Determinants of depression and anxiety in homeless people: A population survey of homeless people in Hong Kong.

BACKGROUND: There are growing concerns about the homeless and mental health issues globally. This study aims to examine the mental health situation of homelessness and the determinants of anxiety and depression of them in Hong Kong. METHOD: The data from the largest territory-wide study of the homeless population in 2021 was analyzed. Descriptive statistics and logistic regressions were used to investigate the association between mental health and socioeconomic variables, including demographic background, economic indicators, COVID-19 worries, government measures, and respect by others. The symptoms of depression and anxiety were assessed using Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) and General Anxiety Disorder (GAD). RESULTS: The results showed that being female, food insecurity, and chronic diseases were the risk factors for anxiety and depression. A high level of respect by others was the protective factor for depression (adjusted OR 0.37, 95% CI [0.23, 0.61]) and anxiety (adjusted OR 0.40, 95% CI [0.24, 0.68]), compared to a low level of respect in the multivariate model. CONCLUSIONS: Providing medical outreach services, additional resources for social services, implementation of homeless-friendly policies, and a progressive supply of public and transitional housing would help enhance the well-being of the homeless population.

Evaluation of Electronic Service-Learning (e-Service-Learning) Projects in Mainland China under COVID-19.

The use of electronic service-learning (e-Service-Learning or e-SL) is valuable under COVID-19 because we can provide the service without physical contact. Unfortunately, evaluation of e-SL is not widespread and there is no known study in different Chinese societies. Besides, there are many methodological limitations of the existing studies in the field. In this paper, we evaluated e-SL projects implemented in summer 2020 and 2021 in three sites in China. First, we examined service providers' changes based on pretest and posttest scores (i.e., objective outcome evaluation) and their perceptions of the e-SL projects (i.e., subjective outcome evaluation based on the service providers). Second, graduate student assessors in Chinese mainland universities and teachers of primary school students (i.e., service recipients) rated the SL program quality, service providers' performance and benefits to the service recipients after program completion (i.e., subjective outcome evaluation of SL projects based on other stakeholders). Third, trained graduate student assessors evaluated service quality during the implementation process (i.e., process evaluation). We found that university students (i.e., service providers) showed higher posttest scores in positive youth development attributes, leadership attributes and life satisfaction relative to pretest scores. Besides, service providers showed positive perceptions of their learning experience, own performance, benefits to the service recipients and themselves in the SL projects. Similarly, other stakeholders also had positive evaluation of the SL projects and related benefits. Finally, trained graduate student assessors had positive assessment of the quality of program implementation. The findings underscore the utility of e-SL involving both online teaching and learning as well as online service, particularly in a Chinese context.

The Effect of Fear of the COVID-19 on Depression Among Chinese Outbound Students Studying Online in China Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic Period: The Role of Resilience and Social Support.

Objective: The present study focused on examining fear of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is correlated with depression and explored the potential role of resilience and social support on the association between fear of the COVID-19 (FoC) and depression among Chinese outbound students studying online in China amid the COVID-19 pandemic period. Methods: A total of 476 Chinese outbound students from different universities worldwide, currently studying via online mode in China, completed an online survey including measures on FoC, resilience, social support, and depression. Results: (1) Fear of the COVID-19 was positively correlated with depression and negatively correlated with resilience and social support. Both resilience and social support were negatively correlated with depression. Social support showed a positive correlation with resilience. (2) The effect of FoC on depression mainly occurred through two paths: the mediating effect of resilience and the moderating effect of resilience. However, the moderating effect of social support on the association between FoC and depression was not sustained in this study. Conclusion: This study indicated the mediating and moderating effects of resilience on the association between FoC and depression among Chinese outbound students studying online in China during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The current findings confirmed that resilience has significant implications in preventing negative mental states under the COVID-19 context among this particular group.