Can Recovery-Oriented Mental Health Services be Created in Hong Kong? Struggles and Strategies

Recovery has been adopted as either the national policy or guiding principle for reforming mental health services in many countries. Development and implementation of the concept of recovery is still in its infancy in most Asian countries, and Hong Kong is no exception. The present authors propose three strategies to guide the transformation of Hong Kong mental health services toward becoming more recovery-oriented. © 2011 The Author(s).published_or_final_versio

Pathway to mental health recovery: a qualitative and quantitative study on the needs of Chinese psychiatric inpatients

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Antenatal risk factors for postnatal depression: a prospective study of chinese women at maternal and child health centres

Background: Risk factors for postnatal depression (PND) are under-explored in the Chinese populations. There is increasing recognition of the importance of identifying predictive factors during the antenatal period for PND. The present study aimed to identify the risk factors for postnatal depression in a community cohort of Chinese women with special focus on the antenatal risk factors.Methods: Eight hundred and five Chinese women were interviewed during their third trimester of pregnancy and at around 2 months postnatally. Putative risk factors for PND were collected and the diagnosis of PND was confirmed by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders. The 2-month postnatal depression status was used as the dependent variable for univariate and multivariate analyses against putative risk factors.Results: Marital dissatisfaction (Relative Risk = 8.27), dissatisfied relationship with mother-in-law (Relative Risk = 3.93), antenatal depressive symptomatology (Relative Risk = 3.90), and anxiety-prone personality (Relative Risk = 2.14) predicted PND in Chinese women independently.Conclusions: Chinese women tend to keep their own feelings and emotions and it is important to monitor Chinese pregnant women with these predictive risk factors so that PND can be identified early. © 2012 Siu et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.published_or_final_versio

Pattern and determinants of burden in Chinese families of adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder

The burden on caregivers of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an important yet under-researched area in the Chinese population. This study aimed to assess the pattern and determinants of burden reported by caregivers of adults with OCD in Hong Kong. Seventy-seven OCD patient-caregiver dyads were recruited from a psychiatric out-patient clinic. Adults were assessed with the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale. Caregivers were interviewed with the Chinese version of the Family Burden Interview Schedule. Ninety-nine percent of the caregivers experienced objective burden. Mothers of patients with OCD experienced the greatest caregiver subjective burden. Multivariate analysis showed that GAF explained 41.5% and 49.8% of the variance of objective and subjective burden respectively. The functional level of OCD adults was an important determinant of both the objective and subjective burden on caregivers. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

A questionnaire survey on attitudes and understanding towards mental disorders

OBJECTIVES. To obtain information about basic knowledge towards mental disorders and to evaluate public attitudes towards mental disorders in the Hong Kong Chinese population. METHODS. Questionnaires which collected basic demographic information, opinions about potential stigmas and myths, and knowledge on case vignettes depicting fictional characters with symptoms of mental illness were delivered to subjects in a secondary school, 2 homes for the elderly, a private housing estate, and a public housing estate in Hong Kong. RESULTS. Completed questionnaires were collected from 1035 subjects. In general, the participants' acceptance of mental illness was good. Regular contacts with such patients were associated with better knowledge (t = -2.71, p < 0.01) and better acceptance (t = 2.77, p < 0.01) of mental illness. Younger participants aged 15 to 19 years had a lower level of knowledge about mental health problems compared with other age-groups (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS. Personal contact with people with mental illness may help to improve knowledge and acceptance. Younger people in secondary school should be the target and prioritised group for mental health education. Apart from the delivery of mental health knowledge, strategies to increase social contact of the public with people having mental illness could be considered in the design and implementation of anti-stigma programmes.link_to_OA_fulltex

Repeated, high-dose dextromethorphan treatment decreases neurogenesis and results in depression-like behavior in rats

Abuse of cough mixture is increasingly prevalent worldwide. Clinical studies showed that chronic consumption of cough mixture at high dosages may lead to psychiatric symptoms, especially affective disturbances, with the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. The present study aims at exploring the effect of repeated, high-dose dextromethorphan (DXM, a common active component of cough mixture) treatment on adult hippocampal neurogenesis, which is associated with pathophysiology of mood disturbances. After treatment with a high-dose of DXM (40?mg/kg/day) for 2?weeks, Sprague¡VDawley rats showed increased depression-like behavior when compared to the control animals. Neurogenesis in the hippocampus was suppressed by DXM treatment, which was indicated by decreases in number of proliferative cells aDepartment of Rehabilitation Science

Impairment of mother-infant relationship: Validation of the Chinese version of postpartum bonding questionnaire

The implementation of the Comprehensive Child Development Service in Hong Kong brought about the need for the development of an instrument for assessing mother-infant relationship impairments in women with postnatal depression. The Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire by was first translated into Chinese, then back-translated into English. An expert panel was set up to evaluate the content validity and a focus group discussion was held to explore the face validity and acceptability of the questionnaire. The Chinese version of the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (C-PBQ) was administered to 62 women suffering from postnatal depression. Scale 1 of the C-PBQ had a sensitivity of 84% for detecting women with any forms of mother-infant relationship impairments and scale 2 had a sensitivity of 89% for detecting rejection of infant and a sensitivity of 77% for detecting pathological anger towards infant. The C-PBQ is a useful instrument for detecting mother-infant relationship impairments as perceived by women with postnatal depression. © 2010 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.link_to_subscribed_fulltex