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Functional impairment and mental health functioning among Vietnamese children

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Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the US National Institutes of Health grants from the Fogarty International Center D43-TW009089 and R21 TW008435, and by the Vietnamese National Foundation for Sciences and Technology Development (NAFOSTED)) Grant VII.2-2011.11. We gratefully acknowledge the families who participated in this study, and the support of research staff at participating educational institutions. All authors state that they have no conflict of interest with regard to this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vietnam National University, 144 Xuan Thuy Road, Cau Giay District, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Hoang-Minh Dang

  2. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Bahr Weiss

  3. Danang Psychiatric Hospital, Danang, Vietnam

    Lam T. Trung

Authors
  1. Hoang-Minh Dang
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  2. Bahr Weiss
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  3. Lam T. Trung
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Correspondence to Hoang-Minh Dang.

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Dang, HM., Weiss, B. & Trung, L.T. Functional impairment and mental health functioning among Vietnamese children. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 51, 39–47 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-015-1114-2

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