| Summary: | The aim of this quantitative study is to describe the prevalence of mental health problems within the group of children and adolescents who receive support from two in home care units within the social services of Rinkeby-Kista and Södermalm stadsdelsförvaltning in Stockholm. Another purpose is to examine whether socioeconomic background and/or gender are associated with the prevalence of poor mental health, or mental health problems of a specific kind, in the studied population. Mental health is measured with the SDQ, a behavioral screening questionnaire that is widely used in Sweden and internationally. The study is based on data collected by the two units, which routinely screen children and adolescents with the SDQ. The main results of this study indicate that mental health problems are common in the studied population. The proportion of the children and adolescents who are found to be at risk of developing mental health problems that amount to a psychiatric diagnosis is twice as large as in a community sample. Very few statistically significant associations were found between the variables gender or socioeconomic background and mental health. We have analyzed the results of this study with Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory.
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