TY - JOUR
T1 - The agreement of caregivers' initial identification of children's developmental problems with the professional assessment in Taiwan
AU - Lin, Ling Yi
AU - Cherng, Rong Ju
AU - Lee, I. Chin
AU - Chen, Yi Jen
AU - Yang, Hui Mei
AU - Chen, Yung Jung
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the children, families, and caregivers who participated in this research. We thank Miss Ying-Yuan Lu and Miss Chi-Hsuan Lo (clinical psychologist), and Mrs. Chih-Ling Chang (case manager). This study was partially supported by a grant from the Bureau of Health Promotion , Department of Health, Taiwan.
PY - 2011/9
Y1 - 2011/9
N2 - Children's developmental problems vary, with some easier to identify than others. The accuracy of caregivers' initial identification of children's developmental problems is important in the timely treatment of those problems by medical professionals. In this study, we investigated the degree to which caregivers' initial identification of children's developmental problems matched the clinical assessment by a team of qualified professionals in a developmental assessment unit of a medical center in Taiwan. The practitioners included a pediatric neurologist, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, an occupational therapist, a physical therapist, and two speech therapists. Caregivers of 943 children (age range: 2-80 months; mean: 37.7 months) who visited the unit for a suspected developmental problem were interviewed about the chief problem that led to the caregivers bringing their children to the unit. The results showed high agreement in the global and the motor domains between the caregivers and the professionals, and low agreement in the cognitive and the speech/language domains. The agreement was significantly related to the caregivers' native origin and socioeconomic status index (SSI). Caregivers with a foreign origin (immigrant mothers) and low SSI were more likely to misidentify their children's problems. It is recommended that pediatric practitioners offer continuing education to caregivers, especially in the domains of cognitive and speech/language development.
AB - Children's developmental problems vary, with some easier to identify than others. The accuracy of caregivers' initial identification of children's developmental problems is important in the timely treatment of those problems by medical professionals. In this study, we investigated the degree to which caregivers' initial identification of children's developmental problems matched the clinical assessment by a team of qualified professionals in a developmental assessment unit of a medical center in Taiwan. The practitioners included a pediatric neurologist, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, an occupational therapist, a physical therapist, and two speech therapists. Caregivers of 943 children (age range: 2-80 months; mean: 37.7 months) who visited the unit for a suspected developmental problem were interviewed about the chief problem that led to the caregivers bringing their children to the unit. The results showed high agreement in the global and the motor domains between the caregivers and the professionals, and low agreement in the cognitive and the speech/language domains. The agreement was significantly related to the caregivers' native origin and socioeconomic status index (SSI). Caregivers with a foreign origin (immigrant mothers) and low SSI were more likely to misidentify their children's problems. It is recommended that pediatric practitioners offer continuing education to caregivers, especially in the domains of cognitive and speech/language development.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ridd.2011.02.026
DO - 10.1016/j.ridd.2011.02.026
M3 - Article
C2 - 21441010
AN - SCOPUS:79958285844
SN - 0891-4222
VL - 32
SP - 1714
EP - 1721
JO - Research in Developmental Disabilities
JF - Research in Developmental Disabilities
IS - 5
ER -