Engaging parents in the process of monitoring the development of children: abstract

Background and aims. In the Netherlands, the Dutch Developmental Instrument (DDI; in Dutch: Van Wiechenschema) is used by the Youth Health Care to routinely monitor the development of children. Objectives of the DDI are to systematically monitor the development of young children and to actively engage parents in this process. Aim of our study was to assess the agreement between DDI-milestones scored by parents and scored by professionals. Furthermore, we investigated the experience of parents with the assessment of the development of their child. Methods. Parents with children aged 1 -15 months filled in a questionnaire. This questionnaire had two parts: assessment of a subset of the milestones of the DDI and questions related to the experience of this assessment. Professionals assessed the DDI milestones as usual. The scores on the milestones of the parents were compared to the scores of the professionals by using proportional percentages. Moreover, the D-score, a summary statistic calculated by the scores on the milestones, of the parent and professional were compared with the Bland-Altman plot. The experience of parents were analysed with descriptive statistics. Results. In our pilot study (N = 305, response 69%), 92% of the parents indicated that they enjoyed assessing the milestones. Furthermore, some parents stated that the assessment gave them a new perspective on the development of their child. Moreover, the pilot study showed a good first impression of the agreement in scores between parents and professionals. The average proportional percentage was 79% and the mean of the difference in D-score was equal to -1,48. However, the employed written instructions of the milestones appeared to be unsuitable for some parents, and more modern instructions, such as short videoclips, were suggested by parents. Conclusion. Our pilot study showed that parents enjoyed assessing the developmental milestones of their child. We are currently conducting a large sample follow-up study in which we are using video instructions on the DDI milestones for parents. Statement. We believe that the assessment of DDI-milestones can be a fruitful direction to engage parents in the process of monitoring the development of their child.