Socio-demographic factors influences on guardians’ perception of Developmental Coordination Disorder among Brazilian schoolchildren

Abstract

Aim: The objective of this study was to identify socio-demographic factors that are associated with the guardians’ perception of developmental coordination disorder among schoolchildren from seven to ten years old. Methods: The parents/guardians of 361 children completed the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCDQ) and a socio-demographic questionnaire in this cross-sectional study. The univariate relationship between the DCDQ and sociodemographic factors was tested by the chi-square test. The odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval was calculated. Socio-demographic variables with p≤0.20 were included in the logistic regression analysis. Results: The child’s age (B = 0.40; OR = 1.49; p <0.01) and the guardian undergoing treatment for illness (B = 0.97; OR = 2.65; p = 0.02) were retained in the final regression model. Conclusion: Thus, increasing children’s’ age and guardians undergoing treatment for illness increased the guardians’perception of developmental coordination disorder.