3.1 Defining Child Mental Health

WHO (2014) defines mental wellness as the state wellness whereby an individual has the potential to exploit their abilities, as well as dealing with stress resulting in maximum productivity from the individual. Child mental health, can, therefore, be defined as the capacity to develop a complete well-being and development of a child. The development areas considered under child mental health include the emotional, behavioral, social and the cognitive domains, which are the very important strata in the well-being of a child. According to Beyer et al. (2012), the ability of a child to maintain the continuity of behavioral and emotional development are the factors used to assess the development and the well-being of a child.

Kieling et al. (2011) established that mental health is one of the leading causes of health-related disabilities and other long-lasting effects throughout the life of an individual. For this reason, it is necessary to note that good health is a prerequisite for the optimal growth and development of a child, which consequently results in the development of positive social relationships, learning, self-care, optimal physical health, and participation in economic activities. Child mental health enhancement is achieved by through reducing and eliminating risk elements and by offering protective services against such factors. Fazel et al. (2012) report that the prevention elimination of the risk factors contributes to their mitigation. many of them overcoming them. Such rRisk factors like discrimination and stigmatization should need to be eliminated as children have proved to be less resilient to such harmful elements.

Mental Health problems assessment is conducted by engaging the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). The application of this techniques gives a revelation of the continuity of internalized psychological symptoms, as well as creating a baseline that can be used to define the internal and the external symptoms as well as following up on the mental health situations (Diler et al., 2009). For instance, the use of CBCL shows cases of severe psychopathology and Hhealth control issues in children. With such a technique, it becomes possible to identify the risk factors, which will consequently give room for the development of protective factors.

3.2. Epidemiology and Related Statistics

Despite the huge effects whichthat mental health have on the quality of life for lead by children and adolescents, it remains as one of the areas which receives little attention. Child and adolescents mental health sector hasve also remained fragmented to the extent that young people find it hard to access the particular mental care they need. Past statistical analysis has documented varying levels of overall prevalence of mental health issues. For instance, a report published before the 2005 World Health Organization meeting indicated an estimate of 20% child and adolescents to have mental disorders. Mental health problems are a growing health concern, and this section seeks to provide an overview of the prevalence rate of mental health conditions in England.

Mental health condition 2007 (%) 2014 (%)

GAD 4.4 5.9

Depression 2.3 3.3

Phobias 1.4 2.4

OCD 1.1 1.3

Panic disorder 1.1 0.6

CMD-NOS 9.0 7.8

Source: Mental Health Foundation, 2016.

According to statistics from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (2014), 37 % of individual aged between16-74 are suffering from conditions like anxiety or depression and are accessing mental health treatment. This findings mark an increment from the statistics collected in 2007. Statistics indicate that women are almost twice more likely to be affected by anxiety disorder as compared to men. According to the APMS (2014), it can be deduced that the 6.8 % of women were affected by general anxiety disorder as compared to 4.9 % of men who were affected by the same condition. Generally, it was observed that an estimated 17 % of adults surveyed in England showed the symptoms of common mental disorder. The facts deduced from the statistics above can be used to partly give an indication of mental health situation among children and adolescents. Kessler et al. (2010) affirms that childhood adversities can be associated with family functioning and factors like parental illness, which happen to be reliable indicators of mental disorders.

According to the Mental Health Foundation (2015), 10 % of children and adolescents aged between 5-16 years have been identified to suffer from clinical mental health problems which are diagnosable. However, 70 % of these groups of children are yet to receive appropriate medical interventions for these conditions at an early age. Demonstrably, this is indicative of the gap which exist between the demand for mental health services and the provision of those services. The study further established the distribution of mental health issues among children and adolescents as follows:. 4 % of the mental health problems comprised of emotional problems which related to depression and anxiety,

6 % comprised of mental health issues relating to self-conduct issues,

2 % of the cases reported indicated symptoms for hyperkinetic problems and,

1 % accounted for the less common mental problems including selective social anxiety, autism, eating disorders and tic disorder.

