Khawaja M, Barazi R, Linos N
Center for Research on Population and Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
Child Care Health Dev. 2007 Mar;33(2):117-25. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2214.2006.00660.x.
The negative effect of poverty on child health has been well established. However, rapid urbanization in developing countries prompts new research questions relating to socio-cultural practices and other related variables in these settings.
To examine the association between maternal cultural participation and child health status in impoverished neighbourhoods of Beirut, Lebanon.
A cross-sectional survey of 1241 mothers with children aged less than 5 years was conducted from randomly selected households in three impoverished neighbourhoods of diverse ethnic and religious make-up. The outcome variable was child health status (good/bad) as assessed by the mother. Maternal variables, including cultural participation, education, demographic and environmental/structural factors, were studied. Descriptive statistics and bivariate associations were provided using Pearson's chi-square tests. Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios were then obtained from binary logistic regression models.
Two indicators of maternal cultural participation, namely watching entertaining television and attending movies/art exhibitions, were found to be significantly associated with child health status after controlling for other risk factors. The quality of water, the quality of local health services and maternal education were also significantly associated with child health status. Household income, child gender and household dampness had no significant association with child health status in this context.
Maternal cultural participation was a significant predictor of child health status in impoverished urban communities. Improving child health through culturally focused interventions for mothers, especially in deprived areas, may be greatly important.
贫困对儿童健康的负面影响已得到充分证实。然而，发展中国家的快速城市化引发了与这些环境中的社会文化习俗及其他相关变量有关的新研究问题。
研究黎巴嫩贝鲁特贫困社区中母亲的文化参与度与儿童健康状况之间的关联。
对来自三个不同种族和宗教构成的贫困社区中随机抽取的家庭里1241名有5岁以下子女的母亲进行了横断面调查。结果变量是母亲评估的儿童健康状况（良好/不佳）。研究了母亲的变量，包括文化参与度、教育程度、人口统计学以及环境/结构因素。使用Pearson卡方检验提供描述性统计和双变量关联。然后从二元逻辑回归模型中获得未调整和调整后的比值比。
在控制其他风险因素后，发现母亲文化参与度的两个指标，即观看娱乐电视和参加电影/艺术展览，与儿童健康状况显著相关。水的质量、当地卫生服务的质量以及母亲的教育程度也与儿童健康状况显著相关。在这种情况下，家庭收入、儿童性别和家庭潮湿程度与儿童健康状况无显著关联。
母亲的文化参与度是贫困城市社区儿童健康状况的一个重要预测因素。通过针对母亲的文化聚焦干预措施改善儿童健康，尤其是在贫困地区，可能非常重要。
