Resilience for dropout students with depression in secondary schools in Hong Kong: parental attachment, hope and community integration

ABSTRACT

The objective of this qualitative research is to better understand school dropout students with depression in Hong Kong and how they overcome their adversities. Three girls and five boys participated in the study. The results showed that the Hong Kong cultural context was affected by school competition and the effect of mental health labelling. Jaspers’ phenomenology was utilised to understand the phenomenon of school dropout and depression. The findings illustrated the importance of secure parental attachment, substitute secure attachment, hope, supportive environment and community integration in helping dropout students with depression to overcome adversities. A resilience model for school dropouts with depression is proposed for improving professional practice in Hong Kong.

KEYWORDS:

• Resilience
• school dropout
• depression
• parental attachment
• hope

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the support from Professor Kam Shing YIP for nurturing them with rich knowledge of mental health issues, as well as the advice on the research methodology from Dr Yuk Tin CHENG. Special thanks are given to the members in the study group, including Dr Fu Fai FONG, Dr Tsan Kuen LEUNG, Dr Hung Sing LAI, Dr Wai Hung TSANG and Ms Kit Yu WONG.

Author contributions

Y.W. WONG has a contribution to the conception of design, acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of research findings and drafted the manuscript. The thesis supervisor M.S. TSUI assisted in reconceptualisation of the resilience model of the research and reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in the study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Human Subjects Ethics Sub-Committee of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HSESC reference Number: HSEARS20140601001) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no official funding.

Notes on contributors

Wong Yee Wan

Wong Yee Wan received her doctoral degree in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She had been part-time lecturer in Caritas Institute of Higher Education (CIHE). Her primary research interests include mental health, school dropout and special educational needs. Ming-sum TSUI is a Professor and Dean, Felizberta Lo Padilla Tong School of Social Sciences, Caritas Institute of Higher Education (CIHE), Hong Kong. He is also the Editor of International Social Work Journal. His research interests include social work supervision, human service management, theory and practice of social work, social work education as well as substance abuse. He has published more than 145 pieces of research works, including 12 books (e.g. Social Work Supervision: Contexts and Concepts. Sage, 2005) and 72 refereed journal articles.