The Behavioural and Emotional Wellbeing of four year olds before and after the Canterbury earthquakes: A pre and post disaster study of changes in the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in preschoolers.

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On September 4 2010 Canterbury experienced an earthquake of magnitude 7.1. Since this time there have been over 7500 aftershocks, with this period including the devastating earthquake of February 22 2011, and June 13 magnitude 6.2 quake. Exposure to large-scale natural disasters is associated with enduring mental health problems in children and adolescents with the most frequent post disaster stress reactions including depression, anxiety, complicated grief and, at the pathological extreme, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) . The B4 School check is the final Well Child Check. It is offered to all children in New Zealand when they turn 4 years of age. The B4 School Check comprises 9 health screens: Child Health, Dental, Growth, Immunisation, Parental Evaluation of Development (PEDS), Strengths and Difficulties (SDQ) Parent & Teacher, and Vision and Hearing testing. The B4 school check was introduced in mid 2008 and has been offered since this time. Data from this has been collated in the National B4 school check data base since commencement of the check. This time period incorporates the period before September 2010, and data has continued to be collected since this time including across the Canterbury region since the earthquakes. The primary aim of this study is to use the already collected National database information to provide a global community measure of emotional and behavioural wellbeing in Canterbury 4 year olds before, during and after the 2010/2011 earthquakes. This will be measured by changes in the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) total score and impact scores over time.

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