title: Assessment of the psychological status of children with growth hormone deficiency and their parents.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Children with growth hormone deficiency may have psychological ramifications due to their disease condition. Having a child with growth hormone deficiency may affect the parents' psychological health.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the psychological health of children with GHD and their parents.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive cross sectional study was done over four years from July 2006 on children with growth hormone deficiency. 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 > or = 89 indicates such maladjustment. The parents were given the self-administered General Health Questionnaire-30 (GHQ-30). A score > or = 4 is indicative of mental health difficulties in the respondent.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fourty of 56 children with GHD were more than 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 were mothers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Psychological maladjustment was observed in a majority of children in the study and most of their mothers had mental health difficulties.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. shamyadesilva@hotmail.com
authors.forename: K S H
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: de Silva
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: de Zoysa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D013315:Stress, Psychological