A One-Year Prospective Follow-Up Study on the Health Profile of Hikikomori Living in Hong Kong

John W. M. Yuen, Victor C. W. Wong, Wilson W. S. Tam, Ka Wing So and Wai Tong Chien
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John W. M. Yuen: School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Victor C. W. Wong: Department of Social Work, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Wilson W. S. Tam: Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119077, Singapore
Ka Wing So: Withdrawal Youth Service, Hong Kong Christian Service, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Wai Tong Chien: Nethersole School of Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: Background : A prospective cohort study was conducted to follow-up on 104 participants on their changes of social, psychological and physical health as exposed to the hikikomori lifestyle. Methods : Participants were interviewed at baseline, 6 months and 12 months by administering a set of questionnaires and anthropometric measurements. Results : All three health domains of hikikomori were significantly improved over the follow-up period as evidenced by: (1) increased social network scores from 2.79 ± 1.80 to 3.09 ± 1.87, (2) decreased perceived stress scores from 21.18 ± 5.87 to 20.11 ± 5.79, and (3) reduced blood pressure levels from 118/75 to 115/71 and waist-to-hip ratios. Almost half of the participants have recovered from hikikomori by returning to the workforce in society; however, the health improvements were dominant in those that remained as hikikomori and were associated with the gradual swapping of exercise practices from light to moderate level strength. Conclusions : With intended exposure to social worker engagement, physical assessments of the cohort study triggered the social workers to encourage participants to do more exercises, which in turn enhanced their awareness of health modification towards a better health. Engagement of social workers could be considered as part of the intended exposure for all participants, which suggested social work intervention was effective in helping hikikomori recovery.

Keywords: hikikomori; hidden youth; health; hypertension; obesity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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