Objectives: Emotional, functional and psychological balance of the parents towards their children during disaster is related to children's psychopathological symptomatology. This study aims to identify the association between types of parental PTSD symptoms and children's PTSD symptoms affected by 2015 earthquake in Nepal.
Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out in Kathmandu district fifteen months after the 2015 earthquake. Multi-stage cluster sampling was used to collect 800 earthquake-affected children of age 7-16 years and their parents. Face-to-face structured interview with Children PTSD Symptoms Scale (CPSS), Impact Event Scale (IES) and Family Assessment Device (FAD) were done. Logistic regression was done to identify the association between parental and children PTSD symptoms.
Results: Of all 800 children, 28.9% had both parents without any symptoms of PTSD, 36.6% had mother, and 3.6% had father with PTSD symptoms whereas 12.2% had single parent without PTSD symptoms. Children having both parents with PTSD symptoms were almost 7 times [95% Confidence Interval, CI = 4.21, 10.75], children having mother with PTSD symptoms were 2.6 times [95% CI = 1.16, 5.64] and those with father having PTSD symptoms were 3.85 times [95% CI = 2.65, 5.58] more likely to have severe PTSD symptoms, compared to those without any parental PTSD.
Conclusion: Consideration and assessment of maternal, paternal and both parents PTSD symptoms were quite prominent required an intervention for children stress reactions or PTSD symptoms. Role of father in children's stress reaction cannot be ignored.