Prof. Wai Sze CHAN

EDUCATION

• BSocSc City University of Hong Kong
• MPhil City University of Hong Kong
• PhD. Indiana University Bloomington

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Sleep and Self-Regulation
• Behavioral Sleep Medicine
• Obesity and Eating Disorders
  

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

*denotes correspondence/senior authorship; ^denotes student under my supervision

For a full publication list, please see CV.

1. Chan WS, Cheng WY, Lok SHC, Cheah AKM, Lee AKW, Ng ASY, Kowatsch T. How to Optimize Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (dCBTi)? A Randomized Controlled Comparative Trial of dCBTi With Different Types of Coaching Support. JMIR Preprints. 09/08/2023:51716
   http://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.51716
2. Chan, W. S., & Lai, T. T. (2023). Pavlovian-instrumental transfer effects in individuals with binge eating. Journal of eating disorders, 11(1), 113.
   https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-023-00824-w
3. Chan, W. S., McCrae, C. S., & Ng, A. S. (2023). Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia Effective for Improving Sleep Duration in Individuals with Insomnia? A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Annals of behavioral medicine: a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, 57(6), 428–441.
   https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kaac061
4. ^Ng, A. S. Y., & *Chan, W. S. (2023). Psychometric evaluation of the Hong Kong Chinese version of the Dissociative Experiences Measure, Oxford (HKC-DEMO). Journal of trauma & dissociation: the official journal of the International Society for the Study of Dissociation (ISSD), 24(3), 321–332.
   https://doi.org/10.1080/15299732.2023.2171173
5. ^Ng, A. S. Y., & *Chan, W. S. (2022). Sleep Quality, Sleep-Related Experiences, and Dissociation in Adult Survivors of Childhood Trauma. Behavioral sleep medicine, 1–12. Advance online publication.
   https://doi.org/10.1080/15402002.2022.2148669
6. Chan, W. S., Lam, S., Ng, A., & Lobo, S. (2022). Daily associations of sleep quality and sleep duration with anxiety in young adults: The moderating effect of alexithymia. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 20(6):787-797.
   https://doi.org/10.1080/15402002.2021.2016406
7. Chan, W. S., & Cheng, C. (2022). Elevated prevalence of probable insomnia among young men during social unrest in Hong Kong: A population-based study. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 20(2):204-211.
   https://doi.org/10.1080/15402002.2021.1902813
8. Ollier, J., Neff, S., Dworschak, C., Sejdiji, A., Santhanam, P., Keller, R., Xiao, G., Asisof, A., Rüegger, D., Bérubé, C., Tomas, L., Neff, J., Yao, J., Alattas, A., Varela-Mato, V., Pitkethly, A., Vara, M.D., Herrero, R., Baños, R., Parado, C., Agatheswaran, RS., Villalobos, V., Keller, O.C., , W.S.,…Kowatsch, Tobias. (2021). Elena+ Care for COVID-19, a pandemic lifestyle care intervention: Intervention design and study protocol. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, 625-640. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.625640
9. McCrae, C. S., Chan, W. S., Curtis, A. F., Nair, N., Deroche, C. B., Munoz, M., Takamatsu, S., McLean, D., Davenport, M., Muckerman, J. E., Takahashi, N., McCann, D., McGovney, K., Sahota, P., & Mazurek, M. O. (2021). Telehealth cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia in children with autism spectrum disorder: A pilot examining feasibility, satisfaction, and preliminary findings. Autism: the international journal of research and practice, 25(3), 667–680.
   https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361320949078
10. Chan, W. S., Dautovich, N. D., McNamara, J. P. H., Stripling, A., Dzierzewski , J.M., McCoy, K., & McCrae, C.S. (2020). Sleep Discrepancy in a randomized controlled trial of brief behavioral therapy for chronic insomnia in older adults. Behavioral Sleep Medicine,10, 1-11.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/15402002.2020.1726750
11. McCrae, C. S., Chan, W. S., Curtis, A. F., Deroche, C. B., Munoz, M., Takamatsu, S., Muckerman, J., Takahashi, N., McCann, D., McGovney, K., Sahota, P., & Mazurek, M. O. (2020). Cognitive behavioral treatment of insomnia in school-aged children with autism spectrum disorder: Short report on preliminary findings. Autism Research, 13, 167-176. PMID: 31566918.
    https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2204
12. McCrae, C. S., Curtis, A. F., Williams, J., Dautovich, N. D., McNamara, J. P. H., Stripling, A., Chan, W. S., Berry, R. B., McCoy, K., & Marsiske, M. (2018). Brief behavioral treatment for insomnia in older adults: A randomized clinical trial examining sleep, mood, and cognitive outcomes. Sleep Medicine, 51, 153-166.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2018.05.018
13. Chan, W. S., Levsen, M.P., & McCrae, C.S. (2018). A meta-analysis of associations of insomnia diagnosis and insomnia symptoms with obesity. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 40, 170-182.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2017.12.004
14. Chan, W. S. (2018). Daily associations between objective sleep and consumption of highly palatable food in free-living conditions. Obesity Science & Practice, 4(4), 379-386.
    https://doi.org/10.1002/osp4.281
15. Chan, W. S., Levsen, J., Svyatoslav, P., Robinson, M.E., Staud, R., Berry, R.B., & McCrae, C.S. (2018). Sleep Discrepancy in patients with comorbid fibromyalgia and insomnia: Demographic, behavioral, and clinical correlates. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 14(11), 1911-1919.
    https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.7492
16. Chan, W. S., Williams, J., Dautovich, N. D., McNamara, J. P. H., Stripling, A., Berry, R. B., Dzierzewski , J.M., McCoy, K., & McCrae, C.S. (2017). Night-to-night sleep variability in older adults with chronic insomnia: Mediators and moderators in a randomized controlled trial of brief behavioral therapy (BBT-I). Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 13(11):1243-1254.
    https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.6790
17. Chan, W. S. (2016). Delay discounting and response disinhibition moderate associations between actigraphically-measured sleep parameters and body mass index. Journal of Sleep Research, 26 (1), 21-29.
    https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.12437
18. Chan, T.W.S., Bates, J.E., Lansford, J.E., Dodge, K.A., Pettit, G.S., Dick, D.M., & Latendresse, S.J. (2014). Impulsivity and genetic variants in DRD2 and ANKK1 moderate longitudinal associations between sleep problems and overweight from Ages 5 to 11. International Journal of Obesity, 38(3), 404-10.
    https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2013.123
19. Chan, T.W.S., Ahn, W.-Y., Bates, J.E., Busemeyer, J.R., Guillaume, S., Redgrave, G.R., Danner, U., & Courtet, P. (2014). Differential impairments underlying decision making in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: A cognitive modeling analysis. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 47(2), 157-67.
    https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22223

RESEARCH LABORATORY

Why and how do people change? Any why do we perseverate on behaviors that deemed harmful to us? Dr. Wai Sze Chan’s research aims to address these fundamental questions in the field of clinical psychology and translate this knowledge into effective and scalable interventions.

Dr. Chan directs the Sleep, Self-regulation and Health (SLASH) Research Laboratory. Her current studies are externally funded by the General Research Fund and Health and Medical and Research Fund (see list). They include studies on sleep restriction and its effect on the regulation of eating behavior and other cue-elicited behaviors and the development and evaluations of clinical interventions for disordered eating, weight management, and insomnia.

*I am currently accepting PhD students and recruiting a postdoctoral fellow/research assistant. Please contact me at chanwais@hku.hk if you are interested.

RESEARCH INTERNSHIP (2024-2025)