This study examined the longer-term individual- and school-level changes in students 7 months after a 1-hour delay in school start time (SST). Two cohorts of grade 11 students (N = 227; 60.8% female, age = 17.0 [0.85]) at a residential high school in Hong Kong completed a questionnaire assessing sleep duration, insomnia symptoms, depression, anxiety, stress, and subjective well-being in 2017 and 2018, respectively. One of the cohorts was reassessed 7 months after the implementation of a delay in SST, from 07:30 am to 08:30 am (n = 83, 65.1% female). School-level data on breakfast consumption, attendance, tardiness, and health clinic visits were collected. Between-group and within-group prospective comparisons suggest that the delay in SST was associated with improved sleep duration, mental health, and life satisfaction. School-level data revealed increased breakfast consumption and decreased unexcused absences, tardiness, and clinic visits. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).

Limited research has examined the well-being of international preschool teachers, while intervention targeting their well-being is even rarer. The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a 2-month EASP (i.e., Early Advancement in Social-Emotional Health and Positivity) positive psychological intervention program based on the PROSPER—which stands for positivity, relationship, outcome, strength, purpose, engagement, and resilience– framework on international preschool teachers' well-being in Hong Kong. Eighty-three teachers (Mage = 34.44 years, SD = 8.43, range = 19–53; female = 95.18%) were randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 44) and waitlist control groups (n = 39). Teachers completed survey measures of PROSPER well-being at baseline and after the intervention. The results of the multivariate regression analyses revealed that the intervention did not have significant overall effects on the PROSPER well-being, Wilks' lambda F(7, 56) = 1.28, p = 0.28, η2 = 0.14. Yet, findings of univariate analyses suggested the intervention yielded significant medium effects on participants' relationship, outcome, strength and engagement (b = 0.26 to 0.45, 95% CI [0.04, 0.95], p = 0.02 to 0.03, η2 = 0.07 to 0.08). The findings underscore the practical utility of the PROSPER framework in supporting international preschool teachers' well-being but, at the same time, highlight the need to further examine how cultural variations might implicate its effectiveness. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).

Teachers’ well-being and self-efficacy are two important factors linked to quality education. Recent research examining their bidirectionality has revealed inconsistent findings, while those examining the relationships among pre-service and in-service teachers are scarce. This study investigates the reciprocal relationships between teachers’ well-being and self-efficacy in a sample of Hong Kong early childhood education teachers. Participants were 155 pre-service (n = 77) and in-service (n = 78) teachers (Mage = 23.97, SD = 4.46, female = 92.9%). Participants reported their teachers’ well-being (PERMA model including positive emotion, engagement, relationship, meaning, and accomplishment) and teachers’ self-efficacy at two-time points. The results from the cross-lagged panel model revealed that teachers’ self-efficacy at baseline significantly predicted all aspects of prospective well-being except for engagement. In contrast, none of the teachers’ well-being components significantly predicted later teachers’ self-efficacy, except for accomplishment. The associations between teachers’ self-efficacy and well-being were invariant across pre-service and in-service teachers. The results underscored the importance of teachers’ self-efficacy in facilitating teachers’ well-being. The findings also highlight the utility of intervention efforts targeting teachers’ self-efficacy and well-being, especially in promoting teachers’ accomplishment, at an early stage of their careers. Copyright © 2023 De La Salle University.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought challenges to families around the world. The prolonged school closures in Hong Kong have forced young students to stay at home and adapt to remote learning for over a year, putting their mental health conditions at risk. Focusing on primary school students and their parents, the main objective of our research is to investigate the socioemotional factors and their associations with mental health conditions. Methods: A total of 700 Hong Kong primary schoolers (mean age = 8.2) reported their emotional experiences, loneliness, and academic self-concept via a user-friendly online survey; 537 parents reported depression and anxiety, perceived child depression and anxiety, and social support. Responses from students and parents were paired to account for the family context. Structural Equation Modeling was used for correlations and regressions. Results: The results of students’ responses showed that positive emotional experiences were negatively associated with loneliness and positively related to academic self-concept among students. Furthermore, the paired sample results showed that, during the one-year societal lockdown and remote learning period, the socioemotional factors were associated with mental health conditions among primary school students and their parents. Among our family sample in Hong Kong, evidence supports the unique negative association between students-reported positive emotional experiences and parents-reported child depression and anxiety, as well as between social support and parents’ depression and anxiety. Conclusions: These findings highlighted the associations between socioemotional factors and mental health among young primary schoolers during the societal lockdown. We thus call for more attention to the societal lockdown and remote learning context, especially since the social distancing practice could be “the new normal” for our society to handle the future pandemic crisis. Copyright © 2023 The Author

Background: The psychological well-being of university students is an important factor in successfully coping with the demands of academic life. This study aimed to assess the impact of a peer-led intervention of mental health promotion combined with coping-strategy-based group workshops on mental health awareness and help-seeking behavior among university students in Hong Kong. Method: A mixed-method concurrent design was used for this study. Quantitative data, based on one-group pretest-posttest design, were collected using Mental Health Knowledge Schedule Questionnaire to assess mental health awareness, and Attitude Towards Seeking Professional Help Questionnaire-Short Form to examine help-seeking behavior of university students from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Qualitative data were collected from written post-activity reflections and focus group discussions which were thematically analyzed. Results: A total of 62 university students (mean age: 23.2 ± 5.1 years) were included in this study. Mental health awareness was significantly improved (p = 0.015, 95% Confidence Interval of − 2.670, − 0.297) after program implementation. Help-seeking behavior mean score increased from pretest to posttest, however, no significant difference was observed (p = 0.188, 95% CI = − 1.775, 0.355). Qualitative analysis revealed that the program helped participants learn about coping strategies to help themselves and others with mental health challenges. Conclusions: The peer-led intervention provided a positive impact through increased mental health awareness and knowledge of coping strategies on self-help and helping others among university students. Further study could focus on the impact of the program when applied regularly throughout the entire academic year. Copyright © 2021 The Author(s).

