Nagaria Tapesh D, Shukla Samarth, Acharya Sourya, Acharya Neema, Shinde Raju K
Department of Surgery, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Datta Meghe Institute of Higher Education and Research, Wardha, Maharashtra, India.
Department of Pathology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Datta Meghe Institute of Higher Education and Research, Wardha, Maharashtra, India.
J Family Med Prim Care. 2024 Oct;13(10):4444-4450. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1419_23. Epub 2024 Oct 18.
Developmental milestones are easily identifiable events during a child's development, and their thorough monitoring is of utmost importance till 6 years of age. Rural mothers are rarely explained these milestones, which may be a reason for the higher prevalence of developmental disorders in rural areas (≊18%). This study aimed to assess the knowledge of developmental milestones in rural mothers attending a rural, tertiary care hospital and further provides intelligence to the mothers on the same. These measures will aid toward the early detection of developmental milestone anomalies.
PNC mothers in the obstetric ward and mothers attending the pediatric outpatient department and inpatient department were selected for the study and assessed for their knowledge of childhood milestones with the help of a short questionnaire based on the Denver II Developmental Scale in three languages. Based on the feedback from mothers, the appropriate counseling was given.
The questionnaire was assessed based on four basic domains, fine motor skills (23.33% responded correctly), personal and social skills (51.66% responded correctly), language skills (41.66% responded correctly), and gross motor skills (41.25% responded correctly). Upon later feedback, 33.33% reported a suspected developmental delay in their child.
This study indicates a very low maternal awareness of pediatric milestones in rural areas, and considering the high prevalence of developmental delays in these areas, across the world, education of mothers is a necessary and a very effective method for early diagnosis. Formulation of a framework to address this issue on the part of the authorities and healthcare professionals is an effective solution for this underreported and important issue.
发育里程碑是儿童发育过程中易于识别的事件，在6岁之前对其进行全面监测至关重要。农村地区的母亲很少了解这些发育里程碑，这可能是农村地区发育障碍患病率较高（约18%）的一个原因。本研究旨在评估在一家农村三级护理医院就诊的农村母亲对发育里程碑的了解情况，并进一步为母亲们提供相关知识。这些措施将有助于早期发现发育里程碑异常情况。
选择产科病房的产后护理母亲以及儿科门诊和住院部的母亲参与研究，并借助一份基于丹佛发育筛查量表第二版的三种语言的简短问卷，评估她们对儿童发育里程碑的了解情况。根据母亲们的反馈，给予适当的咨询指导。
问卷基于四个基本领域进行评估，精细运动技能（23.33%回答正确）、个人和社交技能（51.66%回答正确）、语言技能（41.66%回答正确）以及大运动技能（41.25%回答正确）。在后续反馈中，33.33%的母亲报告怀疑自己的孩子有发育迟缓问题。
本研究表明农村地区母亲对儿童发育里程碑的认知水平非常低，鉴于这些地区发育迟缓的高患病率，在全球范围内，对母亲进行教育是早期诊断的必要且非常有效的方法。当局和医疗保健专业人员制定解决这一问题的框架是解决这个未得到充分报道的重要问题的有效办法。
