Teachers' Needs for Mental Health of Elementary School Children

Brief Report

Psychiatry Investigation 2004;1(1):76-7.

Dong-Hyun Ahn, MD, PhD;Yun Young Kim, MA;He Jin Jang, MA; and Wha Yeon Kang, MD

Department of Psychiatry, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

<p class="MsoPlainText" style="word-spacing: 1; line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="left"><font face="HY중고딕" size="2">Teachers play an increasingly important role in identifying children at risk and providing mental health services to school children. We surveyed teachers'needs about mental health problems of primary school children. The teachers perceived 6.9% children in class as having some mental health problems, such as behavioral, emotional, or learning problems. More than 46.5% of the children having mental health problems were perceived by their teachers as needing services, but the teachers referred only 15.1% of children at risk to the mental health services. The most frequently perceived problems were poor concentration and short attention span (26.3%), poor relationship with other children (17.5%), and losing temper (13.9%). Although a large proportion of teachers reported their school children as needing mental health services, most of children at risk did not received assessment and treatment recommendation by their teachers.

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Key words Teacher;Children;Behavioral problems;Mental health service.