Beliefs of parents of children with mental disorders in a university hospital out-patient clinic in Colombia

Objective: Describe the beliefs of parents about the mental disorders of their children who attended a paediatric outpatient clinic at a university hospital. Methods: This was a descriptive study with parents of children with mental disorders seen from January to May of 2018 at a high complexity hospital in Medellin, Colombia. Ninety-eight (98) parents of children and adolescents attending their first outpatient consultation with Paediatric Psychiatry were studied. An instrument designed by the investigators was applied to obtain demographic variables and beliefs about the origin of their child's mental disorder, treatment and adjuvants. Results: 49.9% of the 98 parents believed that their child had a mental disorder. 43.9% believed the disorder was inherited and 41.8% believed its cause was organic. 95.9% of the parents believed the child needed treatment, including psychotherapy (90.4%) and medication (58.51%). Among the alternative treatments the parents believed the child needed, healing was the most commonly cited by 27.5% of the parents. Of the adjuvant methods, the most commonly cited were reinforcing positive behaviour (82.7%) and correcting with words and setting a good example (72.4%). Conclusions: Nearly half of the parents believed their child had a mental disorder, the treatment that was most commonly considered was psychotherapy above medication, and the best adjuvant methods cited by parents were reinforcing positive behaviour, correcting with words and setting a good example.