Psychological Aspects and Coping Strategies Among Children of Baal Sudhar Griha, Morang

Background: Child development incorporates physical growth as well as intellectual, language, emotional and social development. During Juvenile home stay they are unable to fulfill their need and requirements of children over the duration of sentences, so many children are compromising their childhood as well as mental health. Assessment of psychological aspects and coping strategies of the children to identify their mental health and their measures to cope or overcome ups and down, also to identify the root causes of offending behavior and measures to prevent such behavior. Assessment of psychological aspects and ability to cope among children of Baal Sudhar Griha, Morang was the objective. Methods: Descriptive cross sectional study was adopted. At present 152 children residing at Baal Sudhar Griha of Morang were included by population enumerate sampling method. To assess socio-demographic variables semi-constructed structured questionnaire was used. To assess psychological aspects and coping strategies DASS-21 and Brief Cope was used. Descriptive and Inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Results: Most of the children (46%) were facing severe form of psychological challenges like stress, anxiety, depression .Similarly majority (67.1%) of the respondents were found to have emotion focused coping strategies used by the children of Baal Sudhar Griha. Conclusion: Study result reveals that majority of the children were facing severe form of stress, anxiety and depression. Around half of children used emotion focused coping strategies to cope such psychological distress in their day today life.


INTRODUCTION
Childhood is the most important and delicate period of human life, requiring love, affection, play, a welcoming environment, and equitable development opportunities from parent, guardian, peer, school, community, state, and even the worldwide level.¹.According to Section 2(a) of the Children's Act, 2048 (1992), a "child" in Nepal is "a minor who has not reached the age of sixteen."Despite the fact that the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), 1989, of which Nepal is a member state due to ratification on September 14, 1990, appears to have defined "child" as "every human being under the age of eighteen years." The juvenile justice system is a specialized system created to provide justice to juvenile criminals known as juvenile delinquents or, in a more liberal expression, "children in conflict with the law" these days.The optimal development of children is considered vital to society, so the juvenile justice system attempts to understand their social, cognitive, emotional, and educational development as they progress through various stages of development, namely (i) neonate or newborn (birth to 1 month), (ii) infant (1month to 1 year), (iii) toddler (1-3 years), (iv) play age or pre-puberty age, also known as pre-school and school aged stage (3-years), and (v) adolescent .The study of various developmental perspectives in a child's life aids in identifying the cause of delinquency and recommending the best way to address delinquency.The system examines different social, cultural, and socioeconomic factors that influence children's minds and behaviours as they grow from the prenatal stage to adolescence and until the age of majority. 1Psychological Assessment is an evaluation of a person's mental health, social standing, and community functional capacity.A Psychological to get a picture of a person's mental health, an evaluation will encompass all facets of his or her life.Common questions include asking a client to identify his or her stressors, symptoms, and whether the client has suicidal or violent ideas.
Coping strategies might be thought of as "survival skills."They are coping mechanisms that people employ to deal with the stresses, pain, and natural changes that we all face in life.Coping mechanisms are behavioural patterns that are learned and used to cope.Coping is defined as an individual's attempt to control demands that are deemed to exceed or tax his resources (Carr, 2013).Healthy Coping mechanisms promote self-care, self-awareness, and healthy relationships.Unhealthy coping mechanisms may provide momentary relief, but they often result in negative consequences such as increased distress, physical harm, strained relationships, and worsening mental health.According to Endler and Parker  (1990), there are three fundamental coping styles: task-oriented, emotion-oriented, and avoidanceoriented.The tactics adopted by inmates to cope with the prison environment are likely to have an impact on their psychological adjustment. 5 the jail environment, some coping methods are more beneficial and vital than others.The efficiency of coping styles is heavily dependent on the situation (Frenk, Joop, Liesbeth, & Wilco 2007).Coping scales or measurements that are focused on gauging coping methods for specific situations or stresses have been proven to be more valid and reliable (Daniels and Harris, 2005; Lazarus and Folkman,1984). 6at is why children are given particular human rights to safeguard them during their minority, in addition to the fundamental general human rights provided by the constitution to all citizens, including adults, despite the fact that some of these rights, such as the freedom to marry or vote, are not guaranteed to them.Continue to be contingent until they reach the age of majority. 7search on this sensitive area is also one of the helpful duties to advocate the need for a distinct specialized system known as the juvenile justice system, which can efficiently handle issues relating to juveniles who may be or are in confrontation with the law.This study is conducted for the assessment of psychological aspects and ability to cope among children of Baal Sudhar Griha and to evaluate the association between psychological aspects and coping mechanisms among children of Baal Sudhar Griha and also to discover the relationship between psychological characteristics and chosen sociodemographic factors among children of Baal Sudhar Griha, Morang, Nepal.
To discover the relationship between coping mechanisms and chosen socio-demographic factors among children of Baal Sudhar Griha, Morang.

