Evaluation of Child Abuse and Mental Health Status in Children of Patients Admitted to Psychiatric Wards

Child abuse refers is a wide range of destructive behaviors include not meeting emotional needs, physical punishment, sexual abuse, malnutrition, and neglect of child health. The aim of this study was to determine the status of child abuse and mental health in children of psychiatric patients.

This descriptive cross-sectional study investigates child abuse in the children of patients with psychiatric disorders admitted to Zare Hospital in Sari, Iran in 2020. The questionnaires used in the study were SDQ and the CASRS. All data analysis was performed using SPSS software version 25. Significance level is considered P<0.05.

Patient’s age were 22-61 with mean and SD of 34±6.7 years and children were 12.1±2.6 years. 182(51.9%) children were girls and 169 (48.1%) were boys. The highest frequency of psychiatric disorder in patients was mood disorder 144 (41%), and schizophrenia 127 (36.2%). According to the CASRS scale, the mean and standard deviation of the subscales were 7.0±5.4 for physical abuse, 0.4±0.9 for sexual abuse, 8.5±2.1 for emotional absuse, and 8.8±5.0 for neglect. The scores of the SDQ of a healthy parent and the child themselves had a mean and standard deviation of 15.4±5.8 and 15.8±5.4, respectively.

The results of this study showed that the incidence of child abuse in the children of patients with psychiatric problems is high and this group needs social support as a shield and protective factor against the negative consequences of abuse that can prevent violence cycle and the occurrence of psychological disorders to victims.