Workplace mental health in Hong Kong : a discourse analytic investigation

Abstract

In recent years there has been growing attention to mental health in both grey and academic literature. Much of the existing research comes from the mental health field in social sciences; discourse-oriented studies remain scarce. This thesis addresses this gap by examining workplace mental health in Hong Kong. Even though workplaces may support individuals’ mental health through various support programmes, employment stability, and providing regular income, workplaces are also frequently a source of stress and other mental health issues. This thesis employs theme-oriented discourse analysis (Roberts & Sarangi, 2005) that involves mapping discourse data along focal and analytic themes, paying attention to social and cultural contextual factors that contribute to the mental health situation in workplaces. The data comprises 23 audio-recorded interviews with working professionals in Hong Kong. All participants have worked in Hong Kong for at least three years at the time of the data collection. The data analysis reveals four focal themes in the interviews: (1) mental health stigma; (2) mental health environment in Hong Kong; (3) family; and (4) globalisation. Mental health stigma is pervasive, and the Hong Kong public generally holds a simplistic dichotomous view of mental health (i.e. one is either mentally healthy or mentally unwell). Hong Kong’s mental health environment is typically contrasted with the mental health situation in other countries, with the latter perceived more favourably. There is an observable impact of family on workplace mental health, that is examined through the lenses of face and facework (Goffman, 1955, 1967). Applying He and Zhang’s (2011) work on mianzi, the Chinese term for face, this thesis argues that the potential conflict between the ‘face’ of the family and one’s own ‘face’ can create mental stress. Globalisation influences the nature and the practice of workplaces, such as the necessity to speak English proficiently or to collaborate with offices based in different time zones, which can, in turn, create stress and affect individuals’ mental health. The participating working professionals can be categorised into two cohorts. The first cohort comprises professionals who experienced a mental illness or faced a mental health challenge which they feel they cannot resolve. These participants typically employ generalised and depersonalised language. Recurrent discursive strategies in the interviews include hypothetical scenarios and use of reifications. This attests to the sensitivity of mental health talk and stigmatisation in Hong Kong. The second cohort comprises those who have not personally experienced a mental illness or they have faced mental health challenges which they have found manageable. These participants typically employ more direct language and foreground their personal experiences of mental health. The observed differences in discursive devices used by the two cohorts provide a more nuanced understanding of mental health in Hong Kong, and how working professionals talk about it. These discursive findings assist in unveiling a correlation between mental illness, mental health challenges, and emotional sensitivity of mental health talk; illuminating the importance and value of investigating the discursive and communicative aspects of workplace mental health.