Department of Applied Social Studies, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2012 Aug;47(8):1235-42. doi: 10.1007/s00127-011-0430-4. Epub 2011 Sep 8.
The study reported in this paper was aimed at developing understanding of depression-related knowledge and preferences surrounding professional help, medication, and treatment methods among Chinese living in Shanghai, China.
A multi-stage cluster sampling method in which participants were taken from 6 of the 20 districts in Shanghai was adopted for this study. The 522 Shanghai Chinese participants were presented with a vignette describing an individual with depression before being asked questions designed to assess both their understanding of depression and their preferences surrounding professional help, medication, and treatment methods. A comparative approach was adopted to identify similarities and differences between our findings and those of two previous studies on the mental health literacy of Chinese living in Melbourne, Australia, and Hong Kong, respectively.
A similarly low percentage of Chinese people in each of Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Australia recognized depression. Fewer Shanghai Chinese than Chinese living in Hong Kong and Australia ascribed the 'anxiety/stress' label to the depression vignette and endorsed professionals and informal network members as helpful. Although a far lower percentage of Shanghai Chinese endorsed the use of counseling professionals, a much higher percentage of the same group endorsed Chinese medical doctors and herbal medication. A lower percentage of Shanghai Chinese endorsed 'lifestyle changes' as a strategy for combating depression than did Chinese subjects living in Australia and Hong Kong. On the other hand, a higher percentage of Shanghai residents endorsed psychiatric treatment and the traditional Chinese practices of 'eating nutritious food/taking supplements' and 'qigong' than among the other two groups of Chinese.
This study underlines the need for campaigns aimed at improving the mental health literacy of Chinese in Shanghai. Such campaigns must take into consideration the socially and culturally driven beliefs to facilitate the development of specific education programs.
本研究旨在了解中国上海居民对与抑郁相关的专业帮助、药物治疗和治疗方法的知识和偏好。
采用多阶段聚类抽样方法，从上海 20 个区中的 6 个区抽取参与者。522 名上海中国参与者在接受描述一名患有抑郁症的个体的情景描述后，回答了旨在评估他们对抑郁症的理解以及对专业帮助、药物治疗和治疗方法的偏好的问题。采用比较方法，以确定我们的研究结果与澳大利亚墨尔本和香港分别对中国心理健康素养的两项先前研究结果之间的异同。
在上海、香港和澳大利亚的每个地区，都有类似比例的中国人无法识别抑郁症。与香港和澳大利亚的中国人相比，上海的中国人较少将“焦虑/压力”标签归因于抑郁症描述，并认为专业人士和非正式网络成员有帮助。尽管上海的中国人认可咨询专业人士的比例要低得多，但同样比例的人认可中国医生和草药治疗。与澳大利亚和香港的中国参与者相比，上海的中国人认可“改变生活方式”作为对抗抑郁策略的比例较低。另一方面，与其他两组中国人相比，更多的上海居民认可精神科治疗以及传统的中国做法，如“吃有营养的食物/补充剂”和“气功”。
本研究强调了针对改善上海中国人心理健康素养的宣传活动的必要性。这些活动必须考虑到社会和文化驱动的信仰，以促进特定教育计划的制定。
