The relationship between home environment affordances and motor development and sensory processing skills in premature infants

Abstract

The availability of stimulating materials in the home environment is of great importance to optimizing an infant's development. This study, which has a cross-sectional study design, was conducted to examine the relationship between home environment conditions and equipment support and the motor development and sensory processing skills of premature infants. Children born premature, aged 10–16 months, were included in the study. Motor development was evaluated with the Peabody Motor Development Scale-2, and sensory processing skills were evaluated with the Test of Sensory Function in Infants. The Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development-Infant Scale was used to evaluate the home environment. A total of 51 premature infants were included in the study. It was determined that there was a significant relationship between physical space, stimulus variety and fine motor toys in the home environment and Peabody Motor Development Scale-2 gross motor and fine motor development scores. It was also shown that there was a relationship between the tactile and total scores of the Test of Sensory Function in Infants Scale and the variety of stimuli in the home environment and gross motor toy scores. These findings show that the opportunities provided in the home environment of premature infants may be related to their motor development and sensory processing skills. Consequently, the home environment may be associated with experiencing movements and sensory experiences.