[Evaluation of environmental stimulation for 18 months and the related factors]

With the disinteglation of social ties in the community, the role of environmental stimulation as an important function in children's health has been recognized and social services to evaluate the environmental stimulation are important. The Evaluation of Environmental Stimulation (EES) is a questionnaire which directly evaluates the interaction between the child and caregiver, and its effectiveness as a support system. The purpose of this study is to clarify characteristics of the EES by using statistical analysis. The subjects were 388 children of about 18 months who came for the compulsory health examinations. Caregivers were asked to answer the questionnaire. The results are as follows; 1) Children at risk for physical, mental and social development scored low for the 'social stimulation' subscale and in total score. 2) Children at the risk of medical and social diagnosis got fewer points in 'independence' subscale, 'physical stimulation' subscale, and total score than children without risk. 3) By ANOVA statistics, risk for development and risk for medical and social diagnosis had interactions according to child's sex. These results show that EES is effective in finding the risk of environment for children and for development of prevention measures, and appears to be useful as a screening system for health social services.