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A Social Environment Inventory for the pediatric office
S T Orr1, S A James, E Charney
1Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205.
Insights
A new questionnaire helps identify mothers facing significant psychosocial stressors. Early detection in pediatric settings can prevent child behavioral and school issues, improving overall family well-being.
Area of Science:
- Psychosocial health
- Pediatric health
- Maternal mental health
Background:
- Psychosocial stressors negatively impact child and adult health, leading to behavioral and school problems.
- Lack of valid tools to measure maternal stress exposure hinders research and intervention.
- Early identification of maternal stress is crucial for preventing adverse outcomes in children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a self-administered questionnaire for assessing maternal stress exposure.
- To facilitate early identification of mothers experiencing high stress levels in pediatric settings.
Main Methods:
- Development of a self-administered questionnaire for maternal stress assessment.
- Testing and validation of the questionnaire in a pediatric context.
Main Results:
- The study reports on the successful development and testing of a new maternal stress assessment tool.
- The questionnaire is designed for use in pediatric settings to identify mothers with high stressor exposure.
Conclusions:
- The developed questionnaire can aid in the early identification of mothers under significant psychosocial stress.
- Early identification in pediatric offices can facilitate the prevention of child behavioral, school, and other problems.
Abstract:
Exposure to psychosocial stressors is associated with deleterious physical and mental health outcomes among children and adults, as well as with school-related and behavioral problems among children. However, research and intervention in this area have been hampered by the lack of a valid measurement tool to assess exposure to stressors among mothers. This paper reports on the development and testing of a self-administered questionnaire for use in the pediatric setting to assess maternal exposure to stressors. The questionnaire was developed to facilitate the early identification of mothers exposed to high levels of stressors, since exposure to stressors often precedes the onset of problems. Early identification of mothers and children, in the pediatric office, could facilitate the prevention of various behavioral, school, and other problems among children.