Screening for Developmental Delays in Primary Health Care in Northeastern Brazil

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Developmental Psychology
• Public Health

Background:

• Early identification of neurodevelopmental delays (NDD) is crucial for timely intervention.
• The Survey of Well-Being of Young Children-Brazilian version (SWYC-BR) is a tool for assessing child development.
• Limited data exists on NDD frequency and SWYC-BR psychometric properties in Brazil.

Purpose of the Study:

• To estimate the frequency of suspected NDD in young Brazilian children.
• To evaluate the measurement properties and usability of the SWYC-BR.
• To assess the feasibility of SWYC-BR for early detection in primary care.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study in Northeastern Brazil with 645 mother/caregiver-child dyads (2–65 months).
• Administered SWYC-BR and socioeconomic questionnaire.
• Assessed SWYC-BR test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and construct validity of the Developmental Milestones questionnaire (DM-SWYC).

Main Results:

• Frequency of suspected NDD was 37.9%.
• SWYC-BR demonstrated high test-retest reliability (>0.75) and good internal consistency (0.56–0.97).
• 85.7% of caregivers found SWYC-BR easy to use; 95.8% enjoyed responding.

Conclusions:

• High prevalence of suspected NDD underscores the need for focused early child development programs.
• SWYC-BR is a well-accepted, valid, and reliable tool for identifying children needing enhanced primary care monitoring.
• The findings support SWYC-BR's implementation in Brazilian primary healthcare settings.