Évaluation des comportements et des compétences scolaires par les enseignants et prédiction des performances et des parcours à l’école élémentaire et au collège

A Prospective Observational Study to Assess Attachment Representations With Regard to Neurocognitive and Behavioral Outcomes in Children Born Very Prematurely in the Loire Infant Follow-Up Team (LIFT Cohort)

CONTEXT AND PURPOSE

Prematurity is a situation that can disrupt parent-child interactions. We hypothesize that establishing relationships with parents in a context of extreme prematurity can alter the development of secure attachment representations in the child. Furthermore, we hypothesize that secure maternal representations and their possible interactions with prematurity factors prevent the development of insecure or disorganized attachment in the child. In addition, maternal representations and their possible interactions with factors related to prematurity may prevent or accentuate the development of an insecure or disorganized attachment in the child.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

This is a longitudinal, prospective, exploratory, and bi-centric study. Children born in the neonatal intensive care units of Angers or Nantes University Hospitals with a gestational age of up to 28 weeks will be included in the study. The main objective is to describe the attachment representations at 3 and 5 years through the Attachment Story Completion Task scales and to analyze them in regard to the children's neurocognitive and behavioral outcomes as well as maternal attachment and mental health.

ETHICS

The study file received a favorable opinion for the implementation of this research on February 18, 2020 - ID-RCB no. 2019-A03352-55 (File 2-20-007 id6699) 2°HPS. This study has received authorization from the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) under no. 920229.

DISCUSSION

A better understanding of attachment representations in extreme prematurity and their possible associations with children's neurocognitive and behavioral outcomes as well as maternal attachment and mental health could pave the way for individualized care at an early stage, or even interventions during the neonatal period to improve the outcome of these vulnerable newborns.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

[ClinicalTrials.gov], identifier [NCT04304846].

A randomized EPIREMED protocol study on the long-term visuo spatial effects of very preterm children with a working memory deficit

BACKGROUND

Very preterm children generally perform poorly in executive functions and particularly in working memory. Adaptive training tasks encouraging these children to work continuously on their personal working memory capacity can be very useful. Above all in preschool-age children, several cognitive training programs focused on improving working memory capacity. Cogmed is a computerized visuospatial cognitive training program that improves working memory in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The main objective is to assess the long-term effects (18 months) of cognitive training (Cogmed) on visuospatial processing in preschool-age very preterm children with working memory impairment.

METHODS

The EPIREMED study is a prospective, randomized, controlled, multicentric trial nested in a population based epidemiological survey. An intervention group (Cogmed cognitive training) and a control group (standard care management) will compare children aged 5½ to 6 years, born between 24- and 34-weeks' gestational age, with a global intelligence quotient > 70 and a working memory index < 85. The study will include 166 children from national study EPIPAGE-2 (Epidemiological Study on Small Gestational Ages). The intervention consists of 25 sessions administered over a 5- to 8-week period. The primary endpoint will be the visuospatial processing, assessed by the score of the visuospatial index: score of the WPPSI-IV (Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence). The secondary endpoints will allow to assess the executive functions, language and abilities, infant behavior, quality of life assessment, school performance and parental anxiety.

DISCUSSION

This project's primary goal is to demonstrate the necessity of early visuospatial memory assessment within the vulnerable population of very preterm children, and to prove the feasibility and efficacy of computerized cognitive training using online software programs. A better global neuropsychological development improvement (visuospatial processing and other far transfer) can be expected with an improvement in learning and decreased behavioral problems. In the long term, these improvements might also reduce those global costs linked to the consequences of extreme prematurity.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

NCT02757794 (registered on 2nd May 2016 at ClinicalTrial.gov).

