School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Western Australia, Australia.
Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Child Care Health Dev. 2021 Mar;47(2):174-183. doi: 10.1111/cch.12824. Epub 2020 Nov 16.
To allow for accurate and timely diagnosis of developmental coordination disorder (DCD) key stakeholders must be familiar with and be able to identify features of this disorder. No studies to date have investigated the awareness of DCD among key stakeholders in Australia.
An online survey was complete by 494 Australian participants: primary caregivers (n = 153), teachers (n = 149), allied health professionals (n = 165) and medical professionals (n = 27).
DCD and related terms were among the least known childhood disorders. Approximately half of the sample were familiar with the term DCD but every stakeholder group were more familiar with the term dyspraxia. Allied health professionals demonstrated greater knowledge of the features of DCD, particularly motor features. Every stakeholder group showed poor recognition of the social and psychological effects of DCD. A relatively low percentage of allied health (53%) and medical (33%) professionals reported they had identified or diagnosed DCD and less than 20% of these felt that the DSM-5 contained adequate information to make a DCD diagnosis. Most teachers (82%) believed they should play a role in identifying early warning signs of this disorder, and 80% believed there are children in the school system who were labelled as lazy or defiant when they have motor skills impairments. Primary caregivers were supportive of a diagnosis of DCD being provided; however, only 16% were confident that a physician would provide an accurate and timely diagnosis.
Key stakeholders play a unique and important role in the identification of children with DCD. Though most participants acknowledge the role that they play, all stakeholder groups demonstrated poor familiarity with the term DCD and low levels of knowledge about the features of this disorder. Improved familiarity and knowledge of the disorder is needed for access to appropriate services and improved long-term outcomes for this condition.
为了准确、及时地诊断发育性协调障碍（DCD），关键利益相关者必须熟悉并能够识别该障碍的特征。迄今为止，尚无研究调查澳大利亚关键利益相关者对 DCD 的认识。
494 名澳大利亚参与者完成了在线调查：主要照顾者（n=153）、教师（n=149）、 健康专业人员（n=165）和医疗专业人员（n=27）。
DCD 和相关术语是最不为人知的儿童疾病之一。大约一半的样本熟悉 DCD 一词，但每个利益相关者群体都更熟悉运动障碍一词。健康专业人员对 DCD 的特征表现出更多的了解，特别是运动特征。每个利益相关者群体对 DCD 的社会和心理影响的认识都很差。相对较低比例的健康专业人员（53%）和医疗专业人员（33%）报告他们已经识别或诊断出 DCD，不到 20%的人认为 DSM-5 包含足够的信息来进行 DCD 诊断。大多数教师（82%）认为他们应该在识别这种疾病的早期预警信号方面发挥作用，并且 80%的人认为在学校系统中，当孩子有运动技能障碍时，他们被贴上懒惰或挑衅的标签。主要照顾者支持提供 DCD 诊断；然而，只有 16%的人有信心医生会提供准确和及时的诊断。
关键利益相关者在识别患有 DCD 的儿童方面发挥着独特而重要的作用。尽管大多数参与者都承认他们的作用，但所有利益相关者群体对 DCD 一词的熟悉程度都很差，对该疾病特征的了解程度也很低。需要提高对该疾病的熟悉程度和了解程度，以便获得适当的服务并改善该疾病的长期预后。
