ABSTRACT

Objectives:

In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of children and adolescents who applied to the child psychiatry outpatient clinic and were in institutional care.

Materials and Methods:

Our study included 54 children and adolescents in institutional care, who applied to the Zonguldak Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital Child Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic between 01.06.2019 and 01.01.2021. The polyclinic files and social examination reports of the cases were reviewed retrospectively.

Results:

It was determined that the most common reasons for being admitted to institutional care were basic care deficiencies/neglect, parental separation/death and sexual abuse. Sexual abuse was found to be significantly more common in girls. 88.9% of the children have psychiatric symptoms at a threshold for diagnosis, and the most common mental disorders were attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, major depressive disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, specific learning disability, intellectual disability.

Conclusion:

It is thought that children in institutional care are in the risk group in terms of psychiatric disorders and preventive measures are important. Considering that children are often admitted to institutional care for reasons such as basic care deficiencies/neglect, absence of parents, and that being admitted to the institution at an early age may be associated with mental disorder it can be said that increasing family oriented services and counseling services aimed at supporting families economically and socially may be protective for the child’s mental health.