Journal article

Symptoms of anxiety and depression in adolescent students; a perspective from Sri Lanka.

Chaturaka Rodrigo, Srina Welgama, Jayantha Gurusinghe, Thilina Wijeratne, Gamini Jayananda, Senaka Rajapakse

Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health | Published : 2010

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Sri Lanka recorded an extraordinary high suicide rate for adolescents aged 15 - 19 in the early 1990s (46.5/100,000). With this in perspective, the Ministry of Health in Sri Lanka recommends school programmes for adolescents by mental health units of local hospitals. METHODS: We conducted cross sectional surveys to screen for symptoms of anxiety and depression among students aged 14 - 18 during school mental health programmes. Two schools were randomly selected within the Ratnapura municipality (urban population of approx. 50,000), Sri Lanka and all students aged 14-18 were assessed with self administered (pre tested, Sinhalese translations) questionnaires [Center for epidemiolog..

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University of Melbourne Researchers