Desenvolvimento motor de crianças de zero a 12 meses de idade: influência da institucionalização

Abstract

Aims: To evaluate the motor development of children from zero to 12 months old, checking if the time of institutionalization interferes in the child?s motor abillities. Methods: This is a descriptive and observational cross-sectional study in a foster care institution in the city of Caxias do Sul with 11 children. The following scales were used for this study: Alberta Infant Motor Scale, Affordances in the Environment for Motor Devolopment and Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory, as well as a questionnaire addressing the biological factors of children. Descriptive statistics were used. Results: We evaluated 11 babies in ages between zero and 12 months, and five (45.4%) of them presented normal performance, two (18.2%) indicated suspicion of delay and four (36.4) presented motor delay. The percentile according to corrected age presented a mean of 26.00 (+26.15), which is still considered a low average for the motor performance of babies. Considering the children's performance, there was a moderate non-significant and inverse correlation between the percentile and the time of institution, indicating the longer the institutionalization time, the worse the children's motor performance. (r = 0.44; p = 0.166). Regarding the institutional environment, it has been observed that the babies spent most of the time in a crib or comfort baby, being little stimulated. Caregivers' knowledge was assessed through the Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory questionnaire, showing knowledge with an average of 66.45%. Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrated that institutionalization time can negatively influence children's motor performance. However, the small sample size may have influenced the results, interfering with the knowledge of the risk factors involved in the observed motor delays.(sic)