scholarly journals Crisis Situations Among Children/Adolescents with Emotional and Behavioural Disorders in Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (Spec. Iss.) ◽  
pp. 153-175
Author(s):  
Katja Vrhunc Pfeifer

Employees in education, especially in residential treatment centres, face crisis situations as a result of emotional and behavioural problems/disorders of children and adolescents. They most often face various types of violence, self-aggression, use of illicit substances and abuse. Cases of children and adolescents with mental health problems are frequent. Crisis interventions differ with the complexity of the situation, and regardless of the approach, an appropriate relationship is crucial to any solution. The purpose of this article is to present and elaborate the most common crisis situations and some successful interventions in such cases.

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahereh Ziaian ◽  
Helena de Anstiss ◽  
Georgia Antoniou ◽  
Peter Baghurst ◽  
Michael Sawyer

Background. Despite the frequency of traumatic or stressful events experienced by refugee children and adolescents prior to migration and following resettlement, the majority do not experience mental health problems emphasising the critical nature of resilience. While a host of factors deemed to be protective of mental health in young refugees have been identified, there has been little research exploring the role of resilience as a distinct psychological construct. This study aimed to explore the nature of psychological resilience in refugee adolescents and the relationship between resilience and depression, other emotional and behavioural problems, and mental health service uptake. Method. One hundred and seventy multiethnic refugee adolescents aged 13–17 from South Australia were administered a survey comprising the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI), and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Results. Females tended to have higher resilience, as did those adolescents who had been living in Australia longer. Adolescents suffering from depressive symptoms or other emotional or behavioural problems had lower resilience. There was little evidence of an association between resilience scores and exposure to trauma or service utilisation. Discussion. Fostering resilience may be critical to efforts to prevent or reduce mental health problems in refugee adolescents.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eoin McElroy ◽  
Marc Tibber ◽  
Pasco Fearon ◽  
Praveetha Patalay ◽  
George Ploubidis

BackgroundStudies using symptom-based screeners have suggested that mental health problems have increased in adolescents in recent decades, however, few studies have explicitly tested the equivalence of their instruments, which is critical for inferring changes in prevalence. In addition, few studies have explored whether changes in socioeconomic position (SEP) and sex inequalities across generations have impacted trends in adolescent mental health. MethodsUsing structural equation modelling, we explore sex differences in harmonised parent-reports of emotional and behavioural problems, using data from four UK birth cohorts: the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS’58; N= 11,398), the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS’70; N= 8,161), the 1991-92 Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC’91; N= 5,304), and the 2001 Millennium Cohort Study (MCS’01; N= 10,384). We also delineate associations between four harmonised indicators of childhood SEP and adolescent mental health, and test whether changes in SEP account for increases in mental ill-health over time. Results We found an increase in the latent means of parent-reported emotional and behavioural problems across time in both males and females in more recent cohorts, with the exception of ALSPAC’91. Sex-inequalities did not change over time, with females having consistently higher emotional problems. The associations between the four indicators of SEP and emotional problems were strongest in the MCS’01, with housing tenure having the strongest association. All four SEP indicators were associated with behavioural problems in all of the cohorts, with housing tenure again more strongly associated with problems in the MCS’01. Inconsistent mediation (i.e. regression suppression) suggested that the increases in mental health problems occurred despite broadly improving average socio-economic conditions. ConclusionsOur findings suggest that parent-reported adolescent mental health problems have risen in recent generations and that this trend is not due solely to reporting styles. A failure to address widening inequalities may result in further increases in mental ill-health amongst disadvantaged young people.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Dahlberg ◽  
E Fält ◽  
A Sarkadi ◽  
H Fabian ◽  
R Salari

Abstract Evaluation of new initiatives to tackle mental health problems in children requires instruments that are both valid and reliable. One such instrument is the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), an assessment tool for child emotional and behavioural problems. The instrument was developed by Goodman in the 1990's and is being used worldwide in both clinical settings and research projects. However, previous studies on the SDQ have mainly focused on school-aged children and adolescents. We know very little about the usefulness of the SDQ for measuring preschool children's mental health problems. Using data from a large number of parents and preschool teachers of children aged 3-5 (> 11 000 questionnaires), we tested the psychometric properties of the SDQ, examined the inter-rater agreement and provided cut-off points. The original five-factor model of the SDQ was supported and it was shown to be a reliable instrument in the hands of mothers, fathers and preschool teachers. We also found significant, albeit poor, agreement (ICC) between parent and teacher ratings and good agreement between parents' ratings. Teachers reported lower levels of problems compared to parents. Compared to girls, boys were generally reported to have more problems. Thus, we provided separate cut-offs for each age group, gender and rater category. The results suggest that SDQ can reliably be used for measuring emotional and behavioural problems in young children in community settings. They also suggest that parent and teacher reports are complementary; hence, reports from both types of informants should be considered when using the SDQ as a method to identify mental health problems within the child health services. However, inter-rater agreement between mothers and fathers was good, meaning that it may be sufficient to obtain data from a single parent informant.


Author(s):  
Herbert E. Ainamani ◽  
Godfrey Z. Rukundo ◽  
Timothy Nduhukire ◽  
Eunice Ndyareba ◽  
Tobias Hecker

Abstract Background Child maltreatment poses high risks to the mental health and cognitive functioning of children not only in childhood but also in later life. However, it remains unclear whether child maltreatment is directly associated with impaired cognitive functioning or whether this link is mediated by mental health problems. Our study aimed at examining this research question among children and adolescents in Uganda. Methods A sample of 232 school-going children and adolescents with a mean age of 14.03 (SD = 3.25) was assessed on multiple forms of maltreatment using the Maltreatment and Abuse Chronology Exposure—Pediatric Version (pediMACE). Executive functions were assessed by the Tower of London task and working memory by the Corsi Block Tapping task, while mental health problems were assessed using the Child PTSD Symptom Scale for PTSD and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC). Results In total, 232 (100%) of the participant reported to have experienced at least one type of maltreatment in their lifetime including emotional, physical, and sexual violence as well as neglect. We found a negative association between child maltreatment and executive functions (β = − 0.487, p < 0.001) and working memory (β = − 0.242, p = 0.001). Mental health problems did not mediate this relationship. Conclusions Child maltreatment seems to be related to lower working memory and executive functioning of affected children and adolescents even after controlling for potential cofounders. Our study indicates that child maltreatment the affects children’s cognitive functionality beyond health and well-being.


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