Conhecimentos e práticas de mães e pais sobre o desenvolvimento de crianças na primeiríssima infância

Abstract

Introduction: Sensitive and responsive mothers and fathers contribute to the healthy development of their children and this care has been recommended as one of the structuring axes for the promotion of global development in early childhood. Despite this, there are still few studies that evaluate the knowledge and practices of mothers and fathers regarding child development. Objective: To analyze mothers' and fathers' knowledge about child development and their care practices for very young children. Method: Cross-sectional study conducted in two daycare centers in the suburbs of Salvador-BA from July to November 2022. All mothers and fathers of children aged two to three years old were invited to participate in the interview. The data collection form included socioeconomic and health aspects, childcare practices, and 20 questions from the KIDI-Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory. The data were organized in Excel spreadsheet and analyzed by Stata 14.1 software. The results were described by absolute and relative frequency. Pearson's chisquare test and Kruskal Wallis test were used to compare the knowledge, practices, and mean scores of mothers and fathers on the KIDI, with 5% significance level. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the School of Nursing of the Federal University of Bahia and by the Municipal Secretary of Education of Salvador. All participants signed the Informed Consent Form and all ethical aspects were respected. Results: Eighty-three children participated in the study, 81 mothers and 49 fathers. The majority were black, evangelical, and high school education. Of the 20 KIDI questions, there was a significant difference in knowledge accuracy between mothers and fathers in seven of them. Only 41% of the mothers and 18% of the fathers had satisfactory knowledge about child development, with statistical significance (p<0.001). As for the care practices for promoting child development among mothers and fathers, the following were statistically significant: bathing, changing clothes or diapers (p=0.001), taking to school (p=0.030), taking to church/cults (p=0.001), taking to the doctor (p<0.001), and giving medicine (p=0.006). Conclusions: Mothers showed higher accuracy and level of knowledge about child development when compared to fathers. Practices related to the care of basic and health needs for the promotion of child development was also more frequent among mothers. These results can support the clinical practice of health professionals in interventions focused on parental care for child development considering the promotion of child’s integral health during early childhood.