Sciences

Faculty: 健康科學學院

電郵: helen.liu@usj.edu.mo

Short Bio

Prof. Helen Liu is an assistant professor at the University of Saint Joseph, Faculty of Health Sciences in Macau (FHS). She is currently the Research Coordinator for the FHS and the programme leader of the Prison Outreach Programme. She received her MSW from Rutgers University School of Social Work and her Ph.D. from Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service. She is a researcher-practitioner in social work and an associate affiliate of China Center for Social Policy Columbia University School of Social Work in New York City. She serves as an Academic Consultant in the committee of Family Education Group of the Macao Catholic Family Advisory Council.

Her work has been supported by the Education and Youth Development Bureau, Social Welfare Bureau, and Macao Foundation. Her research interest is primarily in the area of promoting children and youth health and well-being, with fostering family resilience and developmental outcomes in children and adolescents. She served as Principal Investigator (P.I.) on grants funded of the children, youth, and families. She was a P.I. on the the Needs of Different Stages of Marriage and Family Life Course in Macao, which was to explore the developmental tasks, adjustments to the different stages in their family life cycle so as to identify the social services in the marriage and family sector which may help in the transition from one stage to the other. 

Since 2022, Prof. Helen has studied the cyberbullying among Youth in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. She was a P.I. on the research project entitled “Youth cyberbullying: Understanding contextual paths to prevention and resilience”, exploring cyberbullying processes in youths, which mainly goes into psychological health and cyberbullying. She is currently a P.I. on the research project entitled” Digital Use Divide, Parenting Strategy, and Cyberbullying” to understand parents’ familiarity with the internet using digital technology affect children’s well-being and to examine how digital technology integrate into family life in meaningful ways and promote parental mediation and parenting strategy.

Publications

Selected Publications

Ho, J. & Liu, H. (Eds)., (2024). Proceedings of the 2023 International Symposium on Children and Youth Health and Well-being. USJ Academic Press. ISBN: 978-99965-940-9-0.

Liu, S.W. & Lao, S. M. (2024). Digital use divide, parenting strategies, and cyberbullying (Chapter). Proceedings of the Mental Health in the Digital Age: A Global Issue, pp 14-21. ISBN 978-604-489-356-3.

Ribeiro Leong, O. N. & Liu, S. W. (2022). An exploration of building up the quality of parentchild relationship in residential childcare in Macao. Asian Social Work and Policy Review,16, p114-125 (Corresponding author). (Scopus)

Liu, S.W. ＆Teixeira, V. (2021). 澳門居民婚姻及家庭生活不同階段的需求調查結案報告。The Needs of Different Stages of Marriage and Family Life Course in Macau. University of Saint Joseph, Macau. http://library-opac.usj.edu.mo/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=176150.

Liu, S.W., Zhai, F., and Gao, Q. (2020). Parental Stress and Parenting in Chinese Immigrant Families: The mediating role of social support. Child & Family Social Work, 25 (s1):135-148. (SSCI, Scopus)

Liu, S.W., Zhai, F., and Gao, Q. (2017). Parental Acculturation and Parenting in Chinese Immigrant Families: the mediating role of social support, China Journal of Social Work, 10:2-3, 203-219. (Scopus)

Liu, S.W. & Chuang, C.L. (2017). A Study on Coping Strategy of the Sustainable Operations at X university under Declining Birth Rates. Journal of Chinese Management Development,6(1), 45-59. (in Chinese)

Liu, S.W. (2013). Bilingual Social Workers in Mental Health Service Provision: Cultural Competence, Language, and Work Experience. Asian Social Work and Policy Review, 7, 85-98. (Scopus)

Selected Funding Supports

2023-2024 Macao Foundation, Digital Use Divide, Parenting Strategy, and Cyberbullying  (MF/2023/ACA/10).

2022-2023 Macao Foundation, Youth Cyberbullying-Understanding Contextual Paths toPrevention and Resilience Principal Investigator (MF/2022/ACA/04).

2020-2022 Higher Education Bureau Grant, “Resilience in Corrections After the Implementation of the Outreach Program: a Pathway to Rehabilitation”, Principal Investigator (HSS-USJ-2020-02).

2020-2021 Macao Foundation Grant, “Family Dynamics and Child Development in Macao”, Principal Investigator (MF/2020/50).

2019-2021 Social Welfare Bureau Grant, Macao Foundation Grant, “The Needs of Different Stages of Marriage and Family Life Course in Macao”, Principal Investigator. The Macau Catholic Family Advisory Council has commissioned USJ, Faculty of Social Sciences and Education to explore the developmental tasks, adjustments to the different stages in their family life cycle.

2019-2020 Macao Foundation Grant, “Building up the Quality of Relationship between Foster Children and their Birth Parents”, Principal Investigator (MF/2019/52) .

2018-2019 Macao Foundation Grant, “Management of Social Welfare Services in Macau”, Co-Principal Investigator (MF/2018/20).   

Professional Presentations

August 2024. Liu, S.W. Prison Outreach Program Macao. Paper presented at the 30th ASEACCU Annual Conference, Sydney, Australia.

July 2024 Liu, S.W. Digital use divide, parenting strategies, and cyberbullying. Paper presented at the International Scientific Conference: Mental health in the digital age: A global issue, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. 

July 2024 Liu, S.W. Education as a tool to Reduce Inequalities: A Pathway to Reintegration. Paper presented at the ARTM Conference 2024 Treatment of Substance Abuse Disorders, University of Macau, Macau, China.

Nov. 2023 Liu, S.W. Education as a tool to Reduce Inequalities: A Pathway to Reintegration: A Case Study in Macao, China. Paper presented at the 療癒性社區建構與成癮防治國際研討會暨實務工作坊，台北。

June 2023 Liu, S.W. “Youth Cyberbullying-Understanding Contextual Paths to Prevention and Resilience “was accepted for publication at the International Conference on Education and New Development 2023 (END 2023), Lisbon, Portugal.

July, 2022 Liu, S.W. Prison Education, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration: A Case Study in Macao, China. Paper presented at IFCU 7th International Psychology Congress – Psychology in Dialogue: Three paths, one goal, Porto, Portugal.

July 2019 Liu, S.W. Management of Social Welfare Services in Macau. Paper presented at the 14th European Academic Research Conference on Global Business, Economics, Finance & Social Science Paris, France.

May 2016  Liu, S.W., Gao, Q. and Zhai, F. Parental Stress and Parenting Behaviors among Asian immigrant parents in New York City. Paper presented at the 2016 International Conference on All-Age Care of Social Work, Miaoli, Taiwan.

Jan. 2014  Liu, S.W., Gao, Q. and Zhai, F. Social Support-A Mediator on the Role of Parental Socioeconomic and Acculturation Stress in Chinese Immigrants’ Intergenerational Relationship. Paper presented in the symposium entitled “Differential Risk and Protective Factors for Mental Health and Acculturation Outcomes Among Major Latino- and Asian-American Subgroups: Needs for Ethnic Sensitive Practices” at Society for Social Work Research (SSWR) 18th Annual Conference, San Antonio, Texas, USA.

Oct. 2013  Liu, S.W., Gao, Q. and Zhai, F. Parental Stress, Acculturation, and Parenting Behaviors among Chinese Immigrant Parents in New York City. Paper presented at the 55th Annual Conference of American Association for Chinese Studies. Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick. New Jersey.       

Modules

Year 1 Master

Year 1 Bachelor

Year 2 Bachelor

Year 3 Bachelor

Year 4 Bachelor