METHODS
The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional research and was conducted in the Baal Sudhar Griha, Morang.All the children who were residing in Baal Sudhar Griha, Morang was included as the study population.The children who were admitted to the Baal Sudhar Griha, Morang and meeting the selection criteria were the sample of the study.Population Enumerate sampling technique was adopted.In this study, total population present at the time of data collection was taken as research sample.Researcher has adopted Population enumeration technique.As per the present status there are total 152 numbers of male children for their completion of sentence in the Baal Sudhar Griha, Morang.So the total samples were 152 delinquent children.
Children in between age 12-18 years of age.Those children giving assent.Those who were available Psychological Aspects and Coping Strategies among Children of Baal Sudhar... during the period of data collection was included in the study whereas Children with known mental illness were excluded from the study.
Semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain socio-demographic data; DASS-21 was used to measure psychological aspects similarly Brief cope scale from COPE Inventory by Carver, C. S. (1997) was used to measure coping strategies.The tool was converted to Nepali language.It consists of three sections; first part Demographic profile containing demographic variables as Age, Religion, Parent's Occupation, educational status, type of crime, duration of sentenced, Age at Crime and Sentenced.In second part Psychological aspects, for this a standard tool i.e.DASS-21was used to assess common psychological conditions like Depression, Anxiety and Stress and last part consist of Brief Cope scale .
The Literature review was done to construct the socio-demographic and psychological aspects and coping strategies related valid tool by consulting different experts.Feasibility and practicability was ascertained by pretesting done in 10% of total sample.Data were collected only after the review of the thesis protocol by the Institutional review committee, BPKIHS and receiving ethical clearance, permission was taken from the Director of Baal Sudhar Griha, Morang .
The procedure and purpose of the study was explained and the participants were recruited on the basis of inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria.Those willing to participate and giving assent was enrolled in the study.The DASS-21 scale was used to collect the data for assessing psychological aspects and Brief cope scale was used for assessing coping strategies.Data were collected from 152 participants.It took 20-25 minutes for both scales to fill up the questionnaires related to psychological aspects and coping strategies.
After collection of data, the questionnaire was checked for completeness, organized, coded and filled format was handled with great care for further analysis.SPSS 11.5 Version was used for statistical analysis after data was loaded into Microsoft Excel 2010.Descriptive and Inferential analysis was done.

RESULTS
One hundred Fifty two children were enrolled in the study.Among which (73%) of respondents were age ≥17 Years and only (6.6%) were age group ≤14Years.The mean and standard deviation of respondent's age was 16.88 ± 1.38.The majority of respondents (70%) followed Hinduism.Most of the respondents (61.8%) had received secondary education and above.More than half of the respondent's Parents (63.2%) were involved in agriculture and only (10.5%) were involved in other occupation which includes Teacher, Army, Engineer, Driver and Labor.The study also shows that most of the respondent's parents (44.7%) were Illiterate.Similarly majority of respondents (55.3%) were accused by Rape followed by Murder (28.9%) and only (15.8%) were accused for other reason i.e.Theft, Human trafficking and drug abuse.More than half of the respondents (61.8%) had stayed ≤12 Month at Baal Sudhar Griha.The mean duration of stay Baal Sudhar Griha was 16.03 ± 14.57.Around (32.9%) of respondents were ≥17 Years of age at the time of sentenced.
Almost half of the respondents (43.1%) were in between 15-16 Years of age when they performed the Crime.Likewise (38.8%) of respondents had severe stress followed by (25%) had moderate stress.Similarly (60.5%) of respondents had severe Anxiety followed by (23%) had Moderate.In the same way (38.2%) of respondents had severe depression followed by (34.2%) had Moderate Depression.However only (15%) of the respondents were not facing any kind of psychological challenges.Likewise (46%) of the respondents reported severe level of psychological challenges i.e.Depression, Anxiety and Stress.While (27%) of the respondents reported moderate level of psychological challenges, (12%) of them reported mild level of psychological challenges.The majority (73%) of the participants were experienced moderate to severe level of psychological challenges.In this study Majority of respondents (67.1%) used Emotion focused Coping followed by (19.7%)Problem focused Coping and only (13.2%) of the respondents used Avoidant Coping strategies in Baal Sudhar Griha.In addition to this the types of emotion Focused coping used by children in Baal Sudhar Griha were seeking Emotional support, Venting, Self-blaming, Humor, Acceptance, Religion Acceptance.

DISCUSSION
All of the respondents in this study were male, which is identical to the study conducted by Elizabeth P. et al.where all of the respondents were male juvenile offenders.As Baal Sudhar Griha of Morang is the only place to keep male juvenile offenders for security purpose as well as space limitation is another reason for it.Likewise study done by Gullone E. et.al also support this findings. 12

CONCLUSION
According to the findings of this survey, the majority of youngsters (70%) are dealing with severe psychological issues such as stress, anxiety, and depression.Emotion-focused coping methods were employed by more than half of the youngsters (67.1%).Coping techniques were found to be substantially related to depression.Anxiety and despair were substantially related to the type of crime.Similarly, the occupation of the parent was substantially related to the coping mechanisms used.

LIMITATION
Since children are less likely to share their Psychological aspects and coping strategies, thus some might not have disclosed information out of shame.Small sample may not be appropriate to generalize the result.Mixed age group may have interfere the result.

Table 1 . Association Between Psychological Aspects and Coping Strategies (n=152)
Values are expressed in number and percentage.Chi-square test (Linear by Linear) was used to find out the association.

Table 2 : Association between Stress and Selected variables (n=152)
Values are expressed in number and percentage.Chi-square test (Pearson's) was used to find out the association.

Psychological Aspects and Coping Strategies among Children of Baal Sudhar...Table 3 . Association between Anxiety and Selected Variables (n=152)
Values are expressed in number and percentage.Chi-square test (Pearson's) was used to find out the association.

Psychological Aspects and Coping Strategies among Children of Baal Sudhar... conducted
The study finding reveals that depression is significantly associated with coping.A study done by Konaszewki K.et.al supports this finding as it concludes mental well being was significantly associated with coping.Similarly another study 11 by Jacob J. et al. supports this finding as it concludes high negative correlation between psychosocial problem and coping strategies.This study reveals that Type of crime were significantly associated Anxiety and depression.In the same way it also suggests that parent's occupation was associated with coping strategies adopted by children at Baal Sudhar Griha.While a study conducted by Bose C. et al. does not confirm these findings, it does reveal a link between time spent in jail, sentence duration, and psychological well-being and coping mechanisms.Similarly, another study conducted by Hayat I. did not confirm this finding, concluding that age was substantially connected with psychological well-being.