Procjena socioemocionalnog razvoja dojenčadi u Primorsko-goranskoj županiji

Objective: The importance of researching the socio-emotional development of a child is reflected in the prevention of the risk of deviations in socio-emotional development with the aim of early intervention in work with children who deviate from normal devel- opment or belong to the group of children at neurological risk. The aim of the work was to determine the validity and reliability of the socio-emotional assessment scale for standardization of the measurement instrument in the Republic of Croatia and to deter- mine the level of socio-emotional development of young children in order to determine possible deviations from orderly develop- ment and factors influencing socio-emotional development. Methods: The socio-emotional rating scale was used in the study as a measurement tool to assess the socio-emotional development of infants (from 2 to 18 months) as an instrument for early detection of developmental deviations. Sixty-three parents from Primor- sko-Goranska County participated in the survey. Results: The psychometric properties of the socio-emotional scale showed that the instrument is valid for assessing socio-emotional development with Cronbach α=0.92. At the same time, the results showed that there were no statistically significant differences in the children’s socio-emotional development in relation to birth weight, type of pregnancy, time and type of delivery, and the child’s condition, indicating that the children’s parents created all the conditions for promoting orderly socio-emotional development, re- gardless of possible risk factors. Conclusion: The obtained results show that the questionnaire for assessing socio-emotional development in this research is valid and reliable. The research has clearly demonstrated the importance of early assessment of a child’s socio-emotional development to prevent developmental abnormalities through early intervention. The importance of assessing the validity of the questionnaire en- sures its application in the work of outpatient nurses who assess infant health and development as part of comprehensive outpa- tient infant care.