Prevalence of Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Japanese Children’s Homes

Eiji Ozawa,Kayo Takahashi,Susumu Harizuka

doi:10.4236/psych.2018.95056

Eiji Ozawa, Kayo Takahashi + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2018.95056

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Journal: Psychology	Publication Date: Jan 1, 2018
Citations: 4	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: IS practice, Kagoshima University

Abstract

This study examined the prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders among children receiving residential care in Japanese children’s homes (CHs). The data on 7854 children aged 18 years or younger were collected using a questionnaire for psychotherapists worked at 174 CHs in all regions of Japan. That included items of diagnostic state and experience of maltreatment. The prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders was 24% in CHs. The most common type in CHs was intellectual disabilities (11.9%), and the next most was autism spectrum disorder (6.1%). Logistic regression models revealed the children with experience of maltreatment had high risk of autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and specific learning disorder. These findings implied differential pattern from previous studies of Western countries.

Highlights

To establish an effective child protection and care system is an important task for all nations
The goal of this study was to clarify the prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders, especially focused on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Specific Learning Disorders (SLD), and Intellectual Disabilities (ID) that estimated common among children in Japanese children’s homes (CHs)
We focused on the experience of child maltreatment prior to the placement as the factor related to diagnoses of neurodevelopmental disorders

Summary

Introduction

To establish an effective child protection and care system is an important task for all nations. Almost 46,000 children are in out-of-home care, and of those, 27,828 are in children’s homes (CHs) as of the end of March 2015. CH is a residential institution for out-of-home care children, and admitted more than 60% of out-of-home. In Western countries, residential institution in child care system is mainly used for children with mental health problems or other special needs rather than foster care and adoption (Barth, 2005; Courtney, Dolev, & Gillian, 2009). In Japan, contrary to this, CHs are selected as primary care form and generally used even with less-troubled children

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