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Emotional and behavioral problems of 7-11 year old children in war-torn Nagorno–Karabakh region in Azerbaijan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

N. Osmanli ,
A. Babayev ,
I. Rustamov  and
K. Munir
N. Osmanli*
Affiliation:
1 The Administration of the Regional Medical Divisions, Medical Services Department, Baku, Azerbaijan
A. Babayev
Affiliation:
Khazar University, School Of Humanities And Social Sciences, Baku, Azerbaijan
I. Rustamov
Affiliation:
Azerbaijan Medical University, Department Of Psychiatry, Baku, Azerbaijan
K. Munir
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital,developmental Medicine Center, Boston, United States of America
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

The emotional, behavioral and psychosocial effects of chaotic environments following wars and armed conflicts in terms of exposure to trauma and displacement is well recognized. School-age children who are directly exposed to or witnessed negative effects of armed conflicts show an array of emotional and behavioral problems.

Objectives

Our study aimed to examine the mental health conditions of children living in war and conflict zones and attending primary schools in Agdam.

Methods

The study sample comprised of 617 children (mean age 8.9, SD 1.24; 50.7% female), residing in the conflict areas in the southwestern of Azerbaijan. The children were evaluated with the previously validated Azerbaijani version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) Teacher Form.

Results

About a third of children (32.7%) had abnormal total scores, and a fifth (21.4%) were in borderline range. The SDQ subscale scores included emotional problems (19.4%); conduct problems (20.3%), hyperactivity/inattention (12.2%), peer relationship problems (31.1%), and pro-social behavior difficulties (13.1%). As a result, externalizing problem scores were higher in males (p<.001) and internalizing problems in females (p<.05). Due to correlation analysis, age is negatively and significantly related with externalising (p<.05), internalising (p<.01), and total difficulty (p<.05) scores.

Conclusions

The findings of the study show that more than half of the children living in the war zone in Azerbaijan suffer from mental health problems and highlight the need for child mental health services and family supports in the region.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

Child mental healthEmotional and behavioral problemsAzerbaijanarmed conflict
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S441
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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