Parental Compliance After Screening Social Development in Toddlers

Abstract

Objectives:To examine the prevalence of parents' compliance with follow-up measurements after their child tested positive at a screening to assess problems in social development, as well as to find demographic, screening-related, and child-specific factors associated with parental compliance.Design: Two-stage screening design.Setting: Utrecht, the Netherlands.Participants: A random population of 31 724 children were screened at well-baby clinics at age 14 to 15 months (screen 1). Three hundred sixty-four children underwent screen 2 (255 children who scored positive at screen 1 [population screening] and 109 children younger than 36 months who were identified by surveillance because of suspected problems in their social development).Main Exposure: A 2-stage screening was applied. Main Outcome Measures:Compliance with recommendations of having either a second screening (after screen 1) or clinical evaluation (after screen 2).Results: Of 370 children who tested positive at screen 1, parents of 255 children (69%) complied with screen 2. Three groups were distinguished after screen 2 (n=173): early compliance (clinical evaluation within 6 months) (68%), late compliance (clinical evaluation after 6 months) (14%), and noncompliance (no clinical evaluation) (18%). Late compliance and noncompliance were more common in parents of younger children and children who were identified via population screening. Parents of children with either relatively high cognitive skills and/or low scores on screening measures were less inclined to comply. Conclusions:Study results suggest higher effectiveness of surveillance over population screening. Screening may well be applied as a second step after surveillance to identify children who need further clinical evaluation.

Effect of breast‐feeding frequency on hyperbilirubinemia in breast‐fed term neonate

“…Dietz et al . found that most parents may delay compliance or be non‐compliant with discharge instructions that involved medically relevant advice . Arad et al .…”

“…23 Dietz et al found that most parents may delay compliance or be non-compliant with discharge instructions that involved medically relevant advice. 24 Arad et al reported better parental compliance with neonatal discharge instructions when the content of the discharge memo was reinforced by a nurse before discharge, and both the nurse and mother signed the note. 25 Therefore, the current study provided discharge instructions orally and a recording form was handed to the parents to record the frequency of breast-feeding and diaper change; the nurse and parents were both required to sign the discharge document.…”

The Structure of Autism Spectrum Disorder Symptoms in the General Population at 18 Months

“…Previous studies by Glascoe (1999, 2003) and Tervo (2005) for example, found that parental concerns relate directly to their child’s wellbeing and development. Our prior work on population screening on autism spectrum disorders found that parental judgment about whether or not to comply with professional recommendations did reflect a rather accurate estimate of the severity of autistic symptoms of their child (Dietz et al 2007). …”

How useful are screening instruments for toddlers to predict outcome at age 4? General development, language skills, and symptom severity in children with a false positive screen for autism spectrum disorder

“…However, it remains possible that the parents of children who exhibited more severe developmental problems at age 2 were more inclined to react to our invitation for further assessment at the university lab after screening, which was also found in previous population screening studies [23,40]. This may have resulted in more developmentally challenged children with a false positive screen on the CESDD in the current sample compared to the general population.…”

“…Yirmiya and Charman [40] concluded based on a review of both prospective and retrospective studies on early signs of ASD that we do not yet have sufficient insight in which of the early signs of ASD known to us are specific for ASD. In order to address this specificity question, they argued that we need data on children who do and do not continue to develop ASDs later on, after showing these early markers.…”