Relationship Between Health, Experience of Discrimination, and Social Inclusion Among Mental Health Service Users in Hong Kong

The study of the relationship between mental health and social inclusion has generated much interest among social services providers, policy makers, and academics (Huxley et al. in Life Day 12(3):33–35. doi:10.1108/13666282200800029, 2008). This paper reports the subjective experience of social inclusion in various key life domains of 168 Chinese mental health services users in Hong Kong collected through a non-probability sample survey. A Chinese version of the Social and Communities Opportunities Profile (i.e. SCOPE-C) employing the same methodology as an earlier UK study was employed in the study. Face-to-face individual interviews were conducted between October 2013 and February 2014. Results indicated that participants perceived an average level of opportunities to participate in various life domains. Despite this, they were satisfied in general with the level of opportunities in these domains. Contradictory to Chan et al. (Soc Indic Res 119(1):121–137, 2014)’s findings, participation did not often encounter discrimination in their daily life. Their perceived general health was between average and good. The overall social inclusion, average satisfaction with opportunities, and average perceived opportunities had significant positive correlation with one another. These three SCOPE-C variables were positively correlated with respondents’ physical health, but not mental health. These findings are discussed.