CAHMR Working Paper Series

Abstract: The mental health and well-being among the elderly become worse when there is misunderstanding towards related illness. Due to the lack of appropriate promotion on mental healthcare, mental disorder patients need to suffer from long-term persecution. Meanwhile, the elderly in Hong Kong are being isolated with lower self-esteem, which accelerated further problem of mental disorder. Hong Kong society is lacking education and promotion of mental health and well-being, the stigmatisation towards mental disorder is a barrier for mental disorder patients. This review explores how the stigmatisation border the recovery from mental disorder among the elderly in Hong Kong, outlines the approaches and policies which may be able to decrease the stigmas and propose Hong Kong as an age-friendly city with healthy mental.

Abstract: Elderly can improve their well-being and achieve healthy ageing by utilising effective gerontechnology. There are some barriers and challenges that hinder the development and utilisation of gerontechnology in Hong Kong, including the inadequate awareness of the importance of technology in elderly healthcare, limited resources invested in the market, and lack of human resources. Hong Kong government has launched more funding schemes to encourage collaborations with different sectors including universities, research institutions, non-governmental organisations and businesses to participate in gerontechnology market. The development of gerontechnology is relatively small in Hong Kong and more efforts are needed to discover the potential in this market. This paper evaluates the current support for gerontechnology in Hong Kong and concludes with some recommendations on its future improvements.