Capacidades e dificuldades de crianças em idade pré escolar relacionadas com as habilidades sociais educativas parentais

Abstract

The early years of a child's life are crucial for acquiring numerous skills. Parents are the first role models in their children's lives, and their social skills play an important role in the education and development of children, as children tend to observe their actions and attitudes. The objective of this study is to analyze the association between parental socio-educational skills and the abilities and difficulties of preschool-aged children. This study adopts a descriptive methodology, with a cross-sectional and quantitative analysis. It is a segment of a multicenter, cluster-randomized clinical study composed of two parallel groups. Data collection was conducted from November 2022 to May 2023 in the municipality of Fortaleza, including a total of six daycare centers. The target population consisted of parents and caregivers of children aged 2 to 5 years, regularly enrolled in the selected institutions. The following instruments were used for data collection: a Sociodemographic Questionnaire, the Parental Socio-Educational Skills Interview Script, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, with data recorded in an Excel® 2016 spreadsheet. Data were tabulated and subsequently analyzed for statistical and variable association using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20.0. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Ceará under opinion number 5.755.168/2022. In the end, the sample consisted of 175 participants. Most respondents were mothers (87.4%), who were also the primary caregivers of the children (90.9%), and without a partner (71.5%). Parents’ social skills were identified, with an emphasis on the "setting limits" domain, which had a median score of 8, higher than other skills. Regarding children's abilities and difficulties, analyzed through the questionnaire, most children showed a high level of difficulty (64.7%) and a low level of ability (54.2%). It was found that the "communication" domain, one of the social skills analyzed, was significantly related to children's abilities, demonstrating the importance of parent-child communication, with statistical significance of p=0.007. This study highlights how socio-educational skills, when applied positively, can influence children's abilities, while negatively applied skills can affect their difficulties. Additionally, it identifies nursing professionals as key players in the process of acquiring social skills during early childhood.