title: Health-related behaviours and mental health in Hong Kong employees.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Poor physical and mental health in employees can result in a serious loss of productivity. Early detection and management of unhealthy behaviours and mental health symptoms can prevent productivity loss and foster healthy workplaces.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine health-related behaviours, mental health status and help-seeking patterns in employees, across different industries in Hong Kong.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were telephone-interviewed and assessed using the Case-finding and Help Assessment Tool (CHAT) with employee lifestyle risk factors, mental health issues and help-seeking intentions screened across eight industries. Subsequent data analysis involved descriptive statistics and chi-square tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 1031 participants. Key stressors were work (30%), family (19%), money (14%) and interpersonal issues (5%). Approximately 18, 9 and 9% of participants were smokers, drinkers and gamblers, respectively, and only 51% exercised regularly. Depressive and anxiety symptoms were reported by 24 and 31% of employees, respectively. Issues for which they wanted immediate help were interpersonal abuse (16%), anxiety (15%), anger control (14%) and depression (14%). Employees with higher educational attainment were less likely to smoke, drink and gamble than those with lower attainment. Lifestyle and mental health status were not associated with income. Employees in construction and hotel industries smoked more and those in manufacturing drank more than those in other industries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Physical and mental health of Hong Kong employees are concerning. Although employee assistance programmes are common among large companies, initiation of proactive engagement approaches, reaching out to those employees in need and unlikely to seek help for mental health issues, may be useful.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong, samsont@hku.hk.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tse
authors.affiliation: Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Goodyear-Smith
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yuen
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: P W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology; D001007:Anxiety / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D000066505:Help-Seeking Behavior; D006723:Hong Kong / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Health promotion; lifestyle; mental health; risk reduction; substance disorder.