Promoting child mental health: the Jamaican experience

Abstract

The growing acknowledgement of child mental health issues having links embedded in newlinethe child s immediate and wider environment have led to global initiatives to strengthen newlinefamilies Strengthening families to meet the challenges of raising children in a rapidly newlinechanging world through several initiatives with parents and families is being recognised newlineby researchers and practitioners as a strategy to promote child mental health It is largel y newlineaccepted that intervening for prevention is an effective strategy especially for developing newlinecountries plagued by conditions of high needs and limited resources newlineThis research was conducted in Jamaica where parenting contexts are characterised by newlinesingle parent female headed families absent fathers and at times absent parents due to newlinemigration The effects of these scenarios on children s mental health have been widely newlineresearched in Jamaica Resultant abuse crime and violence and a high incidence of newlineteenage pregnancy are being attributed to the emotional deprivation in this context To newlineaddress these needs several efforts including programmes and interventions have been newlineinitiated in Jamaica