Social Support, Resilience, and Mental Health Among Three High-Risk Groups in Hong Kong: A Mediation Analysis

Int J Public Health. 2024 Apr 12:69:1606828. doi: 10.3389/ijph.2024.1606828. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Objectives: To compare the prevalence of anxiety/depression, resilience, and social support among nurses, foreign domestic helpers (FDHs), and residents living in subdivided units (SDUs), and to examine their associations in these high-risk groups in Hong Kong during Omicron waves.

Methods: We recruited 1,014 nurses, 621 FDHs, and 651 SDU residents from December 2021 to May 2022 in this cross-sectional survey. The depression, anxiety, social support, and resilience levels were measured by the validated scales. The multivariate binary logistic regression and causal mediation analysis were applied to examine the associations.

Results: We observed a prevalence of 17.7% in anxiety and 21.6% in depression which were the highest in SDU residents, followed by FDHs, and lowest in nurses. Social support was associated with increased resilience levels and decreased risks of anxiety/depression. The association of social support with mental disorders was partly mediated by resilience, accounting for 30.9% and 20.9% of the total effect of social support on anxiety and depression, respectively.

Conclusion: Public health strategies should target improving social support and providing resilience-promoting interventions to help reduce mental disorders in vulnerable groups.

Keywords: anxiety; causal mediation analysis; depression; resilience; social support; vulnerable/high-risk population.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Anxiety* / epidemiology
  • COVID-19 / epidemiology
  • COVID-19 / psychology
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Depression* / epidemiology
  • Depression* / psychology
  • Female
  • Hong Kong / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mediation Analysis*
  • Mental Health
  • Middle Aged
  • Prevalence
  • Resilience, Psychological*
  • Social Support*

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study “Epidemic Intelligence and a Data Informed Risk Assessment System to Inform Policy Decisions Critical for Maintaining Systems Control of COVID-19 in Strategies to Enhance Recovery” was funded by the Hong Kong Health Bureau through Health and Medical Research Fund on the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) (Reference no: COVID-19F03). The financial support of the Centre for Health Systems and Policy Research is from The Tung’s Foundation.