Predictors of developmental surveillance completion at six months of age in south western Sydney

Abstract

BackgroundWhile developmental surveillance programs promote early identification of child developmental problems, evidence has indicated suboptimal uptake. This study aimed to identify predictors of developmental surveillance completion at 6 months postpartum.MethodsQuestionnaires were administered to the parents of 510 infants who were born in south western Sydney, Australia over a 22‐month period. Attendance for developmental screening and completion of the Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS) at 6 months postpartum were modelled separately using multivariable logistic regression.ResultsDevelopmental surveillance attendance was predicted by higher levels of maternal education, annual income and being informed about checks. PEDS completion at 6 months of age was predicted by higher income and being informed, as well as being married, employed, speaking English at home, full‐term birth and the professional status of the practitioner completing the check.ConclusionsBarriers to developmental surveillance included low socioeconomic status, linguistic diversity and possible gaps in parental knowledge and professional education. Developmental surveillance rates may be increased by the addition of targeted parental and professional support within current universal frameworks.

A case study of well child care visits at general practices in a region of disadvantage in Sydney

“…Because of this relative paucity of information from Australia, a longitudinal birth cohort ‘Watch Me Grow’ study has recently been conducted in the South Western Sydney (SWS) region of New South Wales. This study confirmed previous international research on factors affecting WCC and developmental screening activities [ 25 , 26 ]. However, there is an absence of research that directly observes “real life” WCC visits between GP’s and parents with young children in the context of the Australian public health system.…”

Health professional perceptions regarding screening tools for developmental surveillance for children in a multicultural part of Sydney, Australia

“…The WMG longitudinal birth cohort study was established in the South Western (SW) Sydney region with the broad aim of generating robust evidence to inform policy makers and service providers on maximizing the uptake of the developmental surveillance program [ 41 ]. The description of the study cohort and quantitative evidence assessing the risk factors and prevalence of parental developmental concerns for their children has been reported elsewhere [ 42 – 44 ]. We have also recently reported the findings from the qualitative component of the study on the parent’s experiences for accessing services for their children’s health and development [ 22 ].…”

Mapping diversity and demographic‐based changes to a pediatric population attending a specialist tertiary hospital: a retrospective review

“…Language barriers contribute to a lack of knowledge of the disease, treatment, and prevention, disempowerment, and isolation of the patient and family members (Heywood & López‐Vélez, 2019). Culturally and linguistically diverse parents are 1.3 times more likely to leave the hospital with their child against medical advice, 1.6 times as likely to leave emergency departments left against the advice or did not wait to be seen, and 1.5 times more likely to not show for an outpatient appointment (Guo et al, 2019), or be unaware of the services available to them (Garg et al, 2017; Overs et al, 2017). Our findings also highlighted that Australia's First People who, although born in Australia, may not report English as a preferred language and therefore experience healthcare barriers (Goldfeld et al, 2011; Guo et al, 2019).…”