Social environment and its impact on selected aspects of children‘s health in Prešov region

Abstract

Aim.Child Health is greatly determined by the social environment (quality of saturation needs of the child families). The aim was to analyze the influence of social environment on child morbidity, length of breastfeeding, child development, incidence of hospitalization. Design. Retrospective analysis of medical and social documentation in the years 2011-2013 in J.A.Reimana Hospital in Prešov. Methodics. Children (n-450) were classified in two categories: children at risk of social environment (RSE children, 65.6%) children without endangering social environment (without RSE children, 34.4%). At the same time we assessed children‘s morbidity, length of lactation, incidence of hospitalization of children. Results. Children RSE you found a significantly higher likelihood of gastrointestinal disorders (OR: 4.694, p = 0.000), respiratory tract (OR: 5.21, p = 0.000), skin disorders (OR: 7.154, p = 0.000), delays in Psychomotorics (OR: 3.184, p = 0.000), and neglecting the child (OR: 14.687, p = 0.000) in comparation with children without RSE. Children without RSE were breastfed longer (M – 3.64, SD – 3.32) than children RSE (M – 1.94, SD – 3.23) (p = 0.000). We found that the child admitted to the hospital after the intervention of social workers occurred in 12.4% of children without RSE and in 87.6% of children RSE (p = 0.000). Conclusion. Social environment can negatively affect the health of the child. The role of social workers is the assessment and elimination of risk factors, family environment.