The efficacy of an early prevention program facilitated by occupational therapists: a follow-up study.

OBJECTIVE This study examined the long-term effect of an early prevention program on mothers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices with regard to their children's development. The prevention program focused on increasing the mothers' sensitivity to their children's needs and their awareness of the importance of their role in their children's early development. METHOD Fifty-five mothers and their infants received approximately .5 hours of intervention once every 8 weeks during the infants' first year of life. A control group of 54 mothers and their infants did not receive the intervention. Subjects' knowledge of their children's sensory, motor, and language abilities; their beliefs in their ability to influence their children's development; and an indication of whether they implemented their knowledge were all measured with the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices Questionnaire (KAP) 1.5 years to 2 years after completion of the prevention program. RESULTS KAP scores of the intervention group were higher than the scores of the control group, suggesting that the prevention program helped mothers acquire greater knowledge and more appropriate attitudes and practices about child development. CONCLUSION This study supports the theory that the effect of a primary prevention program during the first year of a child's life can be sustained for 1 year to 2 years.