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Development of a Parent-Reported Outcome Measure for Febrile Infants ≤60 Days Old
Paul L Aronson, Eduardo Fleischer1, Paula Schaeffer1
1From the Departments of Pediatrics.
Insights
This study developed a new 23-item parent-reported outcome measure for febrile infants under 60 days old. The measure captures parental experiences and infant outcomes, showing excellent ease of use.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine
- Patient-Reported Outcome Measures
- Infant Health
Background:
- Febrile infants under 60 days old require careful evaluation in emergency departments.
- Existing outcome measures may not fully capture parental experiences and concerns.
- Developing a parent-reported outcome measure is crucial for comprehensive infant care assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a parent-reported outcome measure for febrile infants 60 days or younger.
- To ensure the measure captures key parental experiences, emotions, and valued infant outcomes.
- To create a user-friendly tool for emergency department evaluations.
Main Methods:
- A 3-part study involving parent interviews, expert review, and cognitive interviews.
- Iterative item generation and revision based on parent and physician feedback.
- Utilized 4-point scales for rating item clarity, relevance, and ease of use.
Main Results:
- Identified key themes from 24 parent interviews: medical experiences, emotions, valued outcomes, and family impact.
- Generated an initial 22 items, revised to 23 items based on expert and member checking.
- The final 23-item measure demonstrated excellent ease of use.
Conclusions:
- A 23-item parent-reported outcome measure was successfully developed.
- The measure incorporates essential experiences and outcomes important to parents of febrile infants.
- Further research is required to validate the measure's psychometric properties.
Objective:
We aimed to develop a parent-reported outcome measure for febrile infants 60 days or younger evaluated in the emergency department.
Methods:
We conducted a 3-part study: (1) individual, semistructured interviews with parents of febrile infants 60 days or younger to generate potential items for the measure; (2) expert review with pediatric emergency medicine physicians and member checking with parents, who rated each item's clarity and relevance using 4-point scales; and (3) cognitive interviews with a new sample of parents, who gave feedback and rated the measure's ease of use on a 4-point scale. The measure was iteratively revised during each part of the development process.
Results:
In part 1, we interviewed 24 parents of 21 infants. Interviews revealed several themes: parents' experiences with medical care, communication, and decision making; parents' emotions, particularly worry, fear, and stress; the infant's outcomes valued by parents; and the impact of the infant's illness on the family. From these themes, we identified 22 potential items for inclusion in the measure. In part 2, 10 items were revised for clarity based on feedback from physicians and parents, primarily under the domains of parents' emotions and the infant's outcomes. In part 3, we further revised the measure for clarity and added an item. The final measure included 23 items and was rated as excellent in its ease of use.
Conclusions:
The 23-item parent-reported outcome measure includes the experiences and outcomes important to parents. Further studies are needed to evaluate the measure's psychometric properties.
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