Abuse and Neglect in Children and Adolescent who Applied to Mental Disability Report

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine abuse and neglect in children and adolescent who applied to Child and Adolescents Psychiatry Clinic and Hospital Health Report Committee for disability reports.

Method: Children and adolescents who admitted to our Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic for disability reports between November 2015 and April 2016 were included in the study. Data were collected by retrospective chart review.

Results: Of the 193 cases evaluated, disability detected in %47.7 of patients. Physical punishment by parents was found in %24.8, and poor hygiene in %51.5 of disabled group (p:0.0001). Previous admission to emergency service for fall, accident, burn, corrosive matter ingestion was reported by %30,7 of disabled group, and %16,3 of not disabled group (p:0.019). Parental undergraduate degree in the not disabled group was lower than the disabled group (p<0.05). This association was significant in the under 6 years age group but not in the 6-17 years age group (p>0.05). In addition, unemployed fathers were more frequent in not disabled group (p<0.05).

Conclusions: Child and adolescent psychiatrists and also all healthcare providers should be sensitive to child abuse and neglect that is an important community health problem. This is the first study in Turkey investigating child abuse and neglect in children and adolescents who applied to Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic for disability reports. Our results suggest that to evaluate histories of childhood abuse and neglect can have a positive impact on reporting processes.