The growing incidence of mental health problems in adolescents is a significant global concern. School-based counselling, where a student meets with an individual, trained counsellor a number of times in a school setting, is a common component of holistic mental health programmes to support the well-being of students. In Hong Kong, however, professional counselling is in general not well-developed, and school-based counselling has been severely under-researched. Drawing on data from interviews with 8 counsellors and 25 student clients in local secondary schools, the present study aims to investigate the perspectives of counsellors and clients on the practice of school-based counselling in Hong Kong. Following a thematic approach, the study compares the key themes identified in the reflections of counsellors and clients on their experience of counselling. Similarities and differences in the discursive construction and realisation of themes are examined in detail. Representative examples are discussed in context to illustrate the views from both the service providers and users of school-based counselling. Findings from this study will inform and enhance understanding of how school-based counselling can help to promote the mental well-being of students in the local educational setting and in the broader Asian context. Copyright © 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Objectives: This pilot study developed an adventure-based cognitive behavioral intervention (aCBI) program and tests its effectiveness in improving the mental health of Chinese university students in Hong Kong. Method: A total of 217 undergraduate students participated in an aCBI program in the form of an interdisciplinary general education course in a university in Hong Kong. A battery of standardized online questionnaires was administered to the students before joining and upon completion of the course, and at a 3-month follow-up test. Results: The participants showed a significant reduction of psychological distress, perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and negative thoughts and emotions and a significant increase of positive thoughts upon immediate completion of the program. The positive effects maintained at the 3-month follow-up test. Conclusion: The integration of cognitive behavioral intervention and adventure training in a class setting might be an effective and feasible approach for the mental health counseling of university students. Copyright ©2021 SAGE Publications.

Against the backdrop of the worldwide spread of COVID-19, this study aims to validate a model for coping with psychological distress and examine the effect of music listening, as a coping strategy, in moderating and lessening the effects of stressors on psychological distress. Based on 198 returned questionnaires from preservice kindergarten teachers, this study suggests students experienced such common mental health issues as stress, anxiety and depression due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Time pressures, general social mistreatment, academic alienation and developmental challenges were significant stressors predicting students' anxiety. Music listening played a prominent moderating role on the relationship between stressors and psychological wellbeing mental health/psychological distress. However, music with lyrics with a positive meaning may lessen the moderating effect of musical elements. This study suggests that music listening has a prominent moderating effect on health/psychological distress, while the implicit or explicit musical meaning of the music perceived by the audience determines its moderating effect. Copyright ©2021 SAGE Publications.

The COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest have posed a unique set of challenges to Hong Kong. During these two social events, parents of children with special educational needs (SEN) who were already experiencing caregiving pressure, likely coped with additional stressors; they were at a higher risk of mental health problems. A pre-registered, cross-sectional survey study was carried out among 234 Hong Kong parents of children with SEN, investigating the associations of stigmatized identity, perceived discrimination, and subjective well-being under the impact of these social events. Utilizing the Bayesian modelling, we found that highly self-stigmatized parents not only perceived more daily-life discriminating behaviors against them, but also reported having higher distress, more negative emotions, and lower life satisfaction. A higher perceived impact of social events and more discrimination were also associated with lower well-being. Additionally, stigmatized identity, perceived discrimination, and perceived impact of social events demonstrated unique associations with well-being variables, indicating they were substantial stressors. The study called out for public attention to the mental health conditions among parents of children with SEN and other disadvantaged groups in society. Copyright © 2021 by the authors.

The association between physical activity in achieving mental health benefits and subjective well-being is consistently identified by empirical research. The causation of a positive self-concept created by physical exercise is empirically supported by Sonstroem and Morgan’s (1988) exercise and self-esteem model (EXSEM). However, various drawbacks of maintaining high self-esteem have been identified; thus, the concept of self-compassion was conjectured to be a form of “true self-esteem.” Hence, the current study aimed to investigate the relationship between physical activity and self-compassion by examining the exercise and self-esteem model revised with self-compassion (EXSEM-SC). This study recruited secondary school students from Hong Kong using convenience sampling. The structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, including path analysis and multiple indicators, multiple causes (MIMIC) modeling, were used to reveal the results of the study. The results (n = 1097) indicated that the relationship between physical activity and self-compassion could be demonstrated by the EXSEM-SC, with a satisfactory goodness-of-fit index in the SEMs. The SEM also demonstrated the direct paths from physical activity to self-compassion and mental well-being, indicating the significant effect of physical activity on self-compassion. Copyright © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.