Telephone Measurement of Child Development in the Dominican Republic during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Authors

  • Laura V. Sánchez-Vincitore Universidad Iberoamericana. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana
  • María Elena Valdez Instituto Nacional de Atención Integral a la Primera Infancia. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana
  • Angie Sabrina Jiménez Instituto Nacional de Atención Integral a la Primera Infancia. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana
  • Carlos B. Ruiz-Matuk Universidad Iberoamericana. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana
  • Arachu Castro Universidad de Tulane. Nueva Orleans, Estados Unidos
  • Daniel Cubilla-Bonnetier Universidad Iberoamericana. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana
  • María Angélica Alonso Pellerano Instituto Nacional de Atención Integral a la Primera Infancia. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana

Keywords:

child development, monitoring and evaluation, COVID-19.

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic affected the surveillance mechanisms of child development indicators. The National Institute of Comprehensive Early Childhood Care and the Iberoamerican University, in collaboration with Tulane University and financing from the United Nations Children's Fund, created a telephone monitoring system of child development for fathers and mothers. Objective: To check the feasibility of using telephone calls in monitoring child development during national crises to evaluate the reliability of the tool. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out from April to July 2021. The Child Development Checklist was used, for ages between 2 and 60 months, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The sample included 2024 Dominican children of both sexes. Results: The reliability of the tool was adequate after nine months. Children met between 74% and 87% of the indicators. The older the age group, the lower the score according to age. Two hundred ten cases requiring urgent assistance were identified and reported. Conclusions: This experience allowed the creation of monitoring systems that generated quality data in real time when there was no in-person access to the population of interest and the design of interventions that cushioned the negative effect of confinement on child development.

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Published

2024-08-16

How to Cite

1.
Sánchez-Vincitore LV, Valdez ME, Jiménez AS, Ruiz-Matuk CB, Castro A, Cubilla-Bonnetier D, et al. Telephone Measurement of Child Development in the Dominican Republic during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Rev Cubana Pediatría [Internet]. 2024 Aug. 16 [cited 2025 Jul. 1];96. Available from: https://revpediatria.sld.cu/index.php/ped/article/view/7299

Issue

Vol. 96 (2024): Publicación continua

Section

PEDIATRÍA

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