Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, and Department of Otorhinolaryngology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Taiwan.
Res Dev Disabil. 2011 Sep-Oct;32(5):1714-21. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2011.02.026. Epub 2011 Mar 26.
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.
儿童的发育问题各不相同，有些问题比其他问题更容易识别。照顾者对儿童发育问题的初步识别准确性对于医疗专业人员及时治疗这些问题非常重要。在这项研究中，我们调查了照顾者对儿童发育问题的初步识别与台湾一家医疗中心发育评估部门的合格专业人员的临床评估相匹配的程度。从业者包括儿科神经科医生、精神科医生、心理学家、职业治疗师、物理治疗师和两名言语治疗师。我们对 943 名（年龄范围：2-80 个月；平均：37.7 个月）因疑似发育问题而到该部门就诊的儿童的照顾者进行了访谈，询问导致他们带孩子到该部门的主要问题。结果表明，在全球和运动领域，照顾者和专业人员之间存在高度一致，而在认知和言语/语言领域则存在低度一致。这种一致性与照顾者的原籍和社会经济地位指数（SSI）显著相关。原籍国外（移民母亲）和 SSI 较低的照顾者更有可能错误识别他们孩子的问题。建议儿科医生为照顾者提供继续教育，特别是在认知和言语/语言发展领域。
