Findings From A Specialized Child Psychiatry Unit For Care of Refugee Children in Istanbul

Objective: Turkey is the leading refugee hosting country in the world by hosting more than 3,5 million people whom almost half of them are children under age 18. We aimed to investigate psychiatric disorders that seen among kids applied to 'Migrant Children Outpatient Treatment Unit' of Marmara University Pendik Training and Research Hospital which is speacilized to provide psychiatric care for refugee children. Method: We investigated follow up files of 41 children applied to 'Migrant Child Outpatient Treatment Unit' between May 2017 to November 2017 retrospectively. Socio-demographical data and diagnoses of children according to DSM-5 classification system were analyzed. Results: Of the 41 children 16 (30,3 %) were girl and 25 (69,7 %) were boy. The average age and time after resettlement were 9.4+4 years and 30.2+15 months respectively. Seventy five percent of parents stated that a person close to them has died, while 87.9 % reported that their children have witnessed to clashes during war. 45 % children stated to have seen a dead or injured person in Syria. Of the children 13 (31.7 %) were diagnosed with anxiety disorders, 13 (31.7 %) with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, 10 (24.4 %) with major depressive disorder, 9 (22.0 %) with post-traumatic stress disorder, 8 with (19.5 %) speech disorders, 7 (17.1 %) with enuresis and 4 (9.8 %) with autism spectrum di-sorder. Discussion: Our findings indicating that refugee children suffer from a wide range of psychiatric disorders which may deteriorate their social and academical functionality and entegration to the new culture years after ressetlement

The Opinions Of Adults About The Ban On Cigarette Sales To Minors

Background Selling of tobacco products to minors has been banned since 1996 by the tobacco control law in Turkey. However, it is also important for the public to support practices that prevent the access of tobacco products to minors. In addition, every individual has the responsibility of carrying out society based programs that restrict access to tobacco products especially to children and the youths. Social sensitivity is considered an important factor in the prevention of tobacco use. This study aims to learn about the opinions and attitudes of adults with regards to minors access to tobacco products. Methods The study was a descriptive study conducted in nine city centers in Turkey. The total number of participants reached was 3241. The questionnaire was developed by the research team and consisted of 22 questions concerning knowledge and behaviors of adults on restriction of tobacco sales to minors and their observations with regards tobacco sales to minors. Data was collected through face to face interview. Pearson chi-square test was used for the bivariate analysis whereas logistic regression was investigate the relationship between “the participant’s response against tobacco sales to minors” and the following explanatory variables; “age”, “educational status”, “income level”, “working status”, “minors access to cigarettes”, “smoking ratio in high school” and “sales of tobacco to minors”. Results More than half of the participants (60.5%) belonged to the age group 25–44 years, 61.3% graduated from high school or university. Most of the participants were smoker (39.2%) or ex-smoker (19.1%), and 41.7% of the participants was non-smoker. A greater proportion of the participants (76.2%) believed that smoking prevalence was greater than 40% among high school students. One in four (27.8%) adults did not know that tobacco control law bans sell of tobacco products to minors in Turkey. More than half of the participants (57.1%) ever witnessed tobacco sales to minors and 63.6% of them did not act when confronted with the event. Almost all (96.8%) of the respondents thought that access of minors to tobacco products was not difficult. The results of logistic regression of participant’s response against tobacco sales to minor and related factors for current smokers showed that respondents who believed smoking ratio in high school was 4–5 adolescent out of 10 (aOR: 1.59; 95% CI: 1.09–2.34) were more likely to give a warning or informing the police or other people as compared to respondents whose perception on the smoking ratio among high school students was 6–7 adolescents out of 10. The results of logistic regression of non-smokers’ response against tobacco sales to minor were who are from higher educational level, higher economic status, working status and who believed smoking ratio in high school was 4–5 adolescent out of 10 and 2–3 adolescent out of 10 were more likely to give a warning or informing the police or other people as compared to the others. Conclusions Although laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to the under age group is very important with regards to accessibility of minors to tobacco products, most of the study participants believed that minors can still easily access tobacco products, and more than half of the participants did not act when confronted with the event. The education, information and monitoring program most especially as it concerns salesman, should be reviewed and strengthened to obey the rules on sales of tobacco products to minors. Education program should be carried out to increase the knowledge and awareness of the community for sale of tobacco to minors. Social sensitivity is important for the prevention of tobacco use and every individual have a responsibility in carrying out this society based program, most especially as it related to prevention of tobacco usage among children and youths.PubMedWoSScopu