Suchergebnisse

Background: The number of internal migrant children in China has reached 35.8 million by the end of 2010. Previous studies revealed inconsistent findings regarding the mental health status of rural-to-urban migrant adolescents, as well as the impact of peer, teacher and parental support on the mental health of Chinese adolescent migrants. Aims: Using a comparative approach, this study attempted to compare the mental health status between migrant and urban-born adolescents and to clarify the specific roles of different sources of social support in the mental health of migrant and urban adolescents. Method: A cross-sectional survey using a cluster convenience sampling strategy was performed in Beijing, China. A structured questionnaire was filled out by 368 rural-to-urban migrant adolescents and 325 urban-born adolescents. Results: A significant difference was found only for positive affect (PA) but not for negative affect (NA) between the two groups, favouring the urban-born adolescents. Social support from all the three sources were all predictive of PA among rural-to-urban migrant adolescents, while only peer support contributed to PA among urban-born adolescents. Unexpectedly, teachers' support contributed to an increase in NA among urban-born adolescents. Conclusion: The findings contribute to understanding of the mental health status of migrant adolescents in China and the differential impact of the various sources of social support on migrant and urban-born adolescents. Also the findings may inform the development of mental health services and programmes that can potentially benefit a large number of internal migrant adolescents in China.

Purpose: Hope and meaning in life are essential components of personal growth and happiness. Built on the recovery model, this study attempted to evaluate the effects of a recovery-oriented cognitive–behavior approach (CBA) in enhancing hope and meaning in life among a group of people with severe mental illness in Hong Kong. Method: A matched-pair comparison approach was adopted. Twenty-seven experimental group participants received recovery-oriented CBA, while 25 participants received standard counseling services. Assessments were administered at preintervention and at 6 and 12 months of intervention. Results: Repeated measures analyses of covariance indicated that the recovery-oriented CBA was more effective than the control condition in improving the mental health recovery process (basic functioning, finding new potentials, and spirituality) and a sense of hope (planning in achieving goals). Conclusion: Given these initial positive results, more vigorous studies and refinement of this recovery-oriented CBA are needed to ascertain the effectiveness of this combined intervention approach.

Purpose: Chinese international students have been widely reported to lack recognition of their psychological problems and to delay treatment until their symptoms become rather disabling. The present study pioneered to evaluate the effectiveness of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training in improving mental health knowledge among Chinese-speaking international tertiary students. Method: A quasi-experimental design was adopted, whereby 202 Chinese-speaking international students in Melbourne were assigned to the MHFA condition or a control condition. All participants completed a standardized questionnaire before, at the end, and 3 months after training. Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling. Results: The findings demonstrated that MHFA training might be effective in improving participants' knowledge of mental disorders (i.e., recognition of symptoms, belief in helpful treatments, and understanding the biogenetic and psychosocial causes) and reducing stigma. Conclusions: The MHFA program has the potential to enhance mental health knowledge and promote help-seeking among Chinese-speaking international students.

Background: Few studies have been performed to explore mental health literacy and stigmatising attitudes towards mental illness and their relationships with causal beliefs about mental illness among Chinese people in Taiwan. Aims: Using a comparative approach, this study attempted to compare the mental health literacy and stigmatising attitudes of Taiwanese Chinese with those found among Australian and Japanese participants in other studies and to explore how mental health literacy and stigmatising attitudes relate to different perceptions of causes of mental illness. Methods: A convenience sample of 287 participants completed a battery of standardised questionnaires. Results: A much lower percentage of Taiwanese people than Australians could correctly identify depression and schizophrenia. The Taiwanese respondents rated psychiatrists and clinical psychologists as more helpful than social workers and general practitioners (GPs) and expressed more uncertainty about the usefulness of certain medications when compared to the Australian and Japanese samples. Interestingly, Taiwanese Chinese hold similarly high levels of stigma towards schizophrenia, but lower levels of stigma towards depression when compared to the Japanese respondents. Taiwanese respondents who have higher levels of mental health literacy about schizophrenia were less willing to interact with people with schizophrenia than those with lower levels of mental health literacy. Conclusion: This study underlines the need for public education programmes to improve knowledge of various mental illnesses and to reduce stigmatising attitudes among Taiwanese Chinese. The aforementioned socially and culturally driven beliefs must be taken into consideration so that culturally relevant education programmes can be developed.

In China, there are over 170 million people suffering from mental illness. However, there is a lack of a critical review of the policies governing the provision of mental health services. Drawing on the framework of mental health policy developed by the WHO, this article critically examines mental health policies regarding legislation, financing, model of care and delivery, as well as manpower and the training of mental health professionals in China. This analysis raises a number of policy‐related questions concerning the lack of community‐based psychiatric services, inadequate coverage of mental health services in the rural areas, poor standard of education and an insufficient number of trained mental health professionals, and insufficient protection of the human rights of people with mental illness. The article ends by urging the various levels of governments to make a firm commitment to improve mental health care for people with mental illness in China.

Objectives: This study evaluated a culturally attuned cognitive–behavior intervention for reducing impulsivity and delinquency-related attitudes and behaviors among Chinese delinquent youth in Hong Kong. Methods: A quasi-experimental design was adopted. Twenty participants received CBI, and 20 received routine counseling for a period of 12 months. All participants filled out a standardized questionnaire before the intervention and at 6 and 12 months of intervention. Results: A series of 2 × 3 analyses of variance were used to examine the Time × Group Effects of the two groups of participants. Results suggested, when compared to the control group, the participants in the experimental group showed greater and continuous positive changes in overall impulsivity, nonplanning impulsivity, cognitive impulsivity, and overall delinquency, with effect sizes showing moderate to large magnitude of change. Conclusion: This culturally attuned CBI program may be a useful inclusion in the outreaching social services for Chinese delinquent youth in Hong Kong.