Detection of childhood developmental disorders, behavioral disorders, and depression in a post-earthquake setting

Background Disasters, including earthquakes, may strike abruptly without warning. Children may develop psychological damage resulting from experiencing an overwhelmingly traumatic event. They may feel very frightened during a disaster and demonstrate emotional and behavioral problems afterwards.Objective To evaluate the presence of developmental disorders, behavioral disorders, and depression in children after the earthquake at Padang and Pariaman on September 30th, 2009. Methods This was a crossXsectional study using the developmental pre screening questionnaire (KPSP), Pediatric Symptoms Checklist-17 (PSC-17), and Child Depression Inventory (CDI) in children after the Padang and Pariaman earthquake (September 30th, 2009), in Sungai Limau and Sungai Geringging District, Pariaman Region, West Sumatera. Our study was conducted October 15th to November 28th, 2009. Results There were 172 children screened using the KPSP. Forty-two (25%) children scored 7X8 (reason for concern), 18 (10%) children scored <7 (suspected to have a developmental disorder), and the remainder scored as developmentally appropriate. Behavioral disorder screening was perfonned in 339 children using the PSCX 17. Internalizing disorder alone was suspected in 58 (17%) children, externalizing disorder alone in 26 (7.7%), and attentionXdefidt disorder alone in 5 (1.5%). Eight (2.4%) children were suspected to have both internalizing and attentionXdefidt disorders, 4 (1.2%) children externalizing and attentionXdefidt disorders, 22 (6.5%) children internalizing and externalizing disorders, and 15 (4.4%) children all three disorders. From 4 9 children who underwent depression screening using CDI, 15 (30.6%) children were suspected to have depression. Conclusion After the Padang and Pariaman earthquake, we found 10% of subjects screened were suspected of having a developmental disorder. The most connnonbehavioral disorder found was internalizing disorder. Possible depression was found in 30.6% of children surveyed. Traumatized children are at risk for developing post traumatic stress disorder.