Abstract

ANDRADE, Maria A. C.  and  RODRIGUES, Maria M. P.. Indicators of illness before and after the child´s entry into a day nursery. Rev. bras. crescimento desenvolv. hum. [online]. 2005, vol.15, n.2, pp. 13-21. ISSN 0104-1282.

In the scientific literature, even the studies that show not only variants but sometimes inconclusive results, do not always manage to free themselves from the relation of cause and effect between nursery education and illness. This study investigated the occurrence of illness in the medical records of 109 middle-class children and the relation of the results to their entry into day nurseries, through the identification of variation(s) in the number of appointments and in the number of illnesses in the first twelve months of attendance at nursery school, when compared with the two months preceding entry. The statistical analysis of these variations was made through the Wilcoxon's test, considering significant the values p d•0,05. The analysis revealed that, in the samples studied, there was no increase or variation in the variable appointments in the twelve months after entry into nursery education, although there was a significant increase in the complaints in the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd bimesters. It's possible that the family, especially the mother, when faced with a professional influenced by numerous scientific studies showing the relation between nursery education/ illness, presents more health complaints with relation to the child, even though the child does not in fact become ill more frequently, and hence, does not require more frequent medical attention. These complaints, which are transformed into the diagnosis of illnesses, lead to the confirmation of the medical prediction. However, in order to be able to evaluate the real effect of this self-fulfilling prophecy, complementary studies are needed so that this hypothesis can be better evaluated.

Keywords : Adaptation to the day nursery; Child health; Day nursery.

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