RESUMO
A total of 72 cases who attended the Child Guidance clinic at the Bustamante Children Hospital between the six months period of September 1998 and February 1999 were investigated in a retrospective study, using their case notes. The age of cases ranged from 3 years to 17 years with the mean age of 8.8 and most frequent age group being 6 to 10 years (58.3 percent). More cases were males (52.4 percent) and most of them came from St. Catherine. The majority of cases (48.6 percent) were attending Primary school and most of them were referred by other hospitals (36.6 percent) and private clinics (21.1 percent). The mothers were the most frequent informants (64.8 percent) who were living with the children more often than fathers (59.7 percent vs 12.3 percent). The most common presenting problem was aggressiveness (43.1 percent) where as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disease (ADHD) was diagnosed most often (20.8 percent). The majority of children were born of unplanned pregnancies (71.4 percent of recorded cases). Only 30 cases had both parents living in the same household. 19.4 percent of cases were abused, among which sexual abuse was the most common form. Out of 26 cases recorded for psychosocial stressors, witnessing violence (22.2 percent) was the most common stessor and exposure to gunmen accounted for (6.9 percent) of these cases. Over half 53.7 percent of the cases recorded were separated from fathers. Fathers were also the ones who did not support nor contact their children much, whereas mothers tend to support and contact their children more regularly when not living together. Most of these findings showed and suggested the need of children to be attached and receive the love, care affection and attention from both parents, their mothers and also their fathers (AU)
