What do Parents Know About the Mental Health Needs and Problems of Children?

Abstract

Mental health is how people think, feel and act as they encounter lifes ups and downs. Parents and child care providers need to be aware of the role of mental health in the overall healthy development of young children. It is the task of caregivers to observe young children to be sure that they are maintaining mental health by mastering age-appropriate social and personal skills, such as understanding and managing their feelings, interacting with others and learning to assert themselves in the world. The present study was conducted to examine and compare the knowledge level of parents on mental health problems of children in Gulbarga district, Karnataka and Wayanadu district in Kerala. The data was collected from 250 respondents who are members of different neighbourhood groups in Gulbarga district and Wayanadu district. Stratified random sampling method used for collecting the data. The findings revealed that there is a poor knowledge regarding the mental health problems of children among the parents. This indicates the need for creating knowledge among the parents with the help of specific intervention programme. This study is an initiative to evolve appropriate suggestions for better strategies to promote mental health awareness among mothers.

Keywords: Child Mental Health, Knowledge, Parents and Neighbourhood Group

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