Parenting toddlers: Evidences of parental needs from South India.

BACKGROUND: Quality of childcare can predict a child's emotional and behavioural adjustment throughout the life span. Furthermore, this has major implications for child development and mental health in the long-term. Parents often face major challenges while providing childcare especially during the early years of a child. AIM: This paper describes specific parental concerns in raising a toddler from a mental health developmental perspective. METHODS: The study was conducted in urban Bengaluru, India under an exploratory research design using semi-structured interviews. Ten parents participated in the study. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Four major themes emerged. The first theme was related to the formation of parental beliefs about parenting which identified several sources such as parenting practices witnessed during childhood, childhood experiences and influence of culture, mass or social media. The second theme to emerge was on concerns related to toddlers which parents had difficulties in understanding as well as managing, specially navigating through sleep and feed pattern, identifying developmental needs and making a meaning of toddlers' communication styles and content. The third theme showed parental concerns which consisted of areas such as parental stress, physical exhaustion, lack of time for each other or toddler, lack of information about handling toddlers and absence of validation of parental efforts. The final theme was on their current parenting practices with their toddlers which showcased controlling styles, play time but low on quality, inappropriate responses to toddlers' emotions or behaviours and several culturally practiced measures which were not validated scientifically. CONCLUSION: The pre-existing belief among parents about parenting and toddlers' specific behaviours influence parenting practices. The understanding of the parental challenges is beneficial in developing an appropriate parenting programme focussing on strengthening psychological capacities of toddlers.

Down syndrome in tribal population in India: A field observation.

CONTEXT: Down syndrome (DS) is a prevalent genetic disorder in intellectual disability (ID) in India. Its prevalence in tribal population is not known. AIMS: The study aimed to understand the profile of DS in a tribal population with an objective of finding the prevalence of DS among those with ID. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This is a community-based study with a survey design. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A door-to-door survey was conducted by trained, community-based rehabilitation workers under close supervision of multidisciplinary team to identify people with ID. A standardized screening instrument National Institute for Mentally Handicapped-Developmental Screening Schedule was used in the survey. All identified ID cases were evaluated by therapists in IDs for diagnosis of ID on developmental screening test and Vineland social maturity scale. Clinical examination was performed by medical doctors for DS on people identified as ID. Only two parents brought their children for further lab investigations at Ashagram Trust, Barwani. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Descriptive statistics was applied manually to treat the data. RESULTS: The frequency of DS population in tribal population closely matches with DS prevalence in the USA. Mothers of DS children in the tribal community are relatively younger. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of DS in tribal population of India may greatly vary with that of the US data, but it is markedly associated with younger maternal age. Further studies are needed for prevalence and identification of potential correlates of this condition.