Parental knowledge and beliefs in relation to early child development: Perspectives from Tanzania
Item
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Title
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Parental knowledge and beliefs in relation to early child development: Perspectives from Tanzania
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:774d3458d067:11200
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identifier
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11468
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Creator
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Naqvi, Nilofer C.,
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Contributor
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Helen L. Johnson
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Date
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2012
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Educational psychology | Developmental psychology | Early childhood education | Child development | Developmental delay | Parent beliefs | Parent knowledge | Tanzania
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Abstract
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The study assessed mothers' knowledge and beliefs about child development and compared these results to their children's performance on a child outcome measure. It was conducted under the auspices of Save the Children , the non-profit agency. Data was gathered in both rural and urban areas of Tanzania, and included typically developing children, and children identified with developmental delays. The study also examined the relationship between the mothers' income and education levels and their knowledge and beliefs in respect to child development, the relationship between parenting style and self-efficacy beliefs, the development of the construct of self-efficacy in the Tanzanian context, and the effects of birth location and maternal age on child developmental outcome. Participants included 103 mothers and their children. Forty-nine resided in the urban location and 54 in the rural location. Parental knowledge and belief were assessed using the Health and Safety, Milestone and Parenting subscales from the Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory (MacPhee, 1981), the Maternal Self-Efficacy Scale (Teti & Gelfand, 1991), the Parenting Tasks Checklist (Sanders & Wooley, 2005), and the Parent Modernity Scale (Schaefer & Edgerton, 1985). Child developmental outcome was assessed using the Battelle Developmental Inventory Screening Test (Newborg, 2005). All measures were translated into Kiswahili and piloted on a small sample. Results indicated that a combined measure of parent beliefs was more reliable than results from the individual measures, however no relationship was found between scores on this combined measure and results on the child outcome measure. Significant differences were found in the scores of all the parent measures between mothers from urban versus rural areas of the country when controlling for other demographic variables. There was also a positive relationship between maternal education and scores on the combined belief measure. Item analyses on the measures highlighted parental beliefs about child-care and child development within the Tanzanian context. Findings from the study demonstrate the lack of intervention services for children with disabilities/developmental delays in rural areas of the country and highlighted the health and policy implications associated with this.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Educational Psychology
