École de réadaptation, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada.
School of Rehabilitation Science, University of McMaster, Hamilton, Canada.
Child Care Health Dev. 2020 Jan;46(1):9-18. doi: 10.1111/cch.12731. Epub 2019 Dec 27.
Early identification of children at risk of developmental delay is crucial to promote healthy development. Assessing parental concerns about development is often part of identification processes. However, we currently do not understand well how and why parents become concerned and how and why they access early identification and intervention services. The purpose of this study was to explore parental perceptions about their child's development and the factors influencing their reported professional help-seeking behaviours.
This exploratory study was part of a larger study describing child development in children aged 2-5 in a small Canadian city. We conducted semistructured interviews with 16 parents whose children were at risk of developmental delay to examine their perceptions of their child's development, their use of community services promoting development, and their recommendations to optimize those services.
Four themes were identified: (a) Vision of child development influencing help-seeking behaviours: Natural or Supported?, (b) Internal and external sources contributing to parents' level of developmental concern, (c) Using internal resources and struggling to access external resources, and (d) Satisfaction with services accessed and recommendations to access more support. Parents' vision of child development along with sources of parental concern appeared to influence the level of concern, enhancing our understanding of how parents become concerned. The level of concern and parents' knowledge and perceived access to resources seemed to influence their decision whether or not to consult health care professionals. Parents provided many suggestions to improve services to promote child development and support families.
Results highlight the importance of supporting parents in recognizing if their child is at risk of delay and increasing awareness of available resources. It appears particularly important to ensure that health care professionals and community-based support services are accessible to provide parents with the support they need, especially when they have concerns.
早期识别有发育迟缓风险的儿童对于促进健康发育至关重要。评估父母对发育的担忧通常是识别过程的一部分。然而，我们目前还不太了解父母是如何以及为何感到担忧的，以及他们是如何以及为何寻求早期识别和干预服务的。本研究的目的是探讨父母对其子女发育的看法，以及影响他们报告的专业寻求帮助行为的因素。
这项探索性研究是描述加拿大一个小城市 2-5 岁儿童发育情况的更大研究的一部分。我们对 16 名子女有发育迟缓风险的父母进行了半结构化访谈，以检查他们对子女发育的看法、他们对促进发育的社区服务的使用情况，以及他们对优化这些服务的建议。
确定了四个主题：（a）影响寻求帮助行为的儿童发育观：自然还是支持？（b）导致父母发育关注程度不同的内部和外部因素，（c）利用内部资源并努力获取外部资源，（d）对所获得服务的满意度和获取更多支持的建议。父母对儿童发育的看法以及父母关注的来源似乎影响了关注程度，从而更深入地了解父母是如何感到担忧的。关注程度、父母的知识和感知到的资源获取能力似乎影响了他们是否咨询医疗保健专业人员的决定。父母提出了许多建议，以改善服务，促进儿童发育和支持家庭。
研究结果强调了支持父母识别其子女是否有发育迟缓风险的重要性，并提高对现有资源的认识。确保医疗保健专业人员和以社区为基础的支持服务能够为父母提供他们所需的支持似乎尤为重要，特别是当他们有担忧时。
