RESUMO
Background:The prevalence of pediatric mental illnesses has been increasing in recent years,with a great potential to impact on individual's functionality and adaptation in adulthood.Objective:This study aims to assess emotional and behavioral problems among schoolchildren in Herat City of Afghanistan.Methods:This cross-sectional study was conducted on schoolchildren(grade 5-10),between September and November 2021.Sociodemographic data was collected using a paper-based 14-item structured questionnaire.Data on emotional and behavioral problems was collected using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire(SDQ)based on teachers'and children's report.Statistical analyses were performed in IBM SPSS Statistics(version 27).Results:A total of 418 students,including 190(45.5％)males and 228(54.5％)females with a mean age of 14.1±1.7(11-＜18)years were included in the study.The prevalence of students'self-reported total difficulties and prosocial problem were 5.7％and 1.2％,respectively.An insignificant difference was observed between mean total difficulties scores between students'self-reported and teachers'reported SDQ.Gender,grade,concern about shortage of food,and concern about losing house were significantly predicting students'self-reported total difficulties scores.Conclusion:This is the first study to report the prevalence of emotional and behavioral problems among schoolchildren in Herat City,Afghanistan.This,together with relevant global literature,highlight the need to address pediatric mental health,and provide services aimed at preventing,and treating children with these prob-lems around the world.
RESUMO
Background: The present research was carried out with an objective to study the behavioral problems and emotional problems of school children as perceived by their parents and teachers.Methods: This cross sectional observational study was conducted on parents and teachers of 304 secondary school children of a metropolitan city. A pre formed semi structured questionnaire was used to assess the socio-demographic profile of the students. Parents and teachers rated Strength and difficulties questionnaire was used to assess their child’s /students behavioral and emotional problems as perceived by their parents & teachers. The analysis was done using Microsoft Excel and SPSS software.Results: Regarding the perception of teachers and parents it was found that parents were not much concerned as the response rate for parent reported SDQ was only 64.8% and response rate among teachers was 100%. Out of 304 study subjects, 22 (7.2%) were having borderline total difficulties on teachers reported total difficulty scale of SDQ and 11 (3.6%) were reported to be abnormal. Parent reported SDQ showed that out of 197 parents, who filled the SDQ, 24 (7.9%) study subjects were having borderline total difficulties, while 33 (10.9%) were found to be abnormal on SDQ scale.Conclusions: Parents, child-care givers, teachers and health care professionals if made aware of symptoms of mental health problems in their children’s, we can restore their mental health conditions in time