Graduate Research Papers
Availability
Open Access Graduate Research Paper
Abstract
Everyday in communities around the world, millions of children, adolescents, and families are faced with mental health issues. Mental health involves the way people feel, think, make decisions, and handle social interaction. A child's mental health affects not only the child, but the whole family as well. When a child is diagnosed with a chronic condition, the impact on the family can lead to changes in its functioning patterns. The pattern of functioning affects the perception and care of the child, the course of the child's development, and sometimes the course of the condition itself.
Health care providers often over look mental Health care because they are used to dealing with the physical health aspect of children. The early identification of and intervention with children with mental health disorders is not done. The reasons for this are mental health is hard to define in children and adolescents, the health care provider feels inadequately trained to meet mental health needs, and there is a stigma associated with psychiatric care for children and adolescents.
If mental health services are recommended for children and adolescents, treatment is rarely sought for a variety of reasons. The low usage rates for mental health services for children and adolescents is attributed to several things: denial of the mental health disorder, stigmas attached to emotional disorders that discourages families from seeking treatment for their child, lack of early identification and intervention, scarcity and inappropriateness of services, and lack of adequate insurance coverage or inability to pay for services. The completion rate of mental health services is even more unusual.
The role society plays is very important in strengthening the families and preventing child and adolescent emotional disorders. The only way to significantly reduce the incidence of mental and emotional disorders is primary prevention. Primary prevention should be targeted at high-risk families and on environmental forces that negatively affect the family. Therapy with individual children and families will only scrape the surface of the mental health problems we face as a country. Primary prevention gives hope for the future reduction of the family stresses that adversely affect the children.
Children and adolescents are strongly influenced, positively or negatively, by their family situation. Families are strongly influenced, positively or negatively, by economic and social opportunities and cultural climate. If poverty, unemployment, racism, and sexism prevail, so will children's vulnerability to physical and mental disorders. If society commits to finding ways of decreasing family stress and providing economic and social opportunities to parents, it will at the same time increase the likelihood that children's well-being will improve.
The purpose of this study was to describe the mental, emotional, and behavioral health status of parents and children who are clients of Title V Maternal and Child agencies and Child Health Specialty Clinics in Iowa. Surveys were mailed out to 36 MCH agencies and 12 CHSC sites with a return rate of 49 percent. According to the survey, 19.2 percent of the children have an emotional or behavioral disorder and 22.7 percent of those children could not get the behavioral or emotional care they needed because of barriers. The top two barriers identified were parents experienced trouble getting an appointment and travel/transportation issues. Nineteen percent of the parents also felt their child was limited in school or social activities because a behavioral health problems. Forty percent of the parents felt their 6-11 years old child was unhappy, sad, or depressed at least some time in the last four weeks. The parents or guardians of the children felt downhearted and blue 12.8 percent of the time and missed work 28.6 percent of the time because of a behavioral or emotional problem. The study also found 12.9 percent of the parents thought their behavioral or emotional problem interfered with their normal social activities with family, friends or neighbors.
Year of Submission
2000
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services
First Advisor
William Lang
Date Original
2000
Object Description
1 PDF file (77 pages)
Copyright
©2000 Gretchen Hageman
Language
en
Recommended Citation
Hageman, Gretchen, "The Mental Health of Parents and Children Who Are Clients of Title V Maternal and Child Health Agencies and Child Health Specialty Clinics in Iowa" (2000). Graduate Research Papers. 4325.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/grp/4325
Comments
If you are the rightful copyright holder of this graduate research paper and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit an email request to scholarworks@uni.edu. Include your name and clearly identify the thesis by full title and author as shown on the work.