Author(s)

Abdel Aziz Thabet^1*, Ahmed Abu Tawahina², David Henley³, Henrick Pelling⁴, Panos Vostanis⁵, Kamal Abu Qamar⁶

¹School of Public Health, Al Quds University, Gaza, Palestine.
²Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, Gaza, Palestine.
³University Children’s Hospital, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
⁴Department of Child Psychiatry, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden.
⁵University of Leicester, Greenwood Institute of Child Health, Leicester, UK.
⁶National Society for Rehabilitation, Gaza, Palestine.

The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of mental health problems and quality of life among Palestinian disable children. The sample consisted of 391 disable Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip which was selected randomly from the data base of two NGOs working with such group of children. The age of children ranged from 6 - 18 years with mean age (11.73). Instruments: The children and adolescents demographic data were collected by questionnaire include sex, age, class, and place of residence, Gaza Child Health Study Scales (parents and children forms), and The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory generic core (version 4.0) scale. The results showed that children reported mean conduct disorder was 1.33; oppositional disorder was 5; mean overanxious was 6.75; separation anxiety mean was 6.36; and depression was 7.57. There were statistically significant differences toward boys in depression. According to parents, mean conduct disorder mean was 1.94; mean oppositional disorder was 6.09; mean overanxious was 7.47; separation anxiety mean was 6.48; and mean depression was 9.6. The study showed that mean depression in boys was 10.4 compared to 8.9 in girls. There were statistically significant differences toward boys in depression. Parents of children with physical disabilities reported more overanxious problems in their children compared to other parents with other types of disabilities (vision, mental, and multiple). Also, parents of children with physical disability had more separation anxiety than other groups (mental and multiple disabilities). Quality of life of children was scored by children themselves; mean emotional functioning was 8.24; mean social functioning was 6.65; school functioning mean was 9.17; and cognitive functioning was 8.57. The study showed that mental health problems rated by children such as conduct disorder was positively correlated with emotional and cognitive functioning; oppositional disorder was correlated with emotional, social, and cognitive function; overanxious disorder was correlated emotional, school, and cognitive functioning; separation anxiety was correlated emotional functioning; and depression was correlated emotional, social, and cognitive functioning.

Disabled Children, Mental Health Problems, Quality of Life, Gaza Strip

Thabet, A. , Tawahina, A. , Henley, D. , Pelling, H. , Vostanis, P. and Qamar, K. (2015) Mental Health and Quality of Life of Disable Palestinian Children in the Gaza Strip. Health, 7, 994-1006. doi: 10.4236/health.2015.78117.