Vulnerable populations during COVID-19 response: Health-related quality of life among Chinese population and its influence due to socio-demographic factors and loneliness.

Background: Infection control policy affected people's wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially those vulnerable populations. This study aimed to compare the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of the Hong Kong (HK) Chinese population under the pandemic with the normative profiles and explore its influencing factors, including socio-demographic characteristics, loneliness, and the interaction between them. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey (301 online and 202 in-person) was conducted between June and December 2020 among the adult Chinese population during the 2nd wave of COVID-19 in HK. HRQoL was measured by a Hong Kong validated EQ-5D-5L instrument (EQ-5D-5L HK). Loneliness was measured by a single-item question regarding the frequency of the participants reporting feeling lonely and their subjective social status was measured by the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status. A series of Tobit regressions was conducted. The interaction terms between socio-demographics and loneliness were also examined to decide their association with HRQoL. Results: A total of 503 responses were collected. The level of HRQoL of the respondents was significantly lower than the referred norms profile among the local general population. The findings identified that younger age, single, a higher subjective social status, and a lower level of loneliness were significantly associated with better HRQoL. Moreover, age and marital status were significant moderators in the relationship between loneliness and HRQoL. Conclusion: The present study found that some population groups face additional vulnerabilities during the pandemic in terms of declined HRQoL. In addition, reducing loneliness can protect the HRQoL during the pandemic, especially among older people. This article provides useful information for policy-makers to design and promote effective services or provide education to improve the connection of people and recover from the global pandemic.

Family Systems and Emotional Functioning in Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Preschool Children.

This study examined how deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) and typically hearing (TH) children may differ in their family system and emotional functioning and examined the relations between family system and children's emotional functioning. Parents of 106 DHH and 99 TH children (2-6 years) reported on family cohesion and adaptability, parental emotion communication, and their child's emotional functioning. The DHH children were rated lower on family cohesion and positive emotion expression than the TH children. Higher levels of family cohesion related to more positive emotion expression in TH children but not in DHH children. For all children, higher levels of family cohesion related to fewer negative emotion expressions and more parental emotion communication related to more negative emotion expression. The results emphasize the importance of sharing leisure activities together and open communication within the family, which can support DHH and TH children's experience of emotions and their expressions of them.