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Health professional perceptions regarding screening tools for developmental surveillance for children in a
Pankaj Garg1,2,3,4,5, My Trinh Ha6,7, John Eastwood2,8,9,10,11
1Department of Community Paediatrics, Liverpool Hospital, Liverpool, NSW, Australia.
Insights
Health professionals face challenges with developmental surveillance tools like PEDS and ASQs, impacting early identification of child development issues. Improved training and integrated care models are needed for better parent-provider collaboration and information sharing.
Area of Science:
- Child Development
- Public Health Surveillance
- Health Services Research
Background:
- Early identification of developmental difficulties is a public health priority.
- New South Wales (NSW) Health recommended developmental surveillance using Parents' Evaluation of Development Status (PEDS) and Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ).
- Uptake and engagement with these recommended screening tools remain sub-optimal.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine health professionals' attitudes, enablers, and barriers regarding developmental surveillance practices and screening tools.
- To understand the strategies and resources needed to maximize engagement in developmental surveillance programs.
- To investigate the uptake of PEDS and ASQ in a specific region of NSW.
Main Methods:
- A qualitative component of the longitudinal prospective birth cohort "Watch Me grow" study was conducted.
- Data were collected from 37 primary health care providers in South Western Sydney.
- Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes from the collected data.
Main Results:
- Major themes included difficulties/problems and positives/benefits of surveillance, and tool specificity.
- Barriers for physicians included time, tool awareness, referral pathway knowledge, and service access.
- Child and Family Health Nurses (CFHNs) raised issues with screening tool choice and multilingual access; GPs and pediatricians reported low awareness and training needs.
Conclusions:
- Practical challenges, limited knowledge, and low uptake of recommended screening tools hinder developmental surveillance.
- Further research is needed on integrated care models to enhance parent-provider collaboration and inter-professional information sharing.
- Improved training and resource accessibility are crucial for effective implementation of developmental surveillance programs.
Background:
Encouraging early child development and the early identification of developmental difficulties is a priority. The Ministry of Health in the Australian State of New South Wales (NSW), has recommended a program of developmental surveillance using validated screening questionnaires, namely, the Parents' Evaluation of Development Status (PEDS) and Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQs), however, the use of these tools has remained sub-optimal. A longitudinal prospective birth cohort "Watch Me grow" study was carried out in the South Western Sydney (SW) region of NSW to ascertain the uptake as well as the strategies and the resources required to maximise engagement in the surveillance program. This paper reports on a qualitative component of the study examining the attitudes, enablers and barriers to the current developmental surveillance practices, with reference to screening tools, amongst health professionals.
Methods:
Qualitative data from 37 primary health care providers in a region of relative disadvantage in Sydney was analysed.
Results:
The major themes that emerged from the data were the "difficulties/problems" and "positives/benefits" of surveillance in general, and "specificity" of the tools which were employed. Barriers of time, tool awareness, knowledge and access of referral pathways, and services were important for the physician providers, while the choice of screening tools and access to these tools in other languages were raised as important issues by Child and Family Health Nurses (CFHN). The use of these tools by health professionals was also influenced by what the professionals perceived as the parents' understanding of their child's development. While the PEDS and ASQs was utilised by CFHNs, both General Practitioners (GPs) and paediatricians commented that they lacked awareness of developmental screening tools and highlighted further training needs.
Conclusions:
The results highlight the practical challenges to, and limited knowledge and uptake of, the use of recommended screening tools as part of developmental surveillance. There is a need for further research regarding the most effective integrated models of care which will allow for a better collaboration between parents and service providers and improve information sharing between different professionals such as CFHNs GPs, Practices nurses and Paediatricians involved in screening and surveillance programs.
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