Mental Health Foundation (2015) established that the England hospital statistics collected in 2014 reported 41,921 instances of self-harm cases among young people aged between 10 to 24. These rates are indicative of a high number of children and youths with mental health issues. These rates also indicate that an increase in prevalence rate of young people suffering from mental health conditions from the rates recorded in 2007-2008. Ford et al. (2003) also established that 10 % of children in England were likely to record at least one form of DSM-IV disorder relating to distress and social impairment. Organizations have It is established that most of these recorded mental health conditions were not detected in time due to lack of information or the failure to follow up on the functioning of the children at school. For instance, the Public Health England (PHE) (2016) indicate that more than 110, 000 children in London are suffering from significant mental illness. However, a large percentage of these children do not have access to mental health services with only 25 % of the children receiving treatment for the mental ill health.

PHE'sThe report also established that approximately 40,000 children suffered from anxiety while another 10,000 experienced desolation. 68, 000 children were found out to show self-conduct disorder whichdisorder, which involves severe behavioral and emotional disorder. Statistics further indicated that 19,000 children were diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Such high cases of mental illness can be attributed to low life satisfaction. For instance, between 2014 and 2015, it was approximated that 16 % of teenagers reported low life satisfaction whichsatisfaction, which was considered to have heavily contributed to mental illness among this group of adolescents. According to the UK's Independent FactChecking Charity (2016), mental disorders were more prevalent in children including those from lone parent families, low-income families and those whose parents attained low educational qualifications.

3.3. Determinants of Health

There are many factors whichfactors that affect the provision of health services, and these factors are known as determinants of health. WHO (2017) asserts that these determinant factors come together to influence the status of individuals or the communities as a whole. The World Health Organization state that the health situation of a person or the community may not be of importance but rather the conditions and the environment that they are in that will ultimately determine our wellness levels meaning the surrounding in which an individual resided in playing a vital role in their health status. The condition of our environment, the genetics, income and education level, and the social relationships held with family and friends are been identified to have considerable impacts on the health status. Commonly considered determinant factors include:

Social and economic environment,

Physical environment, as well as

Personal behavior and characteristics.

The situations in which people live determines a lot about their health status. However, individuals hardly have power over these factors.

Dahlgren and Whitehead developed a diagram used to show various elements which brings about health inequalities in the society. According to the Dahlgren-Whitehead rainbow, the status of an individual's health is directly linked to the socioeconomic level at that particular level. The use of this theory has increased awareness that health issues can be determined by social factors affecting an individual. Disparities in social, economic, and environmental determines the risk of individuals getting health complications. This factors also determines their ability to prevent and treat mental issues and complications effectively.

In this theory, the individuals are placed at the center. They are then surrounded by various layers of the factors whichfactors that influence health. These factors include, the lifestyle of the individual, influence from the community, living and working conditions and other general factors. The use of this diagram to determine health issues relates to Joffe and Mindell's (2006) assertions which state that causal diagrams can incorporate several information in health care. Ideally, these causal diagrams facilitates the communication between experts and other fields. Using the information obtained from the diagram, the experts can confound the causal factors and establish reverse causation.

The use of this framework has enabled experts to construct several hypotheses about possible reasons for certain health care complications. Ideally, Dahlgren-Whiltehead diagram has become an effective illustrations used in determining the relative factors which affect different healthcare outcomes.

Social determinants

There are several factors in the social environment strata which to a large extent affect mental stability. For instance, having great support from family and friends has been linked to better health. Cultural practices, beliefs, and the community at large play a vital role in the health status of an individual and the entire community. Reiss (2013) alludes to 52 studies whichstudies that indicated a reverse relationship between the social situation of children and their mental health condition. The findings of the survey established that social factors play a fundamental role in the mental status of children. There are numerous social factors whichfactors that cause specific mental health problems. For example, a continuous cycle of deprivation has been attributed to mental instability among the children thus contributing to the high rates of mental illness among children and young adolescents.

The conditions in which we live can partly explain why some people live healthier lives than others. This is because the quality of schooling, cleanliness of the food we eat and the air as well as the safety of our workplaces vary and have been linked to determine the quality of life we live. WHO (2014) established that greater exposure to unfavorable social conditions ate a very tender age results in vulnerability and adverse effects and on the mental well-being of infants. Tracking and solving these social inequalities can be one effective way of reducing mental disorder cases and generally improving the health status of individuals. For example, mental health cases have been repor...