Iran Journal of Nursing

  Background & Aim: Every year, thousands of children admitting in Foster Care Centres, because of several reasons. Most children live in foster care centers, as a results of neglect, physical abuse, parental substance abuse, divorce and social-economic poverty. In addition, living in Foster Care Centres cause a lot of health behavioral problems in the children. With regard to this issue, mental health status of 7-11 years old children living in foster care centres in Tehran was assessed.

  Material & Method: We performed a cross-sectional study with 105 children (57 boy, 48girl) liring in the centers. In this research, the sampling method was census. The required information about children's mental health was obtained by interview of the Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL) from guardians who recognized these children on the basis of their behaviors.

  Results: The result showed that the frequency of behavioral problems in these children were as follows: Delinquent (%44.8), externalizing (%40), internalizing (%40), social problems (%13.3) and aggression (%11.4). Furthermore, the obtained total scores of questionnaire showed that more than %28 of these children had mental health problems. Chi-square test showed that there were significant relationships between attentional problems and mental health with gender.

  Conclusion: On the basis of these findings and the results of other studies, paying full attention, assessment and further studies on high risk groups of children were recommended.