A follow-up study of 6-year-old kindergarten children at one year after they participated in a pilot medical examination

• Published in: No to hattatsu Vol. 41; no. 4; p. 269
• Main Authors: Yuge, Mariko, Zen, Yui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Japan 01.07.2009
• Subjects: Child; Child Behavior Disorders - diagnosis; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Physical Examination; Pilot Projects; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 0029-0831
• DOI: 10.11251/ojjscn.41.269

A follow-up study of 129 kindergarten children was undertaken in 2007 by the same questionnaire survey among nurses that was conducted as a part of pilot study in 2006. Among 103 children, 86 were comprehensively assessed as "normal", and 17 had been assessed to have difficulties in group action at the pilot medical examination. In the follow-up study, we found that among the children who were previously been assessed as "normal", approximately 90 percent were re-assessed as "normal", though 10 percent of them showed signs of mild delay and/or failure to adapt in group action; and that 65 percent of the 17 children who were assessed to have difficulties in group action at the pilot medical examination showed signs of failure to adapt in group action and/or mild delay. Utilizing K statistics, the analysis of coincidences between the answer to the questionnaires for nurses obtained at the pilot medical examination and those obtained in follow-up study revealed that little improvement could be expected by altering daily care for children with such behavioral problems characterized as "poor concentration due to the stimulation from outside", "clumsiness" and "restlessness". It was suggested that these behavioral problems were due to biological traits;whereas in problems as "a tendency to persistence", "does not follow instructions", "does not remain seated" and "apt to be in a temper", improvements could be expected when adjustments were made in the environment of daily life.