第十四屆 按摩對發展遲緩幼兒發展和行為之影響：隨機控制試驗

The Effect of Massage on Development and Behavior of Young Children with Developmental Delay: A Randomized Controlled Trial

黃雅淑^1*、盧維芃²、蔡文暉³、洪榮斌⁴、周偉倪⁴

Yea-Shwu Hwang^1*,Wei-Peng Lu²,Wei-Hui Tsai³,Rong-Bin Hong⁴ ,Wei-Ni Chou⁴

¹成功大學職能治療學系、²高雄長庚醫院復健科、³奇美醫院小兒部、⁴奇美醫院復健部

¹Department of Occupational Therapy, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan,²Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan,³Department of Pediatrics, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan

Background and Purpose：Massage has become one popular complementary and alternative intervention for children with developmental delay (DD). However, due to limitations in study design such as no control group without intervention, effects of massage on children with DD were still unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of massage on development and behavior of young children with DD using a more powerful study design (i.e., randomized controlled trial). Methods: A total of 36 children with a diagnosis of DD, aged between 14 and 34 months were included. Children were first stratified by muscle tone and levels of motor development, and then randomly assigned into the control or massage group. Each child in the massage group received 20-min massage twice a week for 12 weeks by a certified pediatric massage therapist. The control group was without massage. One pediatric therapist who was unaware of the assignment of children evaluated the development of children using Comprehensive Developmental Inventory for Infants and Toddlers before and after the massage sessions. Simultaneously, the Infant/Toddler Sensory Profile-Chinese version and Infant Temperament Questionnaire-Chinese version were completed by child’s mother. Results: After controlling pretest scores and hours of rehabilitation classes during the time of study, children in the massage group had significantly greater improvement in motor (p = 0.007) and expressive language skills (p= .037) than the control group. The scores of two groups in the section of oral sensory processing (p= .076) and the quadrants of sensory sensitivity (p= .063) and low threshold (p=.051) approached statistical difference. There was no group difference in any domain of temperament. Conclusion: The results indicated that massage might be a viable intervention to promote the developmental function and sensory modulation of children with DD.

Keywords: massage, developmental delay, development, sensory, temperament