Group psychotherapy program at the pediatric clinic in clinical medical centre Rijeka (Croatia)

Abstract

Emotional disorders have become one of the leading causes of impaired functioning, in both adults and children. The lack of psychotherapeutic treatments for the children with emotional and health problems has far-reaching consequences. Only the timely intervention during childhood, focused both on children and parents, can make a difference in the prevention of disorders and the maintenance of health in adulthood. In the last 7 years, the care for children and adolescents mental health at the Paediatric Clinic in Clinical Medical Centre Rijeka has been furtherly improved by the daily hospital treatment that encourages a multidisciplinary approach, and is managed by a child psychiatrist. The main goal of the program is to strengthen the children’s and parents’ capacities to adapt to everyday life. With the aim of monitoring the efficiency of the treatment, the conducting of psychological testing started at the beginning and at the end of the psychotherapy process in several groups of preadolescents with variety of health and emotional issues. We used Anxiety and Depression Scale for Children and Adolescents (SKAD-62, SDD), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Paediatric Quality of Life Questionnaire (PQ-LES-Q). The measurement comparison speaks in favour of the reduction of obsessive compulsive symptoms, general and separation anxiety and the increase in the satisfaction with school functioning. The obtained data indicate that this psychotherapeutic treatment shows some positive developments. Conducting further evaluations presents a certain challenge because often, those changes in children observed during the process, are not always possible to identify by standard test material.