Related Experiment Videos
Screening test battery for assessment of psychosocial development
S Vazir1, A N Naidu, P Vidyasagar
1National Institute of Nutrition, Indian Council of Medical Research, Hyderabad.
Insights
This study developed a simple, low-cost screening tool for early detection of developmental disabilities in Indian children under six. The validated psychosocial developmental test is culture-appropriate and usable by public health workers.
Area of Science:
- Child Development
- Public Health
- Pediatric Medicine
Background:
- Early detection of developmental disabilities is crucial for timely intervention.
- Existing screening tools may not be culturally appropriate or accessible in low-resource settings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop simple, reliable indicators for early detection of developmental disabilities in children under 6 years.
- To compare the age of attainment of developmental milestones across three regions in India.
Main Methods:
- A multicentric, cross-sectional collaborative study involving over 13,000 children from rural, tribal, and urban areas in India.
- Development and standardization of a culture-appropriate psychosocial developmental screening test battery.
- Ensured data quality through inter-rater and test-retest reliability measures.
Main Results:
- A simple, low-cost, culture-appropriate psychosocial developmental screening test was developed.
- The instrument was standardized on a large, diverse sample of over 13,000 children.
- Age reference values for developmental milestones were comparable across the three study centers.
Conclusions:
- The developed screening test is a practical tool for early detection of developmental disabilities by trained public health workers.
- The study provides a reliable and culturally relevant method for assessing child development in diverse Indian populations.
- Comparable milestone attainment data supports the tool's generalizability across different regions.
Abstract:
A multicentric cross-sectional collaborative study was undertaken in 3 centres in India with the main aim of developing simple and reliable indicators for the early detection of developmental disabilities in children under 6 years of age and to compare the age of attainment of developmental milestones in children in the three regions. The study provided a simple low-cost and culture-appropriate psychosocial developmental screening test battery which can be used with ease by trained public health grass-roots functionaries. This instrument was standardized on a large rural, tribal and urban sample comprising more than 13,000 children from 3 regions in India. The procedure for sampling, selection of items and methodology for standardization of the instrument in the Hyderabad region detailed in this paper were replicated in other centres as well. Quality control of data was ensured through inter-rater and test-retest measures of reliability. During pre-testing, 66 culture-appropriate milestones were selected finally from a larger item pool. The 50th centile age reference values of the Hyderabad study children and those obtained by other 2 centres were comparable.