Child mental health and service needs in Iraq: beliefs and attitudes of primary school teachers

Objective: To survey Iraqi primary school teachers' beliefs and attitudes about mental health and behavioural problems of children.

Methods: From 10 primary schools in Baghdad, 148 teachers were surveyed using a closed-response questionnaire to assess beliefs and attitudes regarding students' mental health and behavioural problems, needs, resources and limitations to teaching.

Results: Disruptive behaviours were rated as main problems by the largest proportions of teachers. In-service training on 'identifying students with social, emotional, or behavioural problems' and 'effective behaviour management' was rated very important by 70% of teachers. Most teachers received no training on mental health during their teaching career. There was low reported availability of a wide range of school-based mental health resources.

Conclusions: Teachers in Iraq report substantial mental health and behavioural problems in primary school children and identify high unmet need for school-based mental health programmes and training.