WHO-5 and GHQ-12 on Hong Kong

According to WHO-5 questionnaire on positive mood, vitality, and general interest of a person, the average well-being index representing Hong Kong residences is rated at a glooming 50.2 with only 14% of people considered as having marginally acceptable to good well-being. Results from GHQ-12 survey in Hong Kong indicate poor mental health index of population below that of equivalently developed countries and, contrary to popular belief, far below that of mainland China. Research backing these scores show insignificant correlation to gender, age, education background, marital status, property occupancy, job nature and personal income. Poor mental health and well-being in Hong Kong is prevalent regardless of living condition or amount of wealth. 

Approximately 80% of Hong Kong residents encompassing all age groups feel they “have difficulties to enjoy life”. One out of seven adults in Hong Kong today can be classified as having mild to severe mental disorders, including depression disorder, anxiety disorder, different types of phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder, and severe non-specific psychological distress. Surveys show up to 87.3% and 89.2% of the employed suffered from minor to severe insomnia and headache respectively due to job stress, independent of their occupations and experiences. As studies indicate 51.2% of mental disorders among adults in Hong Kong begin prior to age 14, a despairing 51% of Hong Kong adolescents show signs of anxiety and depression with youth suicide being a leading cause of unnatural death. 20% of adolescents age 15 or below find themselves compulsive to consume alcohol to give vent to their daily stress, and estimated a quarter of all students can be suffering from mental disorder that will be carried into their adulthood. While schools implement supportive measures to coup with students’ mental health, 81.2% of school teachers express significant to severe stress and 52.2% of all teachers exhibits symptoms of depression or other mental diseases. Mental health and well-being for population above age 65 exacerbate in recent years as over a tenth of the elderly suffer dementia clinically claimed to be caused by Alzheimer’s disease but more largely associated with hypertension built up throughout their midlife struggles in Hong Kong. Across all age groups and organizations, no collective policy, social act or professional attempts have yet proven effective in curbing any statistical figure other than causing additional burden and prejudice in workplaces and among families.

At Wyldar Healthcare, we take growing distress of the community as a technical problem. Beneath cultural and social complexity, technical problem will have technical solution. Hong Kong epitomize a community where acute lifestyle and socioeconomic changes out-pace biological adaptation and where forceful resilience not only amount to social stigma but has becoming a leading precursor of chronic diseases before infection or genetic anomaly.  As meaning of life transcends from production for abstract purposes to reward from ever diverse feelings,  it is the mission of Wyldar Healthcare to deliver our community supportive arsenal to enhance individual well-being against inevitable lifestyle changes. We are determined to transform well-being products to becoming 21st century commodity.

Mental Health Review Report 2018, Food and Health Bureau, HKSARG

Hong Kong Job Stress Survey 2017, The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions

Survey on Social Well-being in Hong Kong 2018, Baptist Oi Kwan Service

Anxiety and Depression Survey for High School Students 2018, Baptist Oi Kwan Service

Survey on Hong Kong Adolescent Lifestyle 2018, Hong Kong Playground Association

Hong Kong Teachers Stress Survey 2018, Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union

Survey of Hong Kong Mental Health 2018, Stewards Inc.