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Although the COVID-19 pandemic has caused many problems for university students, there are several research gaps in the study of psychological well-being of Hong Kong university students. First, few studies have examined different ecological correlates of mental health in a single study. Second, few studies have used both psychological morbidity and positive well-being as indicators of mental health. Third, we know little about the relationships between university students’ perceived need satisfaction, difficulties, service utilization, and their mental health. Hence, we conducted a study (N  =  1,020 university students) in the later stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong. For mental health, we included measures of negative mental health (psychological morbidity) and positive mental health. We addressed several research questions in this study: (1) what is the mental health status of Hong Kong university students? (2) what is the relationship between COVID-19 stress and student mental health? (3) what are the intrapersonal correlates of student mental health? (4) are interpersonal factors related to student mental health? (5) are need satisfaction, difficulties encountered, and service utilization related to students’ mental health? (6) are there gender differences in the effects of correlates in different ecological systems? Analyses using structural equation modeling showed several observations. First, the prevalence of mental health symptoms among university students was alarming. Second, COVID-19 related socio-economic stress positively predicted psychological morbidity but negatively predicted well-being. Third, beliefs about adversity, resilience, and emotional competence predicted mental health. Fourth, family functioning was related to psychological morbidity negatively but connected with wellbeing positively. Fifth, while need satisfaction predicted psychological morbidity negatively, difficulties encountered showed the opposite direction. Besides, the perceived usefulness of university services positively predicted mental health. Finally, there were no gender differences in the effects of different predictors. The present findings enable public health researchers to formulate theoretical models on different ecological determinants of university students’ mental health under the pandemic. For public health practitioners, the study highlights the importance of reducing COVID-19 associated stress, strengthening internal and external developmental assets, and meeting the psychosocial needs of university students as strategies to promote their mental health under the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the beginning of 2022, the Hong Kong government has imposed strict social distancing measures and changed its stance on various regional policies with the aim to contain the so-called ‘fifth wave’ of COVID-19. In these pandemic and ‘infodemic’ times filled with uncertainty and fear, Hong Kong netizens used local online discussion forums as a resource to establish an innovative form of ‘helping network.’ This study is based on 230 posts from a popular local online discussion forum ‘LIHKG’ in February 2022 when the pandemic was regarded as most critical by the Department of Health. Speech Acts theoretic approach was adopted to explore how forum users employed speech acts to perform various communicative practices such as expressing concerns, asking for information, and engaging with others in a CMC environment amid a global health crisis. Representatives were found to be the most dominant text-based speech acts, followed by directives, expressives and commissives. Speech acts provide forum users a context in which emoji usage occurs. Forum users not only make use of words to ‘do’ things in the online self-help forum, but they also employ emojis to either supplement or complement speech acts. This study also shows that emojis perform multiple functions in the discussion posts and argues that they do not merely function as emotion indicators of their textual company, but also carry significant pragmatic meanings by illustrating how they can also carry illocutionary force and in some cases, even alter the illocutionary force of their preceding texts. The findings of this study enhance our understanding of how forum users communicate via verbal and nonverbal means within the underexplored ‘helping domain’ of online discussion forums. It also suggests that online discussion forum interactions need to be approached differently than other better understood alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-traumatic growth (PTG) emerges from highly stressful situations. The coronavirus (COVID) pandemic may qualify as one. This study investigated the PTG among Hong Kong citizens during the first outbreak in spring 2020, shortly after a large-scale social movement subsided. A longitudinal online survey was launched during the peak (Time 1) and the palliation (Time 2) of the outbreak. Among the 327 participants who completed both waves, 28.4% exhibited probable post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Time 1, while 18.0% reported significant PTG in at least one domain in Time 2. The interaction between the sense of coherence (SOC) and post-traumatic stress mediated the relationship between Time 1 perceived outbreak severity and Time 2 PTG, such that PTG was more likely among participants with higher post-traumatic stress and SOC. PTG was also associated with a weaker contingency between Time 1 and Time 2 perceived outbreak severity. Echoing the transformational model, our findings show that both experienced stress and coping resources are essential for PTG to emerge. We also demonstrated how PTG might lead to more flexible risk perceptions according to the development of the outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although digital technology enables people to stay connected during COVID-19, protracted periods of isolation, crisis-induced stress, and technology-based activity may intensify problem technology use (PTU), such as social media addiction (SMA) and Internet gaming disorder (IGD). Objective: This study aimed to characterize the patterns and levels of SMA and IGD during COVID-19 in the general population of Hong Kong. We also tested the associations between prolonged use of social media/Internet games and SMA/IGD and the mediation effects of psychosocial statuses (i.e., loneliness, boredom, and post-traumatic stress) on these associations. Methods: A population-based random telephone survey was conducted in community adults in May 2020; 658 social media users and 177 Internet gamers were identified. A structured questionnaire, including the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorder IGD Symptoms Checklist, the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Scale, Multidimensional State Boredom Scale, and the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, was used. Time spent on social media and Internet games during and before COVID-19 was also asked. Results: There were 66.2–81.8% increases in time use of social media or Internet games during COVID-19 compared to pre-COVID-19 self-reported information of the participants. The estimated IGD prevalence rate in the gamers based on the sample weighted to the age distribution and gender ratio of the Hong Kong population was 9.7%, higher than that of pre-COVID-19 research. Age, marital status, education levels, time use of social media, COVID-19-related post-traumatic stress, boredom, and emotional loneliness were significantly associated with SMA, while time spent on Internet games, boredom, and emotional loneliness was significantly associated with IGD. Boredom positively mediated the associations between time spent on social media/Internet games and SMA/IGD, whereas social loneliness negatively mediated the association between time spent on social media and SMA. Conclusion: These findings highlight the concern of prolonged use of digital platforms during COVID-19 and its role as a "double-edged sword" for psychosocial wellbeing and behavioral health during COVID-19. It also highlights a need to monitor and prevent PTU in the general public. The observed psychosocial mechanisms are modifiable and can inform the design of evidence-based prevention programs for PTU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a tremendous impact on the pedagogy and learning experience of students in sub-degree education sector of Hong Kong. Online learning has become the "sole" solution to deal with student learning challenges during this chaotic period. In this study, we explore online learning for sub-degree students by using a community of inquiry (CoI). As such, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted on survey data gathered from 287 sub-degree students from the business and engineering disciplines. Results indicated that the network speed for online education determines the perceived cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence of students, whereas gender and academic disciplines of students are not moderating factors that create a significant difference in perceived cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence of students. Our study findings for creating and sustaining a purposeful online learning community are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]