The impact of child care on child development in daycare and at home

Background: The insufficient amount of time allocated by working parents is one of the causes of reduced interaction between parents and children. Consequently, the solution of entrusting children to daycare centres remains a choice. The development of children aged 3-72 months is extremely significant because the brain volume develops to reach 95% of the adult brain volume. This makes the stimulation provided by caregivers extremely important. This study aimed to identify differences in the development of children entrusted to daycare centres compared to the home care. Methods: The study was performed in Surabaya, Indonesia. The total sample was divided into 2 groups of children aged 3-72 months, one group was cared for at home, and the other in the daycare setting. The subjects were assessed using Indonesia's Prescreening Developmental Questionnaire (PDQ) to determine their development. The assessment was conducted twice, with the second evaluation taking place 6 months after the first analysis. Results: We analysed data from 193 children. The children cared for at home differed significantly (53.3%) from the children entrusted to daycare centres (38.8%) in the first assessment, while in the second assessment 44.4% of the former group experienced a disruption of their personal-social skills, compared 38.8% in the latter. Gross motor and speech-language skills changed significantly improved in 6 months' evaluations. Conclusion: There were no differences between the development of children being cared for at home and those that were entrusted to daycare centres over 6 months of continuous evaluation.