| dc.description.abstract | Background: Mental health disorders in children occur frequently but unfortunately little attention has been paid in this area in Kenya and Africa as whole. Public awareness of this disorder is particularly poor in this country and therefore the possibility of having many children suffering a great deal is very high. Minimal research has been done locally on the prevalence rates of the disorder.
Objective: To determine the prevalence rate of AttentionDeficit Hyperactivity Disorder and the patterns of the subtypes among primary school children in 8tarehe district, Nairobi
Method: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study, with a total of 400 participants in lower classes i.e. STD 1-3 of Starehe division in Nairobi province, Kenya. Multi stages sampling involving simple and systematic random sampling were used to attain the required sample size.
Two study instruments namely: social demographic questionnaire and teacher/parent Disruptive Behavior Disorder (DBD) rating scales were used. Once filled the collected forms were kept safely. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. Finally the results were presented in form of tables, pie charts, and bar graphs '
Results:
Seventy one (17.8%) of the children had ADHD symptoms, predominately hyperactive-impulsivity was the most common affecting 47 (11.8%), followed by ADHD combined subtype 13(3.3%) and predominately inattentive 11 (2.8%) respectively. The gender of the child had a significant relationship with ADHD diagnosis (p=O.039). The male child was three times more affected in all the subtype than the female. Marital status of the parent was significantly associated with ADHD (p=O.001). It was further revealed that ADHD was associated the physical injuries of the child (p=O.017) and poor academic performance (p=O.002) | en_US |
