Scalable Transdiagnostic Early Assessment of Mental Health (STREAM): a study protocol

Area of Science:

• Child development
• Global health
• Digital health

Background:

• Early childhood development is crucial for lifelong functioning.
• Current developmental assessments are time-intensive and require skilled professionals, limiting access in low-resource settings.
• A significant 'detection gap' exists, leaving many children needing support undetected.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an open-source, scalable, tablet-based platform for assessing motor, social, and cognitive development in young children.
• To bridge the detection gap by enabling non-specialist workers to conduct assessments.
• To facilitate early interventions through public health initiatives.

Main Methods:

• The STREAM project will assess 4000 children aged 0-6 years in Malawi and India.
• Integrates gamified tasks, observation checklists, parent-reports, and audio-video recordings for motor, social, and cognitive functioning.
• Develops and validates domain scores to create age-adjusted developmental reference curves.

Main Results:

• Domain scores for motor, social, and cognitive functioning will be developed.
• Validity and reliability of these domain scores will be assessed.
• Age-adjusted developmental reference curves will be constructed.

Conclusions:

• The STREAM platform offers a scalable solution for developmental assessment in underserved populations.
• Empowering non-specialist workers can improve early detection and intervention for developmental delays.
• Dissemination of findings will support global child health initiatives.