Evaluating the Social Anxiety Depression Levels and Accompanying Psychosocial Problems in Children Diagnosed with Enuresis

Introduction: This study was conducted to evaluate the accompanying psychosocial problems in enuresis as well as the social anxiety-depression levels in children diagnosed with enuresis. Methods: This descriptive study investigating depression and social anxiety levels of children diagnosed with enuresis was carried out with 167 children who were followed up for at least six months following their enuresis diagnosis. All participating children had no other physical or mental illnesses and were aged five years or older. Data were collected using three measurement tools and evaluated using descriptive, correlational analyzes. Results: In this study, 69.4% of the children diagnosed with enuresis were aged 7-12 years. 38.3% of their parents used “reward”, while 37.1% preferred “punishment” as a method for toilet training their children. The children’s depression and social anxiety mean scores were 21.48±7.29 and 54.58±8.84, respectively. A strong positive correlation was found between the children’s mean depression and social anxiety scores (r=0.677, p<0.001). The median depression scores of children were found to be statistically significantly different according to the children’s type of family, night sleep characteristics, type of enuresis, school success, and family life (p<0.05). Those with fragmented families (p=0.049), who did not sleep deeply at night (p=0.031), who slept for about 5-7 hours a day (p<0.01), and those whose school success was negatively affected by enuresis (p=0.021) and those who were exposed to negative family life (p=0.034) all obtained statistically significantly higher median depression scores. Conclusion: Children with enuresis had low depression and moderate social anxiety and their depression increased as their social anxiety increased. The children experienced psychosocial difficulties due to enuresis. When treating children with enuresis, it is necessary to consider both the affected child and their families through the adoption of a holistic approach, and also to evaluate the children both physically and psychosocially.