The organisation of a national survey for evaluating child psychomotor development in Argentina

Abstract

A total of 211 selected paediatricians were invited to participate in a national survey designed to evaluate the age of attainment of developmental milestones in children aged 0-5 years. Following a pilot study and a cascade training design, 61.1% of the paediatricians successfully completed the data collection on 139 developmental items. In the pilot study, there were more missing (not performed) items in children over one year of age, thus confirming the impression that paediatricians are more familiar with evaluating development in infants. However, in the age range 1-5 years, there were significantly fewer missing items in the gross motor area than in the other areas. Following a training programme and data editing and cleaning, a final sample of 3573 healthy, normal children was obtained. The impact of the training process was significant, in the sense that 3.5% of the items in children older than one year were not performed by the paediatricians before training, but this percentage was reduced to 1.9% after training (P < 0.01). The sample formed 0.11% of the national population less than 6 years of age and included a sex ratio of 1.01 compared with a national ratio of 1.02. There were no significant differences in the geographical distribution of the sample in comparison with that of the national population. The social composition, assessed by maternal education level, was biased towards a better education level than the national population. Mean Z-scores for height and weight were not significantly different from zero, when calculated on the basis of the national growth standards. In addition to successfully obtaining a representative sample for the analysis of the age of attainment of developmental milestones in Argentinian children, the survey also accomplished an educational objective in the training of paediatricians in developmental paediatrics.

Desarrollo psicomotoriz infantil y su relación con las características sociodemográficas y de estimulación familiar en niños de la ciudad de Bariloche, Argentina

“…El perfil de desarrollo a nivel nacional se obtuvo a partir de una muestra con un sesgo hacia nivel de educación materno superior, comparado con los valores nacionales, 25 con lo cual puede considerarse una meta que sería deseable que todos los niños argentinos alcanzaran. Si se comparan nuestros resultados con los de nivel nacional, el porcentaje de niños que fracasó la PRUNAPE fue similar.…”

Child psychomotor development and its relationship with socio-demographic and family stimulation factors in children from Bariloche, Argentina

“…The national developmental profile was obtained based on a sample biased towards a higher education level of the mother in comparison with national values; 25 therefore, it can be considered a desirable goal for all Argentine children. Comparing our results with national ones, the percentage of children who failed the PRUNAPE was similar.…”

“…For the assessment of development, 25 fine and gross motor skills, personal-social, and language milestones were applied using the National Screening Test (Prueba Nacional de Pesquisa, PRUNAPE by its acronyn in spanish ) for children aged 35-37 months old. 16 Milestone assessments were implemented by trained personnel and in accordance with the instructions of the PRUNAPE Technical Brochure.…”

Evaluación del desarrollo psicomotor del niño en grupos de población como indicador positivo de salud

“…Indicador positivo A los fines del uso del desarrollo como indicador positivo, los encuestadores fueron capacitados para evaluar el cumplimiento de 13 ítems de desarrollo, seleccionados del grupo total de 79 ítems disponibles en la referencia nacional (RN) 11,12 (la edad mediana de cumplimiento en días, entre paréntesis): sonrisa social (33 días), busca con la mirada a la madre (142), sostén cefálico (33), busca un objeto (226), prensión con la pinza superior (277), camina solo (376), control de esfínteres diurno (767), combina palabras (693), frase completa (829), reconoce tres colores (1209), camina con talón-punta (1318), copia una cruz (1340), dibuja una persona con 6 partes (1534). A excepción de los tres últimos ítems, que son preguntas a los padres, el resto son pruebas por cumplir.…”