| dc.description.abstract | Past studies have shown that infants who underwent surgery in the neonatal period because of major congenital anomalies, often show mental and psychomotor developmental delays in later life. Furthermore, less optimal parent-child interaction among these families have been found. The purpose of this pilot study was to gain a first insight in behavior problems, developmental delays and parent-child interaction in non-cardiac surgery requiring CA infants as a group, and outcomes and implications will be considered in the set up of a longitudinal research in the Wilhelmina Children Hospital (WCH) in Utrecht. The current study investigated parents of 36 toddlers (M = 43.6 months, SD = 11.0), who underwent surgery in the WCH in Utrecht because of major non-cardiac congenital anomalies. Being part of the non-cardiac CA group, infants with developmental intrusive syndromes were included. Parents completed questionnaires through which developmental delays (Ages and Stages Questionnaire), behavior problems (Child Behavior Checklist) and parent-child interaction (Nijmeegse Ouderlijke Stress Index) were measured. Results were compared to the tests’ normative groups, except for developmental delays (percentages were given). Contrary to prior research, significantly less behavior problems and better parent-child interaction were found. In addition, non-optimal parent-child interaction was found to be predictive for developmental delays. Lastly, analyses were run for the non-syndromic infants solely and similar outcomes on behavior problems and parent-child interaction were found. Despite the fact that comparison between non-syndromic children and the whole group of participants on developmental delays was not tested for significance, developmental delays were found to be noticeable lower in the non-syndromic children. | |
