Mental health of both child and parents plays a larger role in the health-related quality of life of obese and overweight children

Child Mental Health in Brazilian Guidelines: A Normative Analysis

This article examines the evolution of the understanding of child mental health based on documents that guide nursing practise in Brazil. Eleven relevant documents were submitted to normative analysis, which revealed four themes: Developmental approach of the child mental health; Brazilian policies and social history of children; Spaces for prevention, promotion, and care in children's mental health; and The (in)visibility of nurses' work in the context of mental health. These are linked through ideological and social constructions that have although transformed through the years yet remained the same in their core. Based on our results, we propose adopting a decolonial perspective to compose nursing knowledge to improve child mental health in Brazil.

Investigation of quality of life in obese adolescents: the effect of psychiatric symptoms of obese adolescent and/or mother on quality of life

OBJECTIVES

The present study assessed the obese adolescents' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) based on both adolescent-reported and maternal-reported questionnaires to clarify adolescent-related psychiatric factors, maternal psychiatric factors, and body mass index (BMI) percentile variables that independently affect the quality of life (QoL).

METHODS

A total of 190 adolescents (120 females and 70 males) were included in the study. The impact of clinical and psychiatric factors on the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory-Child Version (PedsQL-C) scores was analyzed using hierarchical linear regression methods.

RESULTS

The final models showed that only the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale-Child Version major depressive disorder scores negatively predicted the physical, psychosocial, and total health scores of the PedsQL-C. The psychosocial scores of the PedsQL-P were negatively predicted by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire emotional, and Conners' Parent Rating Scale-Revised-Short Form (CPRS-R-S) attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) index scores. The PedsQL-P total scores were negatively predicted by the CPRS-R-S ADHD index scores.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of this study indicate that the adolescents' psychiatric symptoms and BMI percentile played a significant role in the PedsQL subscale functioning of obese adolescents compared to maternal psychiatric symptoms.

Health Behavior, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Mental Health Among Canadian Children: A Population-Based Cohort Study

Objective: Studies that have reported the associations of diet quality, physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior (SB), and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) with mental health among children and adolescents are predominantly cross-sectional in design. Very few studies have examined the longitudinal relationship of mental health with health behavior and HRQoL among children. This study aimed to investigate the associations of diet quality, PA, SB, and HRQoL among children with mental health disorders throughout childhood.

Methods: We linked data from grade five students aged primarily 10 and 11 years who participated in the Raising Healthy Eating and Active Living (REAL) Kids Alberta survey in 2012 in the Canadian province of Alberta with their administrative health care data from birth to 2012. Mental health outcomes included internalizing disorder and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) defined by the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) or Tenth Revision, Canadian version (ICD-10-CA). The HRQoL was measured by the EQ-5D-Y, a five-dimensional descriptive system for children and youth. We applied negative binomial regressions to examine the associations between health behaviors, HRQoL, and mental health.

Results: Of the 1,352 participating students, 12.31 and 8.32% had a diagnosis of internalizing disorders and ADHDs, respectively, during childhood from birth to the ages of 10–11 years. Students in the highest tertile for diet quality, relative to the lowest tertile, were 56% less likely to have diagnoses of internalizing disorders (incidence rate ratio, IRR = 0.44, 95% CI = 0.23–0.85). Students engaged in less PA (vs. more PA) were more likely to be diagnosed for internalizing disorders (IRR = 1.98, 95% CI = 1.19–3.30). Poorer diet quality, low PA, excessive use of computers/video games, and watching TV were significantly associated with more diagnoses of ADHDs. Children who experienced some or a lot of problems in “feeling worried, sad, or unhappy” and “having pain or discomfort” were more likely to receive diagnoses of internalizing disorders and ADHDs, respectively.

Conclusions: These observed associations suggest that health promotion programs targeting promoting diet quality, PA, and HRQoL and reducing SB among children may contribute to improving mental health.