Assessment of psychological impact on children with growth hormone deficiency and their parents

Abstract

Hypotheses • Children with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) would have psychological ramifications due to their disease condition. • Having a child with GHD would have an impact on the parents’ psychological health. Objectives • To assess the psychological health of children with GHD. • To assess the psychological health of parents of children with GHD. Method A descriptive cross sectional study was done over four years from July 2006 on children with GHD followed up at the University Paediatric Unit of the Lady Ridgeway Hospital (LRH), Colombo. The self-administered, culturally validated Personality Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ) was given to children above 8 years of age. By considering seven personality dimensions, the PAQ assesses whether a child is psychologically maladjusted. A score  89 indicates such maladjustment. The parents were given the self-administered General Health Questionnaire-30 (GHQ-30). A score  4 is indicative of mental health difficulties in the respondent. Results Forty of 56 children with GHD were > 8 years of age and there were 33 boys. According to the PAQ, 24 children (60%: 19 boys) appeared to be psychologically maladjusted. Of the 74 parents (47 mothers) who answered the GHQ-30, forty (54%) were deemed to have mental health difficulties, a majority of them being mothers. Conclusions Psychological maladjustment was observed in a majority of children in the study and most of their mothers were seen to have mental health difficulties.