PARENTAL PSYCHIATRIC-DISORDER - CLINICAL PREVALENCE AND EFFECTS ON DEFAULT FROM TREATMENT

In a retrospective case note study, 36% of 253 consecutive cases seen and treated at a community child and adolescent clinic had at least on e caretaker with a concurrent psychiatric disorder. The most common di agnosis in caretakers was depression (20% of the sample). Both, psychi atric disorder in general, and depression in particular, were signific antly related to default from treatment. The relevance of these result s to all aspects of child health care is discussed. It is concluded th at more research into the impact of parental psychiatric disorder on t he treatment of children across various clinical settings is needed.