Journal of Clinical Physiotherapy Research

Abstract

Introduction: Premature infants are susceptible to different types of developmental disability in future. Therefore, the home environment, toys & educational materials should support and improve their developmental status. The aim of this study was to investigate the home affordances of 3-18 months infants, who were born premature, and compare their motor performance with infants who were born mature at the same age span. Material and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the home affordances of 90 infants were conducted (50 premature and 40 mature infants). The means gestational age of premature infants was 31.1±27.3 weeks. Affordance in the Home Environment for Motor Development-Infant Scale (AHEMD-IS) was used to evaluate home environments of them. For data analysis the Mann-Whitney U was used. Result: There was a significant difference between premature and mature infants in using fine motor toys (P=0.03). This means that a less fine motor toys were provided for premature infants. Other environmental possibilities (variety of stimuli (P=0.70), physical environment (P=0.72), gross motor toys (P=0.10), and total test score of AHEMD-IS (P=0.19) showed no statistically significant difference between two groups of infants. Conclusion: according to the findings, adequacy of affordances in the home environment of premature infants in comparison to their mature peers were poor, while premature infants need enriched home environments.