ISSN: 2319-5835
Psychosocial Well-being of the Orphan Children Staying in Institutionalized Homes of Imphal, Manipur
Corresponding Author: Zenia Thangjam, NCERT Research Fellow, Department of Anthropology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong-793022, India. E-mail: zenia.thangjam@gmail.com
KEYWORDS Psychosocial well-being, orphan boys, orphan girls, SDQ, clinical problems
ABSTRACT
Objective: This study aims to assess the psychosocial health of orphan children staying in institutionalized homes.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 341 (176 boys and 165 girls) orphan children aged 5 to 15 years. The participants were selected using the total enumerative sampling technique. The strength and difficulties questionnaire (Goodman, 1997) was used to evaluate the psychosocial health problems.
Result: The findings revealed that the orphan boys were in a more stable psychosocial state than the orphan girls. It showed differences in the total difficulties score of psychosocial well-being of orphan girls (94.55%) and orphan boys (100%). No orphan boys were at risk, while 4.24% of the orphan girls were at high risk of having clinical problems. Moreover, it was also found that there were significant differences in emotional symptom scores and prosocial behaviour scores (p<0.001). Overall, orphan girls were more exposed to emotional issues, hyperactivity, peer problems, and prosocial behavioural problems than orphan boys.
Conclusion: The emotional and prosocial behaviour score of the strength and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) showed significant differences between orphan boys and girls, yet no significant differences were observed in the total difficulties score. The analysis of the study revealed that the orphan children under investigation, especially girls, were predominantly vulnerable to psychosocial distress.
Zenia Thangjam
CERT Research Fellow, Department of Anthropology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong-793022, India.
Frontier Anthropology, 2021, 10: 27-32
©Anthropological Society of Manipur
Original Article
Manuscript Timeline
Submitted: July 30, 2021
Accepted: November 22, 2021
Published: December 14, 2021