Assessment of Mother-Child (0 - 36 Months) Interaction, and Its Association with Socio-Emotional Development in Rural Area of Wardha District

Abstract

BACKGROUND Infancy is a significant period in a human being s development.1 Adverse parenting practices can have negative impacts in the context of complete dependence and vulnerability of a child. Physical and psychological development of the child is also influenced by the relationship between the mother and the child. The purpose of the study was to assess the interaction and its association with socio-emotional development between mother and child in rural areas. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted in a rural area of Wardha district among 160 mother-child participants using Observation of Mother-Child Interaction (OMCI) and Profile of Socio-Emotional Development (PSED) tools for accessing mother-child interaction and socio emotional development of child. The sampling was done by complete enumeration sampling method. Written inform consent was taken from participants. Descriptive analysis was carried out in order to evaluate the measures of the collected result. RESULTS It is evident from this study that there is no statistically significant finding in motherchild interaction with socio emotional development i.e., P-value 0.081, and mother score having mean (SD) i.e., 22.99 (± 5.38), child score having mean (SD) i.e., 13.19 (± 3.84), total mother-child score having mean (SD) i.e., 18.03 (± 6.70) and total PSED score having mean (SD) i.e., 15.63 (± 6.15). CONCLUSIONS This study concludes that large responsive care ratings were related to enhance socio-emotional growth and responsive care with higher levels of maternal education as well as socioeconomic status. It can be further stated that inclusion of responsive care in child health interventions could have a valuable impact on child socioemotional development. KEY WORDS Mother-Child Interaction, OMCI, PSED, Socio Emotional Development