‘Whenthe physical threat of coronavirus subsides,
asit surely will, we must address the impact to our mental health’.
– Luciana Berge
According to a study published in The Lancet Psychiatry, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on mental health worldwide and led to increased rates of anxiety, depression, and stress disorders (Holmes et al., Citation2020). The impact of the pandemic on mental health is not limited to adults. Children and adolescents have been affected (Racine et al., Citation2020). The disruption of daily routines limited social interactions, and the shift to online learning have all contributed to the decline in mental well-being among children and adolescents.
The world has undergone profound transformations catalysed by the effects of this global pandemic. These changes have infused all aspects of life, including personal lifestyles, social interactions, and cultural dynamics. As the pandemic era has passed, and life begins to return to ‘normal’, some people may find themselves readjusting to the world again. This transitional phase posts new adaptive challenges, generating another wave of mental health concerns.
In the face of these changes, it becomes crucial to highlight and address mental health issues, counselling strategies, and psychotherapy approaches across diverse cultural and situational contexts. In this latest issue, we delve into mental health from multifaceted perspectives. We have collected six insightful research articles and one book review that underscore the post-pandemic mental health challenges and growth, the importance of help-seeking, the critical roles played by school counsellors, the validation of a psychometric test for relational meaning in life, and the well-being of women and children. Through this issue, we hope to guide you through the complex landscape of mental health in the post-pandemic era and beyond.
Flaskerud and Lesser (Citation2023) pointed out that anxiety and depression related to the pandemics and the shut down have been recognized. The issue begins with a study by Rhenan D. Estacio, Marietta D. Subida, Ma. Victoria Bagaforo, Ma. Cristy Abuyuan, Naomi Yvonne Dionisio, and Shupiwe Chisomo Letso, who investigate the mental health of college students in the post-pandemic transition era in the Philippines. Specifically, they identify the levels of depression and anxiety among college students and compare gender differences on these levels. Based on the discovery of a moderate decline in mental health experienced by students, especially female students, insights into potential psychoeducation interventions to address students’ wellness issues are discussed.
While some individuals exhibit the flexibility to adapt to and manage stressors effectively, others may encounter situations they find overwhelming. Hence, the ability to cope with stress and the willingness to seek help are equally important. Nguyen ba Dat, Tran Bao Tran, and Nguyen Thi Mai Anh examine undergraduate students’ attitudes towards seeking professional mental health services in Vietnam. They found that students majoring in Psychology show lower stigma and more positive attitudes towards help-seeking than those in other majors. Endeavours to promote psychological well-being and change stereotypes tied to mental health care services are needed.
In studying youth’s coping in not only the post-pandemic context but also the post-social movement situation in Hong Kong, Lian Ying-chun Pat and Bobo Hi-Po Lau explore the role of two goal-pursing styles, namely flexible goal adjustment and tenacious goal pursuit, in affecting post-traumatic growth in young adults following these two challenging events. Their work highlights the value of flexibility and adaptive goal adjustment in fostering positive cognitive processing and growth in highly stressful collective events.
Focusing on school settings, Haocheng Huang, Zhaoming Chen, Yingtao Meng, Zizhen Feng, and Xuelan Liu place emphasis on the meaning in life. They probe into the cross-cultural validity, reliability, and explanatory power of the Chinese version of the Relationship Meaning in Life (RMIL) scale among high-school students in China. Its measurement invariance across gender and urban-rural distinctions is also explored. Their study contributes to the field by demonstrating not only the applicability of the measurement but also the impact of relationship meaningfulness on subjective well-being in Chinese culture, providing valuable insights for school counsellors.
School counselling constitutes a crucial part of the mental health service system, involving numerous stakeholders such as school counsellors, educators, administrators, learners, and parents. Anjali Miriam Dey and Elizabeth Thomas draw attention to perceptions of the actual and anticipated roles of school counsellors from various stakeholders in India. Their findings reveal discrepancies between teachers, students, and parents in perceiving the roles of school counsellors, emphasizing the need to redefine the position of school counsellors and build a comprehensive school counselling system.
The study presented by Syeda Wasfeea Wazid is also based in India but focuses on the well-being of married women. The author demonstrates the positive influence of adaptive relationship attribution and marital satisfaction on well-being and proposes a psychological model of marital processes in married women in the Indian context. This research offers valuable insights for family counsellors and practitioners who work on mental health care for married women.
Closing this issue is a book review on a newly published book ‘Integrating Therapeutic Play into Nursing and Allied Health Practice: A Developmentally Sensitive Approach to Communicating with Children’ written by Judi A. Parson, Belinda J. Dean, & Natalie A. Hadiprodjo. Our book review editor Nigel Thompson describes this work as a wonderful therapeutic resource for a diverse readership. The book strikes a balance between academic rigour and practical application by providing both evidence-based theoretical grounding and practicable interventions and suggestions for using play in communicating with children in a medical setting. It is a valuable resource for healthcare practitioners seeking effective and facilitative communication with children.
As we navigate the complex landscape of mental health, this issue highlights the importance of understanding and addressing mental health challenges from various perspectives and in diverse contexts and provide intervention ideas. We hope that these articles can deepen readers’ professional understanding, inspire their further research, and foster more effective strategies for mental health support.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
De-Hui Ruth Zhou
Dr. De-Hui Ruth Zhou is currently working as an associate professor and the associate head of the Counselling and Psychology Department of Hong Kong Shue Yan University (HKSYU). She is the director of the Master of Social Sciences in Play Therapy Programme and the Psychological Lab Studio of Arts and Creativity in HKSYU. She is the editor of Asia Pacific Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy and Hong Kong Journal of Mental Health. She has received training in narrative therapy, expressive arts therapy and play therapy. She has conducted research projects concerning early diagnosis and early intervention for pre-school children with special educational needs and also the supportive programme for carers with schizophrenia outpatients. She has also completed narrative life design projects for youth with psychosis as well as youth who rehabilitated with drug abuse in Hong Kong. She is especially interested in metaphor comprehension, metaphor conceptualization and also the use of metaphors in psychotherapies.
Ho Ling Kwok
Ho Ling Kwok is currently a PhD candidate at the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
References
- Flaskerud, J., & Lesser, J. (2023). Post-pandemic psychosocial issues. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 44(2), 130–133. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2022.2082224
- Holmes, E. A., O’Connor, R. C., Perry, V. H., Tracey, I., Wessely, S., Arseneault, L., Ballard, C., Christensen, H., Cohen Silver, R., Everall, I., Ford, T., John, A., Kabir, T., King, K., Madan, I., Michie, S., Przybylski, A. K., Shafran, R., Sweeney, A., & Hotopf, M.… Bullmore, E. (2020). Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: A call for action for mental health science. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7(6), 547–560. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30168-1
- Racine, N., McArthur, B. A., Cooke, J. E., Eirich, R., Zhu, J., & Madigan, S. (2020). Global prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents during COVID-19: A meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatrics, 175(11), 1142–1150. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.2482