title: Reporting questionnaire for children as a screening instrument for child mental health problems in Iraqi Kurdistan.
abstract: To identify child mental health problems in a mid-sized to large city in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Reporting Questionnaire for Children (RQC), followed by the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and the Post-traumatic Stress Symptom Checklist for Children (PTSS-C), were administered in interview form to the caregivers of 806 school-aged children. To cover different categories of children, four samples were randomly selected from among the general population (n = 201), orphans (n = 241), primary medical care patients (n = 199), and hospital patients (n = 165). The RQC revealed satisfactory validity against a deviant CBCL cut-off. The screening capacity of the RQC was further supported by its similarity to the CBCL in distribution of problem scores among the four samples and its positive correlation with the CBCL, but not with the trauma-related PTSS-C. Although the general population showed lower problem scores than the orphans and the two clinical samples, problem scores in all instruments were considerably higher than those reported from other societies. The RQC seems to be useful as a first-stage screening instrument for child mental health problems in Kurdistan.
authors: Department of Child Mental Health at the College of Medicine of the University of Dohuk, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. abdulbaghi.ahmad@bupinst.uu.se
authors: Abdulbaghi
authors: A
authors: Ahmad
authors: Anas M
authors: AM
authors: Abdul-Majeed
authors: Aras A
authors: AA
authors: Siddiq
authors: Fatima
authors: F
authors: Jabar
authors: Jabar
authors: J
authors: Qahar
authors: Jihan
authors: J
authors: Rasheed
authors: Anne-Liis
authors: AL
authors: von Knorring
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007493:Iraq / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D015995:Prevalence; D012372:ROC Curve; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires