Effects of psychosocial stimulation on improving home environment and child-rearing practices: results from a community-based trial among severely malnourished children in Bangladesh

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of all children tested at the end of the study (N = 322)

	PS N = 59		FS N = 77		PS + FS N = 68		CC N = 59		CH N = 59
	Mean (SD)	95% CI	Mean (SD)	95% CI	Mean (SD)	95% CI	Mean (SD)	95% CI	Mean (SD)	95% CI
Household
Asset score¹	6.1 (2.1)	5.5, 6.6	6.2 (2.3)	5.7, 6.7	6.6 (2.3)	6.1, 7.2	6.3 (2.4)	6.0, 7.0	6.6 (2.5)	6.1, 7.2
Crowding index (person/room)	4.1 (1.3)	3.7, 4.6	4.6 (2)	4.3, 5.0	4.7 (1.6)	4.3, 5.1	4.6 (1.7)	4.2, 5.0	4.4 (1.5)	4.0, 4.8
Housing score²	14.0 (2.1)	13.4, 15.0	14.2 (2)	13.7, 14.6	14.2 (2.1)	13.7, 14.7	14.1 (2.2)	13.6, 14.7	14.2 (2.3)	13.6, 14.7
Parents characteristics
Mothers’ age	23.7 (4.5)	22.3, 25.2	23.4 (5.8)	22.2, 24.7	24.6 (6.5)	22.3, 25.2	24.4 (6.1)	23.0, 25.8	23.6 (4.8)	22.1, 25.0
Mothers’ BMI (enrolment)	19.5 (3.1)	18.7, 20.3	19.8 (3.3)	19.1, 20.5	19.2 (2.6)	18.4, 20.0	19.8 (3.2)	19.0, 20.5	19.6 (2.6)	18.8, 20.4
Mothers’ schooling (years)	3.6 (3.6)	2.7, 4.5	3.4 (3.3)	2.6, 4.2	3.1 (3.2)	2.3, 4.0	3.9 (3.8)	3.0, 4.8	4.0 (3.5)	3.1, 4.9
Fathers’ schooling (years)	3.9 (4.0)	2.8, 5.0	4.2 (4.0)	3.2, 5.1	4.7 (3.9)	3.7, 5.7	5.4 (4.8)	4.3, 6.4	5.0 (3.9)	3.9, 6.0
^a Mother unemployed (%)	86.4		82.0		82.4		80.0		76.3
^a Father with unstable job (%)	42.4		54.0		55.2		39.0		51.0
Maternal Depressive symptoms³ (total days of symptoms)	60.2 (22.4)	54.4, 66.0	58.0 (23.1)	53.0, 63.1	54.9 (20.1)	50.0, 60.4	62.6 (24.6)	57.0, 68.6	49.1 (22.9)	43.3, 55.0
Total HOME score ⁴	82.5 (6.7)	80.8, 84.1	80.0 (5.7)	78.6, 81.4	81.7 (6.3)	80.2, 83.3	82.7 (6.7)	81.0, 84.3	82.1 (5.7)	80.4, 83.7
Total child-rearing practices ⁵	25.7 (3.9)	24.8, 26.7	25.1 (3.4)	24.2, 25.9	26.4 (4.0)	25.5, 27.2	26.2 (3.2)	25.2, 27.2	25.7 (3.9)	24.7, 26.6

Analysis of Variance.
^a Chi-Square test.
Abbreviations: PS = psychosocial stimulation; FS = food supplementation; PS + FS = both psychosocial stimulation and food supplementation; CC = clinic control and CH = hospital control.
BMI: Body Mass Index (weight in kg/height in meter²), HOME: Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment.
¹ Score was calculated on the presence of 15 common household possessions with a score of ‘1’ for having any of these items and ‘0’ for not having and then summed.
² Condition of roof, floor and wall of the house, type of latrine and availability of water supply was rated and summed.
³ In relation to the modified version of Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Mother experiencing depressive symptoms in the past week and the number of days (0–7) was recorded and summed. A higher score indicated having more depressive symptoms.
⁴ Assessed through Betty Caldwell’s Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) inventory scale. Total score was obtained by summing all positive responses.
⁵Assessed through a questionnaire, the score was calculated by summing all positive responses.
No significant differences among the groups in the sample tested at the study end for any variables, except for maternal depressive symptoms (p = 0.01).

ISSN: 1471-2458