Study of Behaviour Problems in a Paediatric Outpatient Department

Abstract

Original Article IntroductionR esearchers attempted to assess child behaviour quantitatively and qualitatively but differed from each other in sampling, use of assessment scales, diagnostic criteria and statistics. In the studies conducted over the last fifty years prevalence rate varied from 5% [1] to 51% [2]. In the Indian studies prevalence rate varied from 13 per thousand [3] to 431 per thousand [4]. Analysis at paediatric outpatient departments revealed behaviour problems in the range of 3.36% [5] to 50% [6]. Single parenting and violence have been associated with increased behaviour problems in children [7,8]. Western studies suggested increase in prevalence of behaviour disorder in children of armed service personnel [9] with separation, transiency and differential parenting [10] implicated as predisposing factors. No studies have been undertaken to that effect in military population in India. Material and MethodFifty children of age 6-14 years from paediatric outpatient department of a command hospital were selected after randomisation. Every third patient with either of the parents entering the paediatric out patient department (OPD) complex was included and subjected to child behaviour checklist (CBCL) which was filled by the parents [11]. This checklist (CBCL) is a family of self rated instrument that surveys a broad range of difficulties encountered in children from preschool age to adolescence. It is a multiaxial scale normed by age and gender. Various versions of CBCL were designed to obtain data from parents, teachers and youth. Parent's version of CBCL was used in this study. The cut off scores as given by Achenbach were used in this study (Table 1). ResultsOf the 50 patients studied, 36 (72%) were from the armed forces of which 3 (9%) were siblings of officers. Mean age of the study population was 9.56 ± 2.62 years. Male to female ratio was 1:1. Mean income of the parents was Rs 5780 ± 3194.63.Twenty children (40%) were found to be above cutoff score. There was no significant difference in the behaviour problems between age group 6-12 years and 12-14 years. Sexwise distribution showed no significant difference in behaviour. Mean CBCL score was 40.6 ± 33.90 (Table 2). Eleven children (30.6%) from the armed forces background were above cutoff which was significantly lower than that in civil population (69.4%) ( Table 3). There was no significant difference in behaviour problems between children of officers and the other ranks (Tables 4 & 5). Study of Behaviour Problems in a Paediatric Outpatient DepartmentMaj J Prakash * , Brig S Sudarsanan + , Col PK Pardal # , Col S Chaudhury (Retd) ** Abstract Background : Behaviour problems in children still needs precise definition, explicit criterion and assessment on multiple paradigms. Methods : Fifty children of the age group 6-14 years , from paediatric outpatient department, selected after randomisation were assessed for behaviour problems with the child behaviour checklist. The data collected was analysed using appropriate statistical tests. Results : ...

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