A community-based intervention (the Omama Project) improves neurodevelopment in impoverished 2-year-old Roma children: a quasi-experimental observational study.

ABSTRACT: High rates of childhood neurodisability are reported among the Roma, Europe's largest ethnic minority community. Interventions targeting early child development (ECD) during the first 2 years of life can improve neurodevelopmental outcomes in vulnerable children; however, evidence from Roma preschoolers is scarce. In a quasi-experimental observational study, we compared neurodevelopmental outcomes at age 2 years, measured on the INTERGROWTH-21st Project Neurodevelopmental Assessment (INTER-NDA), between Roma children receiving a community-based ECD intervention (RI, n = 98), and age- and sex-matched Roma and non-Roma children (RC, n = 99 and NRC, n = 54, respectively) who did not receive the intervention in Eastern Slovakia. The intervention was delivered between 3 weeks and 20 months in w

SUBMITTER: Fernandes M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11732948 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature