The impact of the method Kangaroo Mother Care in the learning process of low-birth-weight preterm infants: A literature review

• Main Authors: Mariana de Paiva Franco, Cristiane Paiva Alves
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de São Carlos 2014-04-01
• Series: Cadernos de Terapia Ocupacional
• Subjects: Bibliographic Review; Prematurity; Kangaroo Mother Care; Dysgraphia.
• Online Access: http://www.cadernosdeterapiaocupacional.ufscar.br/index.php/cadernos/article/view/453/500Bibliographic Review, Prematurity, Kangaroo Mother Care, Dysgraphia.

Technology advances and scientific studies in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) have contributed significantly to reduce mortality and morbidity of at-risk newborns (NB). However, they are more likely to present neurological and/or developmental psychomotor delay with neurological and sensory alterations. Therefore, proposals for neonatal intervention were developed with the aim of protecting the baby and offering appropriate incentives to minimize the effects of hospital intervention. To this end, programs of protective measures such as the Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) were developed. Given the relevance of the issue described, this systematic review critically appraises articles from the national and international literature, published in recent years (from 2000 to 2011), that describe whether the KMC can be a protective factor for the development of writing in premature infants. The textual search was conducted using the Virtual Health Library (VHL), a website that covers publications worldwide, allowing access to articles from health science, including LILACS, IBECS, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library and SciELO, as database. The findings revealed that infants who participated in the KMC program showed improvements in their development and that factors such as low-birth-weight prematurity and learning disorders have close relationship with the onset of motor impairments and changes in psychomotor development. The findings showed no articles describing the KMC as a protective factor for the incidence of dysgraphia. Thus, we emphasize the importance of conducting further studies on these topics.