An investigation of public primary school teachers’ perception of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (dmdd) among primary school children in abakaliki metropolis of ebonyi state, south east nigeria: Psychological implications on emotional nurturing.

Author: 
Beatrice Adanna Achilike

This study examined the prevalence of DMDD among primary school children in Abakaliki Metropolis of Ebonyi State, Nigeria and its attendant psychological implications on emotional nurturing. The study employed a qualitative survey research interview method. The population consists of 386 respondents. The researcher using purposive simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 188 respondents which comprised of primary school teachers with teaching experience ranging from 2-20 years. A semi-structured interview questions which was in line with the research objectives were used to elicit information from the respondents. The reliability of the instrument was ascertained through a test re-test method which yielded a reliability co-efficient result of 0.72. The data collected was analyzed using frequency and simple percentages. Findings showed that 9.57% of the primary school teachers agreed that they are aware the children that they teach exhibited DMDD symptoms with attendant psychological implications of poor self-esteem, depression, anxiety and mood swings. Study further revealed that caregivers are not aware of DMDD symptoms in children that they handle. The study recommended among others routine diagnosis of DMDD in primary school children in the study area.

Paper No: 
1230