Effect of long-term psychosocial stimulation on mental development of severely malnourished children.

The effect of adding psychosocial stimulation to the treatment of severely malnourished children was studied by comparing the developmental levels (DQs) of the children with those of two other groups of children--an adequately nourished group with diseases other than malnutrition and a second malnourished group who received standard hospital care only. The intervention children underwent structured play sessions daily in hospital and weekly for 6 months after discharge; mothers were also shown how to play with them. The non-intervention malnourished group showed a marked deficit in DQ compared with the adequately nourished group throughout the study period. The intervention group made significant improvements in DQ in hospital and continued to do so after discharge. By 6 months they were significantly ahead of the non-intervention malnourished group, and were no longer significantly behind the adequately nourished group.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes