The Orphans of Eritrea: Are Orphanages Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?

Abstract


Objective: This study compared the mental health and cognitive development of 9- to 12-year-old Eritrean war orphans living in two orphanages that differed qualitatively in patterns of staff interaction and styles of child care management. Method: The directors and several child care workers at each institution were asked to complete staff organization and child management questionnaires. The psychological state of 40 orphans at each institution was evaluated by comparing their behavioral symptoms and performance on cognitive measures. Results: Orphans who lived in a setting where the entire staff participated in decisions affecting the children, and where the children were encouraged to become self-reliant through personal interactions with staff members, showed significantly fewer behavioral symptoms of emotional distress than orphans who lived in a setting where the director made decisions, daily routines were determined by explicit rules and schedules, and interactions between staff members and the children were impersonal. Conclusions: When orphanages are the only means of survival for war orphans, a group setting where the staff shares in the responsibilities of child management, is sensitive to the individuality of the children, and establishes stable personal ties with the children serves the emotional needs and psychological development of the orphans more effectively than a group setting that attempts to create a secure environment through an authoritative style of management with explicit rules and well-defined schedules.



Peter H. Wolff Gebremeskel Fesseha | source: The American Journal of Psychiatry 240 |
Categories: Psychology Sociology Care


Other articles

Who will cry for orphans? A review article on orphans’ mental health

Background: Being an orphan is a miserable feeling for children when they don’t have their family with them and to survive…

Read more

Do Orphans And Vulnerable Children Have A Future? A Critical Analysis of Community-Based Social Protection Systems in Kenya

Globally, widespread increase of adversities such as chronic poverty and Hiv/Aids have increased the number of orphans and…

Read more

A systematic review on the relationship between childhood exposure to external cause parental death, including suicide, on subsequent suicidal behaviour

Background: Exposure to parental death in childhood has been associated with offspring suicide risk, although the strength…

Read more

Emerging health disparities in Botswana: Examining the situation of orphans during the AIDS epidemic

Botswana has the second highest HIV prevalence rate and highest rate of orphanhood in the world. Although child mortality…

Read more