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The accuracy of parental concern expressed in the A ges and S tages Q uestionnaire to predict developmental delay
Author(s) -
DeakinBell Nicole,
Walker Karen,
Badawi Nadia
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of paediatrics and child health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.631
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1440-1754
pISSN - 1034-4810
DOI - 10.1111/jpc.12084
Subject(s) - medicine , test (biology) , thematic analysis , pediatrics , developmental psychology , psychology , biology , qualitative research , social science , sociology , paleontology
Aim Whilst there have been comparisons of the A ges and S tages Q uestionnaire ( ASQ ) with other gold standard developmental assessments, research concerning the free‐text comments section of the questionnaire has been limited. The objective of this paper is to assess whether parental concerns expressed in the free‐text comments section of the ASQ can accurately predict infant development. Method Data from the D evelopment A fter I nfant S urgery study was analysed post hoc. Free‐text comments from the ASQ were analysed qualitatively by thematic analysis and quantitatively in comparison to the B ayley S cales of I nfant and T oddler D evelopment, Third Edition ( BSID‐III ). Infants who underwent cardiac surgery (97), non‐cardiac surgery (131) and no surgery (controls; 166) were analysed. Results Parental concern expressed on the ASQ predicted a lower mean BSID ‐ III score when groups were analysed collectively. Medical concern and developmental concern were shown to be predictors of child development, whilst global concerns and behavioural concerns were unrelated to child development. The presence of carer concern was assessed for its value in predicting a BSID‐III subscale score less than 8 in all groups. Sensitivity ranged from 22% to 48%, and specificity ranged from 73% to 88%. Conclusions Parental concern was found to predict a lower BSID‐III when all groups were analysed collectively. Despite this, parental concern as a screening test for developmental delay failed to meet the N ational H ealth and M edical R esearch C ouncil guidelines for adequate psychometric properties. The findings from this study suggest that there is value in attending to the comments written by carers on the ASQ .