Support for Mentally Ill in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, one out of six people suffers from mental diseases. Dr. Lucy Lord during the Hong Kong Mental Health Conference indicated that there was the need to improve mental health care in the city. A study conducted on the issue shows that at least 84% of the Hong Kong population has experience with mentally ill individuals. More so, 98% of the participants agreed unanimously that these patient need support from the society and the government. According to Dr. Lucy Lord of Central Health Medical Practice, at least one person in a sample of six individuals picked at random suffers from mental illness. She was speaking this during the 2017’s Hong Kong Mental Health conference. She aired her discontent on why a lot needs to be done to improve the particular health care in the region.

According to Dr. Even more worrying is the fact that only 300 psychiatrist were working in the city as of January 2018 (“The Struggle for Mental Health in Hong Kong”). The results are a sicker Hong Kong which is part of China. The identifiable gaps in mental health care in Hong Kong include lack of facilities like psychiatry and hospitals to treat the mentally ill, lack enough trained personnel like psychologist, counselors, and physicians to tackle mental health and finally lack of enough funding from the government to help in addressing mental sickness in the city. Methods The Study aims to collect and analyze data using the quantitative approach in a move to establish the current condition on support for mental health in the Chinese city of Hong Kong.

Participants will be obtained from the general population of Hong Kong and asked to answer various questions regarding how they perceive support for the mentally ill in Hong Kong. ii. Independent Variables The independent variables include the population of Hong Kong, mental health care providers, and mental health care hospitals. Data Collected The data collected using the interviews conducted where the participants are provided with questionnaires to fill was registered in a table to help in the calculation of the final results. Questions Yes No Percentage Are there mental sick people in your community 16 84 16% 84% Do mentally ill require support 98 2 98% 2% Has the society done enough to support them 20 80 20% 80% Has the government done enough to support them 10 90 10% 90% Do you support the establishment of a day for mentally ill 98 2 98% 2% 6.

Analytical Strategies The analytical strategy applied in the paper involves computing the percentages for every data collected relating to the questions being asked. 80 of the 100 participants indicated that the community had not done enough as a way of showing their support through various activities. Only 20 of the participants felts the city that comes from had done enough to support these individuals. The other result obtained showed that only 10 of the 100 who participated endorsed the notion that the government had done enough to promote the welfare of the mentally ill. The rest 90 indicated that the government had failed in the support for the mentally ill. The other result obtained was that 98 of the participants felt it was worth having the day for the mentally ill in Hong Kong while only 2 of them thought such as day was a waste of time and resources.

The other important statistic obtained through the study concerns the government. 90% of the participants showed that the government has failed to play their part in ensuring the welfare of the mentally ill is looked into. The section of the administration coming under scrutiny here is the Chinese ministry of health as well as the local government of the city of Hong Kong. The two seem to be on their sleeping beds bearing in mind that the citizens who are the people living with the mentally ill in their houses and the community feel very little support comes from the side of the government. It is sad to admit to this bearing in mind that China is among the leading nations in the world with the largest economy.

The issue of supporting the mentally ill in Hong Kong may require policy-making and implementation. The stages model of policy process covered in lecture seven provides insight on policymaking. The case of sick mentally support in Hong Kong needs a more in-depth look to identify what might the most appropriate approaches to employ and ensure the mentally ill get the much help they require, and at the same time, the policy implemented does not hurt the society. Understanding stages model could be the solution to this and can potentially an effective strategy where all the stakeholder including the society, the government, health care facilities, the patients themselves work together for healthier Hong Kong. Discussion and Implications Mental health as indicated by various statistics discussed above is a severe issue in Hong Kong just like in other parts of China.

The participants of the study were able to identify the issue at hand and answer to the queries without requiring any assistance to understand questions. Limitations i. One of the most significant barriers is that the study only involved a small sample of the population. Only 100 out of the possible more than 7. 4 Million citizens of Hong Kong were interviews. iv. More health care centers should be established to care for the mentally ill. More so, the already existing centers should be supplied with the necessary equipment to help in caring for the mentally ill. v. More personnel including psychiatrists, counselors, and mental health doctors should be deployed in the city to help in caring for the patients. The study indicated there was the need for stakeholders including the government and the society to join hands in trying to improve the conditions of the mentally ill in Hong Kong through the provision of more care and love to the sick and at the same time reducing stigmatization.