14/11/2008 - Submitted by: Tilia Bousios

The International Conference sponsored by the European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ESCAP) and organised jointly together with the Hungarian Association for Child Neurology and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry  will take place in Budapest, Hungary between 22-26 August 2009. The main theme of the conference will be the improvement of the quality of life for children. As we all know, psychiatric disorders are those that – besides the sociocultural conditions and effects of organic diseases – can influence the quality of life for children and young people in the most negative way. The human rights of children and young people with mental illness and/or learning disabilities must be taken seriously.

Every intervention that evaluates mental conditions and contexts, or makes an effort to improve mental health, simultaneously brings about changes in the quality of life. Defining the concept of quality of life is both a considerable task and challenge. This task includes the necessity to devise and develop a range of instruments that can allow us to both examine, evaluate and compare the quality of life of children and adolescents across different countries. This would be putting into practice the improvement of human rights in the day to lives of these children. It is essential to know which preventive and therapeutic interventions have the greatest positive effect on the quality of life in the field of psychiatric, neurological and other diseases prevalent in children and young people. Therefore, we very much hope all colleagues working in the field of Child and Adolescent Mental Health will wish to participate in this exciting Conference.

This will include all those undertaking research on the origins, frequency, onset, course of and risk factors of psychiatric disorders and learning disabilities in children and young people. Those involved in infant mental health and early prevention projects. Those who work in the fields of pharmacological, psychosocial, cognitive and family interventions. We particularly welcome experts working in the field of health policy, education and social care and welfare, as we know many factors including mental health and wellbeing impact on the quality of life, including the mental health and wellbeing impact of children and young people.