Ankara’da Geçici Koruma Statüsü Altında Yaşayan 18-72 Ay Arası Suriyeli Çocukların Gelişim Düzeyinin Değerlendirilmesi

Abstract

The developments in Syria following the anti-regime demonstrations that started in March 2011 created one of the world's greatest humanitarian crises. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that refugee and resettlement experiences can influence the critical stages of intellectual, social, emotional and physical child development. There is lack of sufficient information about the prevalence of developmental delay in asylum-seeker children as well as the optimal approach to detection or screening in this group. Developmental delays in asylum-seekers may not be recognized by families, and when diagnosed, interventions may be delayed due to cultural barriers, resulting in negative academic and psychosocial consequences that may also affect later life. In this study, it was aimed to describe the impact of the Syrian crisis on the developmental aspects of the most vulnerable group children after resettlement, problems that will lead to developmental problems, areas in which developmental delays are more likely. So providing more prognostic information, increasing the proportion of healthy individuals in the society with early diagnosis of preventable risk factors, contributing to further studies at the literature level and to ensure the immediate and appropriate early childhood interventions required. Syrian refugee children (n=60) between the ages of 18-72 months who admitted to Yenimahalle Community Health Center Immigrant Health Unit to receive primary health care services between 1 November 2018- 1 March 2019 were included in this study. The control group included 60 Turkish children between 18-72 months who admitted to İsmail Ulucan Family Health Center which is in the same building. Developmental assessments were made by the researcher using the Denver II Developmental Screening Test. Developmental delays were frequent in Syrian children compared to Turkish children. The DDST-II were normal in 82.1%, suspicious in 10.7% and abnormal in 7.1% of Turkish children; in the study group, 22.2% of the patients were found to be normal, 33.3% were suspicious and 44.4% were abnormal. The differences were statistically significant (p<0.05). When analyzed by multiple logistic regression analysis, being an asylum seeker was found to be an important risk factor for developmental delay alone, and when the DGTT II subfields are examined, it was seen that high monthly income reduces the risk of caution-delay in personal-social area. It was found that increased risk of caution-delay in fine-motor and gross-motor area, asylum-seeker status and consanguinity increased the risk of caution -delay in the language area. In conclusion, this study showed that being an asylum seeker was the most important risk factor for developmental delay. We emphasized the importance of survelliance and screening development in these high risk children as well as early intervention service.