A Study on the Mental Health Status of Children Living in Orphanages in Kashmir

Background The number of orphans in Kashmir has risen over a period of two and a half decades so has the number of orphanages. The children living in orphanages develop psychiatric morbidity which usually remains neglected. Methodology A cross sectional study design was adopted and the study was conducted in orphanages in 6 randomly selected districts of Kashmir during April 2014 - March 2015. Assessment of factors that might be associated with psychiatric morbidity in the defined population was also carried out. Results Among 450 children, 38 % suffered from psychiatric morbidity. Of these, 33.3 % had attention problems, 23.75 % were depressed and 21.4 % suffered from anxiety as per the Child Behaviour Check-List. The age (p value less than0.001), type of orphan (p value 0.001), cause of death of parent (p value less than0.001), social change occurring within family (p value less than0.001), duration of stay in orphanage (p value less than0.001) and involvement of siblings in labour (p value 0.008) have a significant association with psychiatric morbidity. Conclusion Prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among children living in orphanages is very high. This calls for prompt attention towards the needs of this vulnerable and neglected section of the society.