Functional impairment and mental health functioning among Vietnamese children

• Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Vol. 51; no. 1; pp. 39 - 47
• Main Authors: Dang, Hoang-Minh, Weiss, Bahr, Trung, Lam T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-01-2016; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Care and treatment; Child; Child & adolescent mental health; Child psychopathology; Children; Children's furniture; Developing Countries - statistics & numerical data; Economic indicators; Epidemiology; Families & family life; Female; Health disparities; Health services; High income; Humans; Industrialized nations; Low income groups; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental disorders; Mental Disorders - epidemiology; Mental health; Mental health care; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Original Paper; Psychiatric services; Psychiatry; Psychological aspects; Risk factors; Vietnam - epidemiology; Vietnam; United States > US; LMIC; Vietnam; Children; Functional life impairment; Mental health
• ISSN: 0933-7954; 1433-9285
• DOI: 10.1007/s00127-015-1114-2

Purpose
Functional impairment is a key indicator of need for mental health services among children and adolescents, often a stronger predictor of service usage than mental health symptoms themselves. Functional impairment may be of particular importance in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) because of its potential to focus policy on treatment of child mental health problems which is generally given low priority in LMIC. However, few studies have assessed functional impairment in LMIC. The present study assessed rates of functional impairment among children in Vietnam, as a case example of an LMIC, as well as effects of other risk/protective factors of particular relevance to LMIC (e.g., whether the family lived in an urban or rural area; family structure variables such as grandparents living with the family).
Methods
1314 parents of children 6–16 years old from 10 Vietnamese provinces were interviewed.
Results
The overall rate of functional impairment among Vietnamese children was 20 %, similar to rates in high-income countries such as Germany and the United States, suggesting that LMIC status may not be associated with dramatic increases in functional impairment in children. Functional impairment was significantly greater among mental health cases than non-cases, with increases of over 550 % associated with mental health caseness. A number of other risk factors (e.g., marital status) had smaller but significant effects.
Conclusions
Mental health problems are a major but not the sole contributor to functional impairment among Vietnamese children. The pragmatic significance of this research lies in its potential to affect public awareness and policy related to child mental health in LMIC.