Correlative Study between Personality Traits, Student Mental Skills and Educational Outcomes

The main purpose of this study is determining the correlations between personality traits, academic mental skills and educational outcomes using a quantitative methodology, based on a non-experimental, correlational study. In addition, the following variables are taken into consideration: gender, grade averages and school cycle. The sample is composed of 695 students: these are two institutions (middle and high school) under the provincial direction of Mediouna. In order to gather the information, participants were asked to complete the 16pf 5 questionnaire and scale measuring academic mental skills. Note that the results obtained are processed by the IBM SPSS 23 software. The results demonstrate that the 16 personality scales of the Cattell 16PF5 test and the 9 school grades have significant correlations: 77.77% of all correlations, with essentially the following factors: abstractedness, tension, emotional stability, dominance, social-boldness, vigilance and apprehension maintain (8/9) significant and positive relationships with 38.88% and low intensity (r = 0.031 to 0.0465). Additionally, mental skills (affective, cognitive and metacognitive strategies) and grades have significant correlations with 70.37% of all calculated correlations, with low, average and/or positive, negative intensities, according to each strategy with each grade of school subjects. In the end, it is necessary to make considerable efforts to better understanding the multidimensionality of school success and to ensure an effective and relevant pedagogical intervention.

Relative contributions of prenatal complications, perinatal characteristics, neonatal morbidities and socio-economic conditions of preterm infants on the occurrence of developmental disorders up to 7 years of age

BACKGROUND

To investigate the relative contributions of prenatal complications, perinatal characteristics, neonatal morbidities and socio-economic conditions on the occurrence of motor, sensory, cognitive, language and psychological disorders in a large longitudinal preterm infant population during the first 7 years after birth.

METHODS

The study population comprised 4122 infants born at <35 weeks of gestation who were followed for an average of 74.0 months after birth. Developmental disorders, including motor, sensory, cognitive, language and psychological, were assessed at each follow-up visit from 18 months to 7 years of age. The investigated determinants included prenatal complications (prolonged rupture of membranes >24 hours, intrauterine growth restriction, preterm labour and maternal hypertension), perinatal characteristics (gender, multiple pregnancies, gestational age, birth weight, APGAR score and intubation or ventilation in the delivery room), neonatal complications (low weight gain during hospitalization, respiratory assistance, severe neurological anomalies, nosocomial infections) and socio-economic characteristics (socio-economic level, parental separation, urbanicity). Based on hazard ratios determined using a propensity score matching approach, population-attributable fractions (PAF) were calculated for each of the four types of determinants and for each developmental disorder.

RESULTS

The percentages of motor, sensory, cognitive, language and psychological disorders were 17.0, 13.4, 29.1, 25.9 and 26.1%, respectively. The PAF for the perinatal characteristics were the highest and they were similar for the different developmental disorders considered (around 60%). For the neonatal and socio-economic determinants, the PAF varied according to the disorder, with contributions of up to 17% for motor and 27% for language disorders, respectively. Finally, prenatal complications had the lowest contributions (between 6 and 13%).

CONCLUSIONS

This study illustrates the heterogeneity of risk factors on the risk of developmental disorder in preterm infants. These results suggest the importance of considering both medical and psycho-social follow-ups of preterm infants and their families.

The Global School Adaptation score: a new neurodevelopmental assessment tool for very preterm children at five years of age

OBJECTIVE

To determine the usefulness of a neurodevelopmental assessment tool consisting of a questionnaire administered to teachers to measure the Global School Adaptation (GSA) scores of very preterm children at the age of 5 years.

STUDY DESIGN

A sample of 445 very preterm children (<35 weeks of gestation) was assessed at 5 years of age using GSA and IQ scores. According to the consistency between the scores, children were determined to be well classified, intermediately classified, or misclassified. The differences between groups were assessed through univariate and multivariate logistic regression.

RESULTS

The GSA score was highly or intermediately consistent with the IQ score for 89.2% of the children, and 10.8% were considered misclassified. Children with a higher GSA than IQ score had more autonomy and self-confidence (P < .01), and those with a lower GSA than IQ score had more behavioral problems (P < .01). Analysis by logistic regression showed that sex and gestational age significantly affected the consistency between the 2 scores. Thus, girls were less likely to have a lower GSA than IQ score (aOR = 0.45; 95% CI: 0.24-0.84; P = .01), and a lower gestational age significantly increased the likelihood of having a higher GSA than IQ score (for children born between 24 and 28 weeks of gestation: aOR = 2.70; 95% CI: 1.23-5.92; P = .01).

CONCLUSIONS

The GSA score is a simple, inexpensive, and reliable screening tool for assessing neurodevelopment in very preterm children at 5 years of age.