0217

THE STUDY OF EARLY SCREENING OF MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS IN PEADIATRICS

Zhang J-S, Xu J-D

Department of Child Health Care of Xinhua Hospital, the Second Medical University of Shanghai, China

 

Objective: It has been reported that the rate of psychological and behavioural problems in Paediatric outpatients and inpatients is much higher than common children. Herein we investigate the rate of mental health problems in inpatients children to study the possibility of early detection in Paediatrics

Methods: 104 children were randomly selected in general Paediatric inpatients. All of them are not serious physical disability and mental retarded children. They are clear conscious. The age range was 5 years and 3 months old to 14 years and 11 months old. Boys were 60 (57.7%), girls were 44 (42.3%). Parents were asked to complete the screening questionnaires: Paediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC, Chinese version) and Rutter’s Behaviour Questionnaire (RBQ, Chinese version). ICD-10 was adopted as the diagnostic standard.

Results: For using PSC with cutoff score of 22, there were 20 children  (19.2%) suspected to have problems. For using RBQ with the cuttoff score 13, the suspected children were 30.9%. The final diagnostic children were 24(23.1%). The correlation rate of PSC and RBQ was 0.78.

Conclusions: The rate of inpatients children with mental health problem is much higher (about twice) than common children (about 10% in Chinese children). So early detecting of mental health problem is important in Paediatric and screening should be included in routine physical examination. PSC and RBQ as two screening questionnaires are feasible to be used in Paediatric settings. Further diagnosis and intervention should be provided for the suspected children as soon as possible.