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Published on: August 25, 2014
Preliminary Report of Validity for the Infant Comprehensive Evaluation for Neurodevelopmental Delay, a Newly
Minha Hong1, Kyung-Sook Lee2, Jin-Ah Park3
1Department of Psychiatry, Myongji Hospital, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Goyang, Korea.
Insights
This study developed the Infant Comprehensive Evaluation for Neurodevelopmental Delay (ICEND) tool for early detection of developmental delays and comorbid conditions in young children. The ICEND is a reliable and valid screening instrument for children aged 12-71 months.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurodevelopment
- Developmental Psychology
- Clinical Assessment Tools
Background:
- Early detection of developmental issues in infants is crucial for timely intervention.
- Comprehensive evaluation is necessary to identify comorbid conditions associated with developmental delays.
- Existing screening tools may require enhancement for broader applicability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To generate scale items for young children (12-71 months) with developmental delays.
- To develop a comprehensive screening tool for developmental delay and comorbid conditions.
- To assess the validity and cut-off scores of the developed screening tool.
Main Methods:
- The Infant Comprehensive Evaluation for Neurodevelopmental Delay (ICEND) was developed by multidisciplinary experts.
- ICEND features two age-specific versions (12-36 months and 37-71 months) with sections on risk factors, resilience factors, and clinical scales.
- Concurrent validity was assessed using established tools like the Child Behavior Checklist and Korean Developmental Screening Test for Infants and Children.
Main Results:
- The study included 296 participants, with 19.2% identified as high-risk.
- The ICEND demonstrated good reliability, with Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.533 to 0.928.
- The tool showed fair discriminatory ability with sensitivity of 0.5-0.7 and specificity of 0.7-0.9 across most domains.
Conclusions:
- The Infant Comprehensive Evaluation for Neurodevelopmental Delay (ICEND) is a reliable and valid assessment tool.
- ICEND shows potential as an auxiliary instrument for identifying neurodevelopmental delays and comorbid conditions.
- The tool is applicable to children aged 12-71 months.
Objectives:
Early detection of developmental issues in infants and necessary intervention are important. To identify the comorbid conditions, a comprehensive evaluation is required. The study's objectives were to 1) generate scale items by identifying and eliciting concepts relevant to young children (12-71 months) with developmental delays, 2) develop a comprehensive screening tool for developmental delay and comorbid conditions, and 3) assess the tool's validity and cut-off.
Methods:
Multidisciplinary experts devised the "Infant Comprehensive Evaluation for Neurodevelopmental Delay (ICEND)," an assessment method that comes in two versions depending on the age of the child: 12-36 months and 37-71 months, through monthly seminars and focused group interviews. The ICEND is composed of three parts: risk factors, resilience factors, and clinical scales. In parts 1 and 2, there were 41 caretakers responded to the questionnaires. Part 3 involved clinicians evaluating ten subscales using 98 and 114 questionnaires for younger and older versions, respectively. The Child Behavior Checklist, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Infant- Toddler Social Emotional Assessment, and Korean Developmental Screening Test for Infants and Children were employed to analyze concurrent validity with the ICEND. The analyses were performed on both typical and high-risk infants to identify concurrent validity, reliability, and cut-off scores.
Results:
A total of 296 people participated in the study, with 57 of them being high-risk (19.2%). The Cronbach's alpha was positive (0.533-0.928). In the majority of domains, the ICEND demonstrated a fair discriminatory ability, with a sensitivity of 0.5-0.7 and specificity 0.7-0.9.
Conclusion:
The ICEND is reliable and valid, indicating its potential as an auxiliary tool for assessing neurodevelopmental delay and comorbid conditions in children aged 12-36 months and 37-71 months.
