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Teachers’ Recognition of Children’s Mental Health Problems
Author(s) -
Loades Maria E.,
Mastroyannopoulou Kiki
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
child and adolescent mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1475-3588
pISSN - 1475-357X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-3588.2009.00551.x
Subject(s) - vignette , psychology , mental health , perception , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , social psychology , neuroscience
Background: Teachers have a significant role to play in identifying children with mental health problems. However, teachers’ perceptions of children’s mental health problems are relatively unexplored. Method: Primary school teachers ( N = 113) completed a questionnaire, composed of vignettes describing children with symptoms of a common emotional disorder and a common behavioural disorder, following which they were asked a number of questions regarding problem recognition and help‐seeking. Results: Teachers were able to recognise the existence of a problem and rate its severity. They were significantly more concerned about a vignette of a child with symptoms of a behavioural disorder than an emotional disorder. The gender of the child was found to independently predict teachers’ accurately recognising when a child had a problem. Conclusion: Teachers are good at recognising whether a child presents with a problem. However, their problem recognition is affected by both the gender of the child and the type of symptomatology being displayed (emotional versus behavioural).