Assessment of nutritional status, cognitive development, and mother-child interaction in Central American refugee children
Evaluación de estado nutricional, desarrollo cognoscitivo e interacción entre madre e hijo en niños refugiados centroamericanos
Rev. panam. salud pública; 6 (3), 1999
Publication year: 1999
A cross-sectional study was conducted between July and December 1992 to assess the nutritional status, cognitive development, and mother-child interactions in a group of 153 Nicaraguan refugee children living in Costa Rica. Nutritional status was assessed using anthropometric indices. Cognitive development was assessed with the Bayley Scale of Mental Development. Mother-child interaction was assessed with the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale and Caldwell's Home Observation and Measurement of the Environment Inventory. Correlational analysis was performed to examine the relationship between child cognitive development scores and mother-child interaction measures and also between anthropometric measures and child cognitive development scores. Multiple regression analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship between the mother-child interaction measures and cognitive development scores, after adjusting by anthropometric measures. Thirty-three percent of the children were below the 10th percentile for height-for-age. There was no significant correlation between the total amount of mother-child interaction and child cognitive development. However, certain aspects of the home environment correlated with cognitive development, specifically the manner in which the mother responded emotionally and verbally to her child, and the organization of the child's physical and temporal environment. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the manner in which the mother responded and the child's weight-for-height were important in predicting child congnitive development. The child's weight-for-height and certain aspects of the home environment played an important role in the congnitive development of this refugee population. The findings indicate the importance of assessing nutritional status in this refugee population
Entre julio y diciembre de 1992 se llevó a cabo un estudio transversal con el fin de
evaluar el estado nutricional, el desarrollo cognoscitivo y la interacción entre madres e hijos en un grupo de 153 niños refugiados nicaragüenses que vivían en Costa Rica. Se evaluó el estado nutricional según índices antropométricos. El desarrollo cognoscitivo se determinó mediante la Escala de Desarrollo Mental de Bayley.