Oyugi Beatrice A, Onyango Silas O, Athiany Henry, Kikuvi Gideon M
Department of Environmental Health and Disease Control, School of Public Health, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya.
Department of Human Development, Division of Early Childhood Development, Africa Population and Health Research Center, Nairobi, Kenya.
J Public Health Afr. 2025 May 21;16(1):822. doi: 10.4102/jphia.v16i1.822. eCollection 2025.
Most children from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are at risk of poor development. Poor developmental outcomes are associated with later poor schooling and labour outcomes. Previous literature has documented a range of factors that influence children's development. However, these factors are not well established in rural settings.
The current study aims at assessing the determinants of developmental outcomes among children under 3 years.
Siaya County, Kenya.
A cross-sectional study of children under 3 years and their caregivers, attending Child Welfare Clinic (CWC) at tier 3 health facilities in a rural setting in Kenya, was conducted. A total of 149 children were randomly selected to participate in the study and had their development assessed using the third version of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3). We assessed the association between ASQ-3 scores and environmental, cultural and individual-level factors in crude and adjusted linear regression models.
Being married and being employed showed the strongest positive associations with child development while earning less than $100.00 per month has a negative association with children's development for individual-level factors. In addition, exposing children to opportunities for early learning had a greater effect on the child's outcomes. Also, responsive caregiving showed higher scores for children's developmental outcomes.
The study suggests a positive association between child development outcomes and caregivers' socio-demographic characteristics. There is also an association between responsive caregiver-child interactions and child development outcomes. Programmes that create an enabling environment for caregivers to provide a stimulating environment for their children may help children to thrive, improving their development outcomes.
This study contributes to the body of knowledge on the important roles of caregivers in enhancing their children's optimal development.
大多数低收入和中等收入国家（LMICs）的儿童面临发育不良的风险。发育不良的结果与后期学业不佳和劳动成果不佳有关。以往文献记录了一系列影响儿童发育的因素。然而，这些因素在农村地区尚未得到充分证实。
本研究旨在评估3岁以下儿童发育结果的决定因素。
肯尼亚锡亚亚县。
对肯尼亚农村地区三级卫生设施的儿童福利诊所（CWC）就诊的3岁以下儿童及其照料者进行了一项横断面研究。总共随机选择了149名儿童参与研究，并使用第三版年龄与发育阶段问卷（ASQ-3）对他们的发育情况进行评估。我们在简单和调整后的线性回归模型中评估了ASQ-3得分与环境、文化和个体层面因素之间的关联。
就个体层面因素而言，已婚和就业与儿童发育呈现出最强的正相关，而月收入低于100美元与儿童发育呈负相关。此外，让儿童有机会接受早期学习对儿童的发育结果有更大影响。同样，积极回应式的照料在儿童发育结果方面得分更高。
该研究表明儿童发育结果与照料者的社会人口学特征之间存在正相关。积极回应式的照料者与儿童互动和儿童发育结果之间也存在关联。为照料者创造有利环境以便为其子女提供刺激性环境的项目可能有助于儿童茁壮成长，改善他们的发育结果。
本研究为照料者在促进子女最佳发育方面的重要作用这一知识体系做出了贡献。
