Impact of motor developmental stimulatory training of the mothers on motor development of healthy full-term infants aged 6 months

Background: The first 6 to 8 months of a human baby's life are among the most crucial periods of development. Mothers can enhance an infant's development by offering environments rich in appropriate stimuli. The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of motor developmental stimulatory training on mothers' motor development (fine and gross) in healthy, full-term, 6-month-old infants. Methods: This experimental study was conducted 2016 on 72 mothers and their healthy six-month-old infants in Gorgan (Iran). The block randomization method assigned participants to the intervention (n=36) and control (n=36) groups. The motor developmental stimulatory training program was performed for five 90-minute weekly sessions by a midwifery consultant for children's mothers. The fine and gross motor development of infants in both groups was evaluated before the intervention, in the end, and two weeks after the intervention by a research assistant using the Denver-II tool. The data were analyzed using the Friedman and the Mann- Whitney U Tests using SPSS software version 26. Results: At the beginning of the study, infants’ mean fine motor skills scores were 6.22±0.47 in the intervention group and 6.05±0.43 in the control group, showing no significant difference. Likewise, the mean gross motor skills scores were 6.65±0.52 for the intervention group and 5.7±0.42 for the control group, which was also insignificant (< 0.0116). However, by the end of the training, the mean ages for fine motor skills in the intervention group rose to 9.41±0.75 compared to 7.51±0.42 in the control group, and two weeks later, they were 11.43±0.49 in the intervention group against 8.64±0.54 in the control group, with these differences being significant (P-value < 0.0001). The mean ages for gross motor skills at the end of the training were 7.94±0.61 in the intervention group and 6.7±0.34 in the control group, and two weeks later, 9.3±0.47 in the intervention group compared to 7.46±0.55 in the control group, which was also significant (P-value < 0.0001). Conclusion: Developmental stimulatory training significantly improves 6-mount infants' gross and fine motor skills. Midwifery consultants can educate mothers about the motor development stimulation package so that they can use it to enhance the fine and gross motor skills of their healthy infant.