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Father and Sibling Involvement in Home Rehabilitation: Longitudinal Effects on Infant Development and Maternal

Precious Madzimbe1,2, Soraya Maart1, Jermaine Dambi3

  • 1Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.

Child: Care, Health and Development
|May 6, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Including fathers and siblings in infant home rehabilitation improved cognitive development and maternal mental health. Family-centered approaches show promise for pediatric neurorehabilitation in low-resource settings.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Neurorehabilitation
  • Developmental Pediatrics
  • Global Health

Background:

  • Infants with neuro-developmental delay (NDD) often receive mother-only home-based rehabilitation.
  • Extending rehabilitation to include fathers and siblings may enhance developmental outcomes and maternal wellbeing.
  • Low-resource settings present unique challenges for comprehensive pediatric care.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of including fathers and siblings in home-based rehabilitation for infants with NDD.
  • To assess the association between extended family involvement and infant developmental outcomes.
  • To evaluate the effect on maternal wellbeing in an urban, low-resource context.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective observational cohort study of 481 infants (3-6 months) and mothers in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
  • Caregiver participation groups: mother-only, mother-father, and mother-father-sibling.
  • Assessed infant development (BSID-III) and maternal wellbeing (QoL, Mental Health VAS) over 3 months.

Main Results:

  • Infants in the mother-father-sibling group showed significantly higher cognitive scores.
  • Maternal mental health improved significantly across all groups over time.
  • Quality of Life (QoL) showed small but significant gains in repeated-measures analysis.

Conclusions:

  • Involving fathers and siblings in home rehabilitation yielded selective cognitive benefits for infants.
  • Family-centered rehabilitation models, including fathers and siblings, are promising for pediatric neurorehabilitation.
  • Findings support integrating inclusive, family-centered approaches in low- and middle-income settings.
Abstract

Keywords:
Zimbabwefather involvementhome rehabilitationlongitudinal cohort studyneuro‐developmental delaysiblings

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