The recent rebound of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in Hong Kong has made people worry that the Hong Kong government could tighten epidemic prevention measures. The long-term closure of schools due to the epidemic earlier has intensified the pressure on parents. According to a study by the Hong Kong Academy of Psychiatry, during the third wave of the epidemic in Hong Kong two years ago, approximately 10% of parents suffered from symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, and parents whose condition suffering children had special learning needs, almost half had symptoms of mental illness.
The academy recruited 633 parents from 8 primary schools between June 12 and November 4, 2020, during the third wave of the epidemic in Hong Kong, and asked them to fill in an online self-report, and found that 13% of parents who interviewed There were moderate to severe depressive symptoms, 13% of the parents had moderate to severe anxiety symptoms, and 14% of the parents had significant post traumatic stress disorder symptoms. Also, parents of children with special educational needs fared much worse. Among children with ADHD, 47% of parents had moderate to severe depressive symptoms, 47% had moderate to severe anxiety symptoms, and 49% had significant post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. Among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 43 percent had moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms, 37 percent had moderate-to-severe anxiety symptoms, and 37 percent had significant post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.
Funded by the business community and foundations, the academy launched the two-year “School-Family Education Program – Phase II” in September this year, extending parent education course services from 6 primary schools in the first phase of the program to 12 primary schools. The school’s parents provide basic training, higher education workshops, peer support groups, one-on-one interviews with parents, as well as planning and professional guidance to properly follow up on parents’ needs and relieve parental pressure.
