Are concern for face and willingness to seek help correlated to early postnatal depressive symptoms among Hong Kong Chinese women? A cross-sectional questionnaire survey

The Effect of Telephone-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy on Postnatal Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…The delivery of a cognitive-behavioral intervention via telephone has the potential to improve access to care and may provide the opportunity to reach a high-risk group of postpartum women who would otherwise avoid seeking help from professionals because of a fear of stigma -in particular, the concern about 'face' in a Chinese population [10] . According to Lau and Wong [10] , concern for face is related to the protection of one's public image, and they found that Chinese mothers who were postnatally depressed were reluctant to seek help for fear of losing face in public, which is considered to bring about shame to the family in Chinese society. Furthermore, the cultural practice of confinement during the first month after delivery may further deter Chinese women from seeking treatment when they suffer from postnatal depression [11] .…”

“…Teissedre and Chabrol [8] found that women with a high score on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at 2-3 days postpartum were more likely to have depressive symptoms at 4-8 weeks postpartum. However, evidence suggests that most women experiencing depression after the birth do not seek professional help [9,10] . In Chinese societies, women are confined to their homes for the first month after delivery by the cultural practice of 'doing the month' [11] .…”

Engaging Service Users and Carers in Health and Social Care Education: Challenges and Opportunities in the Chinese Community

“…However, it was apparent that family members objected to participation because of the worry that their 'family secret' would become public knowledge in their local Chinese community (Yeung and Box, 2005). Because of the stigma of mental illness and the anticipated discrimination and shunning from friends and the wider social network, many Chinese will choose to hide the family secret (Chang and Horrocks, 2006;Lau and Wong, 2008;.…”

Measuring Mutual Help Willingness and Criteria among Hong Kong People: Confirmatory Factor Analyses

“…The literature on help-seeking has indicated that people are reluctant to seek help when faced with learning, health, family, financial, or other problems (Addis and Mahalik 2003;Hartman-Hall and Haaga 2002;Lau and Wong 2008;Paranjape et al 2007;Parker et al 2006;Segal et al 2005;Ugarriza 2000;Vanheusden et al 2008). In Chinese communities, it was even claimed that no help-seeking culture exists among the Chinese people (Liu 2007).…”

“…In Chinese communities, it was even claimed that no help-seeking culture exists among the Chinese people (Liu 2007). Some attribute the unwillingness to seek help to the nature of the problem or perceptions about the problem (Boey 1999); some consider the perceived embarrassment and concern for losing face as an important factor (Ho 1994;Lau and Wong 2008;Wang 2002); while others find that help-seeking is perceived as threatening and are thus fearful of it (Chou 1996;Keith-Lucas 1972).…”