Article Text
Abstract
Background In sub-Saharan countries, one in five children and one in three women experiences emotional and behavioural problems (EBPs) and depression, respectively. While various factors were reported to affect the mental health of children, little is known about the impact of maternal depression on the offspring. Moreover, the magnitude of children’s EBPs is barely known in Ethiopia.
Aim To determine the magnitude of child EBPs and its association with maternal depression in Jimma town, southwest Ethiopia.
Methods A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted among 734 mother–child pairs in Jimma town from January to June, 2019. EBP was assessed by using the parent version of Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) with cut-off score of ≥14. Maternal depression was assessed using Patient Health Questionnaire-9 with a cut-off score of ≥10. Data were entered into Epidata V.3.1 and exported to SPSS V.24 for analysis. Multivariable logistic regression was fitted to identify the strength of association between exposure and outcome variables.
Results Of the 734 participants, 146 (19.9%, 95% CI: 16.9% to 22.9%) met EBP criteria based on parent version of SDQ. Maternal depression had significant association with child EBP (adjusted OR=2.38, 95% CI: 1.55 to 3.66). In addition, children aged 7–10 years, family size categories of ≤3 and 4–6, maternal intimate partner violence and maternal khat use had significant association with child EBP.
Conclusions and recommendations A significant number of children suffer from EBP in Jimma town. Maternal depression is found to be a predictor of children’s EBPs. Thus, there is a need to design and implement an integrated maternal and child mental health programme. The maternal and child health section at the national level should integrate and cascade routine maternal and child mental health screening and intervention modalities down to the family healthcare system.
- mental health
- mental health services
- child behaviour disorders
- child psychiatry
- mother-child relations
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Footnotes
Contributors AA collected and analysed the data, reviewed the literature and wrote the manuscript. SG was involved in data collection and data analysis. MA and AW were involved in data analysis, writing the manuscript and editing the manuscript. All the coauthors checked the manuscript for language, analysis of data and interpretation.
Funding This research work is funded by Jimma University Institute of Health (Ref No. IHRPGD 594/2019).
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent for publication Not required.
Ethics approval Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of Jimma University Institute of Health (Ref No. IHRPGD/672/2019). Mothers who agreed to participate with their respective children gave written informed consent. Confidentiality was maintained by omitting identifiers from study tool and privacy was ensured during the interview. Participants were informed that involvement in this study has no financial and political benefit. All participants were given an information sheet and were only included in the study after providing written informed consent. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data availability statement All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information. The datasets used and analysed during the current study are included in the manuscript.