BEHAVIORAL-PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH ENURESIS AMONG SAUDI PRIMARY-SCHOOL CHILDREN

Objectives: This study aimed at evaluating the psychological problems associated with enuresis among primary school children. Design: This i s a community-based case-control study. The main tool used for data co llection was a self-administered behavioral problem check list. A 2-st age random sampling technique was used to select pupils, Setting: Twel ve primary schools for boys and girls in Makkah Al-Mukarramah were ran domly selected for the study. Subjects: The study population comprised primary school children of both genders aged 6-16 years, This populat ion has been targeted as it has the highest risk of enuresis. Results: Another part of this study has shown a prevalence of enuresis to be 1 6.3% among boys and 13.8% among girls, with an overall prevalence of 1 5%. In this part results have shown that enuretic children are more pr one to develop behavioral problems in the form of irritability and agg ression. Non-Saudi parents of enuretics are more likely to observe a p sychological influence on their children compared to Saudis. Parents o f enuretics also reported that enuresis did disturb the family and the child psychology, and it had increased parents' worries and concerns. Conclusions: The importance of enuresis and its associated psychologi cal problems has been affirmed in primary health care.