This study has revealed insights into how women experienced postnatal depression in Hong Kong, and what they perceived as contributing to their depression. These insights may be used to guide interventions for women and their families to raise awareness regarding the support childbearing women need.

BackgroundUniversity nursing students experience higher levels of academic stress than those of other disciplines. Academic stress leads to psychological distress and has detrimental effects on well-being. The ability to overcome such adversity and learn to be stronger from the experience is regarded as resilience. Resilience is found to have an impact on learning experience, academic performance, course completion and, in the longer term, professional practice. Resilience and positive coping strategies can resist stress and improve personal well-being. However, the relationship between resilience and well-being remains unexplored in nursing students, which are significant attributes to their academic success and future career persistence.MethodsThe study was a cross-sectional descriptive correlational design. Inclusion criteria for recruitment was students studying pre-registration nursing programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10) and World Health Organisation-5 Well-Being Index (WHO-5) were used to measure resilience and psychological well-being respectively.ResultsA convenience sample of 678 university nursing students was recruited from a university. The mean score of CD-RISC-10 was 24.0. When comparing the resilience levels of undergraduate and postgraduate students, the total scores were found to be 23.8 and 24.9 respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the groups (p = .020). With regard to perceived well-being, the mean score of WHO-5 was 15.5. There was no significant difference between undergraduates and postgraduates (p = .131). Bivariate analysis showed that self-reported resilience had a medium, positive correlation with perceived well-being (r = .378, p = .000), and senior students had significantly higher level of perceived well-being than junior students (16.0 vs 15.1, p = .003). Multivariable regression analysis on perceived well-being indicated that self-reported resilience emerged as a significant predictor of perceived well-being (regression coefficient B = 0.259; p < .001).ConclusionsThe results demonstrate that nursing students with a high level of resilience have better perceived well-being, and the level of resilience of postgraduates was significantly higher than that of undergraduates. Therefore, educational strategies should be developed in the nursing curriculum and a supportive learning environment should be created to foster resilience in the students.

The study provides evidence that mutual support groups can be an effective family intervention for Chinese persons with mental illness in terms of improving patients' functioning and hospitalization without increasing their use of mental health services.

The findings suggest that there is a need to strengthen social and vocational rehabilitation for people with mental health problems in Hong Kong. A more holistic and intensive model of care is required to meet their complex needs. A larger and more diverse sample should be used in future research, and a quality of life measure specifically designed for people with mental health problems should be used.

Results suggest that the newly translated scale can be used as a self-report assessment tool in assessing the level of hope in Hong Kong Chinese patients with heart failure.