Search

Mental disorders are highly prevalent conditions with immense disease burden. To inform health and social services policy formulation, local psychiatric epidemiological data are required. The Hong Kong Mental Morbidity Survey is a 3-year population-based study in which 5700 community-dwelling Chinese adults aged between 16 and 75 years were interviewed with the aim of evaluating the prevalence, co-morbidity, functional impairment, physical morbidity, and social determinants of significant mental disorders in the population. This paper describes the background and design of the survey, and is the first territory-wide psychiatric epidemiological study in Hong Kong.

This study tested the hypothesis that stigmatization toward people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) was associated with stigmatization toward different vulnerable groups, including men who have sex with men (MSM), injecting drug users (IDUs), female sex workers (FSW) and their clients (CFSW). A number of scales and indicators were constructed for the purpose: the four Overall Stigmatization Scale for a Vulnerable Group (OSSVG) and the five Dimensional Stigmatization Scale (DSS) each measuring different dimensions of stigmatization toward the four vulnerable groups, together with four indicators measuring stigmatization toward PLWHA. A random sample of 2,008 Hong Kong Chinese adults aged 18-50 years in the general population were interviewed by telephone. Of these respondents, 22.8- 76.8% perceived that FSW, CFSW, MSM and IDU were pathological and 42-82.2% perceived them as immoral; 74.7% believed that PLWHA are promiscuous. Furthermore, the four OSSVG and the five DSS scales were inter-correlated with one another (Spearman coefficient = 0.11-0.67) and most of them were significantly associated with the four PLWHA stigmatization indicators (Odds Ratio = 1.25-4.27). Other factors were associated with the OSSVG and DSS scores (e.g. age, marital status, religion affiliation, education level, income and perceived severity of the HIV problem in Hong Kong). Campaigns for removing stigmatization toward these vulnerable groups are required in order to reduce stigmatization toward PLWHA. Stigmatization toward FSW and their clients might have been over-looked. The removal of the public's blame on these groups for spreading HIV may be useful. The impact of HIV prevalence of a vulnerable group onto the associations between stigmatization toward that particular group and PLWHA warrants investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Objective: To report the evolution in perceptions and behaviours of the general public in response to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in Hong Kong. Design: Ten similar and sequential telephone surveys were conducted during outbreak of SARS, which are classified as belonging to the First and second phases of the epidemic. Setting: Hong Kong, China. Participants: 1397 Hong Kong residents between 18 and 60 years of age. Main outcome measures: Perceptions and behaviours to SARS and its prevention. Results: Most of the respondents believed that SARS could be transmitted via direct body contact and droplets. About half of respondents believed that SARS was curable, which increased in the initial phase and decreased in the second phase. Perceived chance of infection was low (9%) but fear of infection in public places was high (48%). Perceived efficacy of hygiene measures (wearing a mask: 82%, hand washing: 93%, and home disinfection: 75%) remained high in both phases and the perceived efficacy of avoiding crowded place, and using public transportation, etc, increased initially and decreased in the second phase. In parallel, use of the three hygiene measures increased significantly in the first phase and remained high for wearing a mask and washing hands in the second phase. Percentages of people avoiding crowded place and public transportation significantly increased initially and decreased in the second phase. Conclusion: SARS related perceptions and behaviours evolved rapidly during the epidemic and Hong Kong residents quickly adopted appropriate SARS prevention measures. Timely dissemination of information seems effective in public health crises management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]