Introduction:

It is unknown why families and consequently, the infant interrupt or abandon the treatment established by the Early Care Program for neurodevelopmental disorders.

Objective:

To describe the characteristics of families that abandon the early stimulation treatment at the “Senén Casas Regueiro” Center of Comprehensive Pediatric Rehabilitation.

Material and Methods:

A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in families of infants with neurodevelopmental disorders from 0 to 12 years old in Old Havana, during the period 2014-2015. Demographic, social, and economic variables were considered. Absolute and relative frequencies, the mean, the standard deviation, and the chi-squared tests were used in the analysis.

Results:

The prevalence of abandonment of treatment was 88.0%. The percentages of greatest interruption occurred in mothers or guardians aged 15-18 years (47.20%; x2= 10.47; p = 0.0001), and in children of divorced parents (52.00%). The level of education that contributed in the highest percentage to the problem was primary schooling (52.00%; x2 = 20, 69; p = 0.0000) in families with the largest number of children; families with 3-4 children (86.40%; X2 = 29.90; p = 0.00000), who lived in homes in poor conditions (48.00%; x2 = 9.45; p = 0.00021). Longer treatments expressed a greater percentage of abandonment (60.00 %; x2 = 3.75; p = 0.053519). Both the families that abandoned the treatment and those that did not do it, showed high percentages of good satisfaction with the program (95.20% and 94.12%, respectively).

Conclusions:

Abandonment of treatment predominated in mothers whose age groups ranged between 15-18 years; divorced; in children with more prolonged treatments; highlighting the mothers with primary schooling and poor housing conditions. Likewise, families with a greater number of children and a smaller number of people with monetary remuneration interrupted the treatment.

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