Mood disorders have become a common yet not very recognized disease in Hong Kong.  Young people are at a critical period of growth and their spiritual, psychological and physical changes have an impact on their future lives.  A caring and good family life would help early detection of adolescents' emotional needs, and provide early and appropriate support. PolyU’s School of Nursing and Christian Family Service Centre have started a large-scale study that will span over four years till 2014 on the family life and physical and emotional health of the Form 1 to 6 students. In this issue of Excel@PolyU, Dr Mak Yim-wah, Assistant Professor of School of Nursing, shares with us some of the findings.

1/ Could you first let us know the method for the study?

A set of questionnaires is used.  Questions in this survey collect information about their physical and emotional health conditions, stress about schoolwork, and levels of satisfaction in academic achievement, life orientations, and perceptions about parents’ psychological control on them. 
A random selection of 24 schools classified by boys school, girls school, co-education school, and sources of funding has been performed from 109 secondary schools in Tseung Kwan O, Kwun Tong and Wong Tai Sin districts.  The questionnaires are filled by students in their classrooms during school time.  From 2011 to 2012, 7 schools had completed the survey.  A total of 6,151 questionnaires were collected so far and the entire data collection is scheduled for completion during the second semester in 2013 – 2014.

2/ What are the findings in terms of students’ physical and mental health conditions?
Some of the students surveyed (15.7%) indicated that they had experienced moderate limitation in their activities of daily life due to health conditions and other constraints. 

16.1% students reported feeling downhearted and in the blues during the past four weeks most of the time and almost every day.

17.7% reported feeling anxious, nervous and depressed in the past four weeks most of the time and almost every day. The situation is worse in girls than boys, and the gap increased with age.

3/ What are the findings regarding students’ family life?

With respect to family life, approximately 21.3% students had participated with their parents together in recreational or other activities for less than one day a week.  On the whole, about 10% of the students felt that their parents often wanted to control everything and details of their lives, and such perception on parents’ psychological manipulation increased with age. 

4/ What are the findings in terms of the meaning of existence?

Regarding the meaning of existence, approximately 6–8% students reported a loss of direction in life.  For the degree of satisfaction in academic performance, 62.8% respondents indicated a lot of pressure from homework.  About 40% of the students were not satisfied with their academic achievement.  In relation to mental health, these rates seem to have reached an alarming level.

5/ What are the recommendations of the study group?

The study group suggests that the Government should perform children and young people's physical and emotional health surveys on a regular basis in order to facilitate the development of timely and relevant health promotion policies and interventions.  Parents, apart from their children’s physical health, should pay more attention to the mental health, for instances about bad moods, boredom, lack of energy or reduce social activities, and so on. 

Parents can be more proactive, interested in and supportive of young children's emotional and psychological needs; communicate more with them using positive methods.  Parental mental health should also be maintained.

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