Environmental behavioural modification programme for street children in Alexandria, Egypt

An environmental behavioural modification programme was implemented in Alexandria city, Egypt, in order to help street children to change their behaviour, discover their abilities and develop and acquire new skills and knowledge. The programme included camping and field trips, recreational activities and games, role play and theatre, story-telling, life-skill activities, and gardening and animal care. Data were collected from observational sheets of adaptive behaviour and conversation sessions before and after the intervention on a sample of 35 street children aged between 7 and 15 years. The mean scores for each behavioural item and all items together before and after the intervention were significantly improved in a number of areas, except for speech disorders and substance use

Sociodemographic characteristics of street children in Alexandria

The sociodemographic characteristics of street children in the Egyptian city of Alexandria were studied. A cross-sectional descriptive study was designed. Difficulties in random sampling of street children meant that a non-random purposive sampling strategy was used. The final sample consisted of 100 street children [all boys] who were interviewed and medically examined. The study confirmed the findings of other studies that street children come from problematic family backgrounds. They are disproportionately victims of family breakdown, sexual and physical abuse. They suffer from increased health problems, malnutrition and lack of educational opportunities. Recommendations are made for programmes to address the challenging needs of street children in Alexandria