Epidemiological study of developmental and behavioural disorders in three year old children: a UAE study

The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence and nature of developmental and behavioural disorders among 3-year old UAE national children. From a representative random sample of 2000 houses, 694 households with 3-year old children were included in the study. As per Denver Developmental Screening Test, 8.4% of the sample surveyed had global developmental delay and 9.9% had language delay. On Autism Screening Questionnaire, 0.58% was found to have significant autistic features. 10.5% of children were found to have behavioural problems as per Child Behaviour Checklist. A number of risk factors were identified; some of them unique to this socio-cultural context. None of the children identified through the survey had been previously diagnosed to have such problems, thus missing opportunities for early intervention. This is the first comprehensive epidemiological study of developmental problems in this region and provides a basis for the initiation and development of appropriate services

Behavioural problems in school children in the united Arab Emirates: cross-informant variance

Parents' reports and teachers' reports about children's behaviour were recorded using Rutter's Behaviour Scale for Parents and Rutter's Behaviour Scale for Teachers in 100 school children in Sharjah. United Arab Emirates. In this study, correlation between both informants' scores for individual items ranged from.62 [tears on arrival at school refuse] to. 10 [stomach ache vomiting] and for problem categories ranged from. 18 [emotional problems] to.36 [conduct problems] suggesting a lack of congruence among these two sources. It was also found that agreement between parents and teachers was better for conduct than for emotional problems. Our findings indicate the need for cross-informant assessment in behavioural research in children

Who develops psychiatric disorders among male prisoners

The aim of this study was to identify the factors associated with developing a new episode of psychiatric disorder during imprisonment among a sample of sentenced male prisoners, excluding those with an established history of problematic drinking and/or drug abuse. The study was conducted in the central prison, Dubai, United Arab Emirates [U.A.E.]. Socio-demographic data were collected from 142 prisoners. All were interviewed by a psychiatrist who administered the CIS and the CAGE questionnaires, documented self-reported substance misuse and made a clinical ICD-b diagnosis when it had been appropriate. Ten variables were selected for testing their association with developing psychiatric disorders in two groups, one with and without identified psychiatric diagnoses. Chi-square test was used for categorical variables and t-test for continuous variables. Mild mental retardation proved to be the only factor associated with the development of new episodes of psychiatric disorder on imprisonment. If stressful life events are defined as any set of circumstances that requires changes in the basic life pattern of an individual then imprisonment may be considered highly stressful. The stress experience depends on the individual's cognitive appraisal and his perception of his own capacities to cope with the situation. There is evidence that stress is associated with increased psychological disturbance and disordered behaviour. Moreover, prisoners in particular are a high-risk group for psychiatric disorders. Although most prisoners are under variable forms of stress, some develop psychiatric disorder while serving a prison sentence while others do not. The aim of this work is, therefore, to identify the factors which are associated with developing psychiatric disorders during imprisonment i.e. factors which are suggestive of more vulnerability for suffering psychiatric disorder in prison. Accordingly, the specific aims of this study were to identify the possible correlates for developing a new episode of psychiatric disorder during imprisonment among a sample of sentenced male prisoners, except for subjects with established history of problematic drinking and/or drug misuse. The rationale for excluding the latter group was the strong relationship between problematic drinking and/or drug misuse and mental disorder. We preferred to identify the potential vulnerability correlates in a non-biased sample