Malnutrition and psychosocial dysfunction among the orphan and vulnerable children in Kaski district, Nepal

Abstract

Introduction: Malnutrition and mental disorders are the emerging problems among the children and adolescents worldwide especially among the children and adolescents in developing countries like Nepal. Objectives: To assess malnutrition and psychosocial dysfunction among vulnerable and children as well as to determine the association between malnutrition and psychosocial dysfunction among orphan and vulnerable children in Kaski district, Nepal. Materials and Methods: The study carried out was cross sectional which was done among 302 children residing from 10 institutional care facilities in Kaski district, Nepal, selected randomly using simple random sampling technique. Data collection was done in between January and February, 2015, by using anthropometric assessment and interview through use of pretested tools. Data were entered and analyzed using WHO Anthroplus software v.1.0.4 and SPSS v. 20. Results: The prevalence of malnutrition using percentile and z-score was found to be 12.3% and 10.3%, respectively. Psychosocial dysfunction was found to be 4.3% based on caregiver’s perspective and 3% on children’s own assessment. No association was found to be between malnutrition and psychosocial dysfunction among the orphan and vulnerable children. Conclusion: More than one tenth of the children were malnourished. Institutional care facilities should be concerned on lowering the malnutrition and promoting mental health through proper care support and recreational facilities.