1. Social inclusion and health conditions among Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong and the UK
Prof. Kara Chan,
Hong Kong Baptist University
Prof. Peter J. Huxley
Bangor University
Dr. Marcus Yu-Lung Chiu
National University of Singapore
Dr. Sherrill Evans
Swansea University
Ms. Yanni Ma
International Conference on Environment, Health, and Media,
Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong
January 6-7, 2015

2. BACKGROUND &
LITERATURE REVIEW

3. Social inclusion refers to “promoting equal access to opportunities, enabling everyone to contribute to social and economic programs and share in its rewards” (The World Bank, 2013).

4. China has become one of the largest emigration countries, ranked fourth following Mexico, India and Russia (The World Bank, 2011).
There was evidence that Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong and UK suffered from some forms of social exclusion.

5. lack of social inclusion may increase the risk of mental ill-health (Finch, Kolody, & Vega, 2000)
It is unclear how close is this relation for immigrants in a near-culture society (Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong), and a different-culture society (Chinese immigrants in UK).
Very little is known about social inclusion/exclusion in different social domains.

6. Social and Community Opportunities Profile (SCOPE) & Chinese version of (SCOPE-C)
A robust measure of social inclusion (SCOPE) has been developed in UK described a framework encompassing indicative life domains of social inclusion.
A Chinese version of SCOPE scales (SCOPE-C) was developed on the basis of SCOPE with a validated translation, and adjusted measures to Hong Kong conditions.

7. Research Objectives
1. explore the social inclusion in different social domains among immigrants population in Hong Kong and the UK;
2. measure health conditions among immigrants in Hong Kong and the UK;
3. compare the degree of association between social inclusion and health conditions in the two samples.

8. Initial Hypothesis
1. Perceived opportunities and satisfaction in social domains (e.g. contacts with friends) are at higher level in Hong Kong than in UK, among the Chinese immigrants;
2.the overall social inclusion is significantly correlated with health and mental health conditions of the subjects

9. METHODS

10. Participants (N=107) Recruited through NGOs HK UK Age range 24-53
17-74
Mean age
35.0
42.2
SD of age
7.0
16.7
Years in host country
1-7
1-38

11. Profile -Hong Kong: mainly female (95%);
a majority of them had no source of income (70%);
26% of them living in private residential units of room/cockloft/bed space
-UK:
60% female;
60% were living in private residential units;
The majority of them (61%) were self employed or in paid employment.

12. Procedure
Face-to-face individual interviews in Hong Kong in Putonghua or Cantonese while English was employed for the interviews in UK.
Interviews were conducted during November 2013 and March 2014.
The interviewing time lasted between 20 to 40 minutes.

13. Measures: SCOPE & SCOPE-C
Eight domains:
(1) leisure and participation,
(2) housing and accommodation,
(3) work,
(4) financial situation,
(5) safety,
(6) education,
(7) self-reported health, and
(8) family and social relationships.

14. Measure: SCOPE & SCOPE-C
Sample questions for Satisfaction with opportunities & perceived opportunities
“How do you feel about the opportunities that you have to participate in leisure activities?” from 1 (terrible) to 7 (delighted)
“What do you think about the general availability of community groups, clubs and organisations in your area?” from 1 (extremely restricted opportunities ) to 5 (plentiful opportunities )

15. Measure: Other scales general physical and mental health
“In general, would you say your health is” from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent)
“During the past 4 weeks, have you felt downhearted and blue?” from 1( all of the time) to 6 (none of the time)

16. RESULTS

17. SatOpps in Different Social Domains (7-point scale)

18. SatOpps in Different Social Domains

19. Perceived Opps in different Social Domains (5–point scale)

20. Overall social inclusion (7-point)

21. Pearson correlations between the social inclusion and healthHK UK
Physical Health
0.05
-0.01
Mental Health
0.20
0.02

22. H1 supported
contacts with family, friends and involvement in community are at higher level in HK
H2: not supported.
health condition is not related to overall social inclusion among both samples

23. DISCUSSION

24. Discussion general satisfaction in all eleven social domains.
sufficient opportunities in the five social domains.
moderate level of overall social inclusion

25. Discussion HK UK Satisfaction with Opportunities ✔
Perceived opportunities
Overall social inclusion
moderate

26. Discussion For HK participants:
least satisfied with the opportunities for suitable housing.
high level of satisfaction of opportunities for contact with friends.
reported high perceived opportunities for suitable work as well as education: they perceived that they were able to find jobs easily when they would be freed from family obligations.

27. Discussion For UK participants:
only marginally satisfied with the opportunities to increase income
Among those unemployed, they were marginally satisfied with the opportunities to work.
The impact of the economic downturn in the UK on the labour market, which at the time of the study did not yet show the signs of recovery that are now appearing.

28. Implications
Chinese immigrants from two societies have different needs and different problems to be included into the hosting societies. NGOs need to attend to their specific needs When NGOs help to support social inclusion of immigrants, they may not necessarily help them to have improvement in health conditions

29. Limitations Small sample size and convenience sampling
Further studies are needed to provide further evidence

30. THANK YOU