Screening for neuropsychomotor and social-emotional development in children under 24 months of age in the Brazilian semi-arid region

Abstract

Objective: To screen children under 24 months of age for neuropsychomotor and social-emotional development in a municipality of the Brazilian semi-arid region, using the Survey of Well-Being of Young Children (SWYC) scale. Methods: This is a quantitative cross-sectional study with a nonprobabilistic sample, involving children aged 1 to 24 months and their respective mothers, recruited from primary care services in the municipality of Picos, Piauí, Northeastern Brazil. The screening for neuropsychomotor and social-emotional development using the SWYC scale also provided information about the family context. In addition, we administered a questionnaire to assess the children's demographic and socioeconomic factors. Descriptive data analysis was performed. Results: The sample consisted mostly of adult mothers (84.0%), with more than 8 years of schooling (83.3%), belonging to the C, D, and E socioeconomic classes (75.3%). The prevalence of suspected cases of delayed neuropsychomotor development and social-emotional changes was 12.7 and 42.2%, respectively. Conclusions: The results point to the existence of children at risk of delayed development, particularly in the social-emotional domain, reaffirming the need to adopt child development screening as a health service routine, with the implementation of appropriate intervention programs.