Development of severely malnourished children who received psychosocial stimulation: six-year follow-up.

The development of 16 children who were hospitalized for severe malnutrition and participated in a home-visiting program of psychosocial stimulation was compared with that of two other groups who were also hospitalized but received standard medical care only: severely malnourished group (n = 18) and an adequately nourished one (n = 20). All groups were assessed regularly on the Griffiths Mental Development Scales and the Stanford-Binet test. Both groups of malnourished children were markedly behind the adequately nourished group on admission to the hospital and the group that received no intervention showed little sign of catching up. The intervention group caught up to the adequately nourished group in 2 years. This report covers the third year of home-visiting and the 3 years following its cessation. The intervention group showed a decline in three of the five Griffiths subscales. However, they retained a marked advantage over the nonintervention group of malnourished children on the Stanford-Binet test until the end of follow-up, showing no further decline in the last year. For height, both malnourished groups failed to catch up to the adequately nourished group. It was concluded that a relatively simple intervention can benefit the development of severely malnourished children.