The role of the home environment in neurocognitive development of children living in extreme poverty and with frequent illnesses: a cross-sectional study

Wellcome Open Research

article

Margaret Nampijja¹  Robert Kizindo¹  Barbara Apule¹  Swaib Lule¹  Lawrence Muhangi¹  Andrew Titman²  Alison Elliott¹  Katie Alcock²  Charlie Lewis² 

[1] Coinfections Programme, MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit;Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Fylde College LA1 4YF

关键词: home environment;    poverty;    health status;    child;    cognitive function;   

DOI  :  10.12688/wellcomeopenres.14702.1

学科分类：内科医学

来源: Wellcome

【 摘 要 】

Background: The home environment is reported to contribute significantly to children’s developing cognitive skills. However, it is not yet evident whether this role prevails in the context of extreme poverty and frequent ill-health. We therefore investigated the role of the home environment in Ugandan children taking into account the frequent infections and extreme poverty in which they lived.Methods: Cognitive abilities of 163 5-year-old children were assessed. Home environments of these children, their health status and family socioeconomic status (SES) were assessed respectively using the EC-HOME, anthropometry and illnesses, and traditional SES measures. Structural equation analyses compared five models on the influence of the home environment, SES, and child health on the cognitive scores.Results: The model in which the home environment mediates the combined influence of SES and child health on cognitive performance showed a particularly good fit to the data compared with the four alternative models, i.e. those in which the HOME, SES and health independently influence cognitive performance.Conclusions: Home environments providing cognitive stimulation can enable children to overcome effects of major adverse life experiences on cognitive development.

【 授权许可】

CC BY