Motor Development of Children in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Parent Survey.

The actual literature highlights the importance of the socio-cultural context in the development of children. However, there is a lack of specific evidence about the middle East, especially regarding the development of Kurdish children who are living in a post-war scenario, in a country which is experiencing continuous instability due to the different crises. The main aim of this study is to identify the features of the motor development of Kurdish children according to parents' opinion. A comparison with Italian children is provided as a Western example, which reflects data from the literature. In the study, 331 parents of Kurdish and Italian children aged between 3 and 7 years were involved. Parents filled the questionnaire at kindergartens, after providing consent. The questionnaire was conceptualized, designed, tested and provided ad hoc for this study; it focused on the timing of development, concerning major milestones like head control, sitting and standing-up. The questionnaire consists of 15 questions and has not been standardized yet. A logistic regression showed several differences between Kurdish and Italian children, like head control (p = 0.007) or the manipulation of big objects (p < 0.0001). These results identify the effect of the socio-cultural context and the impact of the growing environment of the child. Moreover, the results of this survey show the need for introducing different adapted, translated and validated assessment tools for motor development, considering differences related to the socio-cultural context.

Adaptation, Validity, and Reliability of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

AIM: The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) is widely used for detecting and screening depression in Iraq. However, no psychometric assessment has been performed on any Iraqi version. This study aims at studying the reliability and validity of the Iraqi Kurdish version of the PHQ-9 as tool for identifying depression. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was used; data were collected from 872 participants (49.3% female and 51.7% male) at Primary Health Care Centers (PHCCs) in the host community as well as from Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugee camps. Sociodemographic information was obtained; PHQ-9 for the diagnosis and screening of depression and Self Reporting Questionnaire 20 items (SRQ-20) for the screening of common mental illnesses were administered. Validity and reliability analyses were performed. RESULTS: In total, 19% of the participants had a PHQ-9 total score equal to or higher than the clinical cut-off of 10 for diagnosing depressive disorder. The internal consistency of the PHQ-9 was good (Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.89). Good concurrent validity for PHQ-9 compared with SRQ-20 (71%, p < 0.001) was found. CONCLUSIONS: The PHQ-9 demonstrates good psychometric properties and proves to be a good tool for detecting and screening depression.

Translation and Cultural Adaptation of the StimQ for Use with Italian Children from Kindergartens.

The StimQ questionnaire is used to assess the home environment of children. The questionnaire is comprised of four subscales, and it was completed by the main caregiver. The items were different considering the band ages of the children: infants (5-12 months), toddlers (12-36 months), and preschoolers (36-72 months). The aim of the study was to translate, transculturally adapt, and evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the Italian version of the StimQ. To achieve this goal, a sample of 142 children was recruited from different kindergartens. The mean age of the group was 30.63 (SD 19.56), and 112 of them were female. The main caregiver was the mother in 95% of the cases. The Cronbach's alfa was excellent, considering the total score (0.82 for infants, 0.85 for toddlers, and 0.86 for preschoolers). Intrarater reliability was performed by administering the questionnaire after 48 h and by two different researchers. Both analyses showed an excellent reliability for the total score and all the subscales. The intrarater reliability was 0.99 for the infant, 1 for the toddler and 0.99 for the preschooler age groups. The interrater reliability was 0.95 for the infant, 0.93 for the toddler, and 0.97 for the preschooler age groups. The StimQ is a reliable questionnaire that could be helpful for clinicians and researchers who work with children in Italy.

Dominant and Nondominant Leg Kinematics During Kicking in Young Soccer Players: A Cross-Sectional Study.

The goal of the study is to analyze the kinematics and provide an EMG analysis of the support limb during an instep kick in adolescent players. We set a video camera, two torque transducers on the knee, and EMG sensors. A sample of 16 adolescent soccer players between 10 and 12 years old performed kicks. The kinematics shows a p = .039 on frontal plane (dominant 15.4 ± 1.8, nondominant 18.8 ± 1.7); the EMG analysis shows a p = .04 on muscular activation timing for the vastus medialis. A difference between the legs on the frontal plane emerges. Moreover, a huge difference on sagittal plane between the adolescent pattern and adult pattern exists (15° in adolescent population, 40° in adult population). The result shows a greater activation of the vastus medialis in the nondominant leg; probably, in this immature pattern, the adolescents use this muscle more than necessary.

Robot-assisted rehabilitation for children with neurological disabilities: Results of the Italian consensus conference CICERONE.

BACKGROUND: The use of robotic technologies in pediatric rehabilitation has seen a large increase, but with a lack of a comprehensive framework about their effectiveness. OBJECTIVE: An Italian Consensus Conference has been promoted to develop recommendations on these technologies: definitions and classification criteria of devices, indications and limits of their use in neurological diseases, theoretical models, ethical and legal implications. In this paper, we present the results for the pediatric age. METHODS: A systematic search on Cochrane Library, PEDro and PubMed was performed. Papers published up to March 1st, 2020, in English, were included and analyzed using the methodology of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine in Oxford, AMSTAR2 and PEDro scales for systematic reviews and RCT, respectively. RESULTS: Some positives aspects emerged in the area of gait: an increased number of children reaching the stance, an improvement in walking distance, speed and endurance. Critical aspects include the heterogeneity of the studied cases, measurements and training protocols. CONCLUSION: Many studies demonstrate the benefits of robotic training in developmental age. However, it is necessary to increase the number of trials to achieve greater homogeneity between protocols and to confirm the effectiveness of pediatric robotic rehabilitation.

Animal Fun: Supporting the motor development of Italian preschoolers.

The present literature supports the importance of physical activity from a very early age. However, there is a lack of information about evidence-based motor programs suitable for supporting preschoolers' development in Italy. The Animal Fun program, developed in Australia, might be a valuable tool to promote children's development. The aim of this study was to use Animal Fun to verify the motor improvements in balance, aiming and catching, and the manual skills of Italian preschoolers. One hundred nineteen preschool children (3- to 6-year- olds) from three Italian kindergartens were recruited. The kindergartens were randomly allocated to intervention and control groups. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children - 2 (MABC-2) was administered to all children at the baseline and one-month follow-up. The kindergarten assigned to the control group followed the standard curriculum, involving general physical activity; the kindergartens assigned to the Animal Fun group followed the Animal Fun program activities (thirty minutes, three times a week). Data demonstrated the statistical differences between the scores of the two groups in each domain and total score of the MABC-2 (aiming and catching, balance, and manual dexterity). The results of this study suggest that Animal Fun can support the motor improvements of Italian preschoolers and that it is applicable in the Italian context, where there is a lack of movement programs supporting the development of young children with and without motor difficulties.

Relation between Motor and Cognitive Skills in Italian Basketball Players Aged between 7 and 10 Years Old.

There is evidence supporting a correlation between motor, attention and working memory in children. This present study focuses on children aged between 7 and 10 years, who have been playing basketball in the last two years. The aim of this study is to verify the correlation between cognitive and motor abilities and to understand the importance of this correlation in basketball practice. A total of 75 children who were 7.2⁻10.99 years old were assessed in terms of their attention, motor manual sequences and visuo-spatial working memory. A regression analysis was provided. In this sample, the motor abilities of children were found to be correlated with attention (denomination task, R² = 0.07), visuo-spatial working memory (R² = 0.06) and motor manual sequencing (aiming and catching task, R² = 0.05; and manual dexterity task, R² = 0.10). These correlations justify the suggestion to introduce deeper cognitive involvement during basketball training. The development of executive functions could have an important impact on basketball practice and the introduction of attention and memory tasks could help coaches to obtain optimal improvement in performance during the training sessions.