Prevalence of mental health problems among preparatory rural scholars using strengths and difficulties questionnaire [SDQ] [shabrament village, Giza Governorate]

Although there are evidence based treatments for many child mental health problems, only about 20% of children with psychiatric disorders are in contact with specialist mental health services. There would seem to be substantial scope, therefore, for the development and implementation of routine screening measures to detect children at high risk of mental health problems with a view to further assessment and treatment if necessary. The aim of this work is to screen preparatory scholars in Shabrament village for mental health problems using strengths and difficulties questionnaire [SDQ]. This work is a descriptive cross sectional study conducted in Shabrament preparatory mixed school. The Arabic version of the self reported SDQ is administered to the school children [no = 1148]. the mean total difficulties score was 13.78 +/- 5.35 About one fifth of the children were rated as abnormal for emotional symptoms, 15.5% for conduct problems, 12.8% for peer problems, 5.4% for hyperactivity and 4.7% were rated abnormal for prosocial behaviour. A significant proportion of the screened children were complaining of different psychiatric problems. This should draw the attention to the importance of incorporation of mental health screening into child and school health services. Training of primary health workers and school personnel in basic child mental health diagnosis is strongly recommended