Research reveals situation facing carers of mental health patients in Hong Kong
發佈日期: 2026-03-13 21:31
TVB News
Tung Wah Group of Hospitals and the University of Hong Kong have conducted a survey on carers of mental health patients. The survey found that more than 66 percent of the carers are under severe burden.
Ting is a carer of her daughter, who suffers from depression and eating disorders.
Victor, once a mental health patient, now takes care of his mother who is depressed.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, the two shared the stress level they have been facing as carers of mental health patients, such as losing sleep at night. But their cases are just the tip of the iceberg.
Between May and August, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals and the University of Hong Kong conducted an online survey, focusing on the needs and experience of mental illness patients' carers.
The survey shows that more than 60 percent of the 885 carers surveyed suffer from a severe amount of stress; about 60 percent appear to have depression at mild level or above.
When it comes to the time spent on caregiving, about 17 percent said 40 hours or more.
Assistant Professor Paul Wong from the Department of Social Work and Social Administration, University of Hong Kong, said: "The overall prevalence of Hong Kong people with mental illness is already very high, and in addition to the role of being a caregiver; in additional to the daily stress and the busy life of Hong Kong people. I suspect that those factors actually contribute to the higher prevalence of the caregiver burden in Hong Kong than in other places."
Asked about their mental health status, 13.2 percent of caregivers said they had occasionally thought about death or self-harm, while 10.5 percent said the idea of harming or killing the patients had lasted for a few days.
While the team thinks society has shown more empathy toward the mental health patients and carers, they say people need to keep educating themselves on the subject.
Francis Yiu, supervisor of the TWGHs Lok Hong Integrated Community Centre for Mental Wellness, said: "Compared to 10 years ago, it's a great improvement already. But it is a fact that when there's a bad news about mental illness people, people may still have negative thoughts on them, so that we have to keep promoting and educating the topic."
The research team hopes society can enhance carer supportive measures in five aspects, including the establishment of a local system to identify individuals who have self-harm intentions or pose risks to others.
