In My Shoes - Validation of a computer assisted approach for interviewing children.

Interviewing young children presents a challenge because they tend to provide incomplete accounts and are easily misled. Therefore there is a need for techniques to improve young children's recall, while maintaining accuracy and increasing completeness. The computer-assisted interview In My Shoes (IMS) is an aid that potentially offers a way for young children to provide accounts of their experiences. This study examined the validity of IMS, by comparing it with a forensic best practice interview approach using a real-life clinical situation to ensure high ecological validity. Children were randomly assigned to either method and both accuracy and completeness of statements made by 4- and 5-year-olds (N=54) regarding a video-documented health check-up were assessed. The In My Shoes interviews were as good as best practice interviews on all accuracy measures for both age groups, except for object accuracy that was better in the forensic interview condition. Events description completeness was similar in both interview conditions; however, IMS interviews generated more complete statements about people present at the visit. The findings suggest that the IMS approach yields comparable results to a best practice interview, and it can be used as an alternative aid in child interviews.

'Now I use words like asymmetry and unstable': nurses' experiences in using a standardized assessment for motor performance within routine child health care.

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: There is an increasing recognition that early intervention is important for children with motor disorders. The use of standardized assessment methods within the Swedish Child Health Services (CHS) may improve early identification of these children and thereby their development and quality of care. Given the key role of nurses within the CHS, we explored their experiences of using a structured assessment of motor performance (SOMP-I) in a clinical setting, and investigated possible barriers and facilitators for implementation of the method within the CHS. METHODS: The study was conducted in 2013 in Uppsala County, Sweden. Ten child health nurses participated in two focus group interviews, which were analysed using systematic text condensation. RESULTS: The analysis yielded three themes: (1) increased knowledge and professional pride - nurses described their desire to provide high-quality care for which SOMP-I was a useful tool; (2) improved parent-provider relationship - nurses felt that using SOMP-I involved both the parents and their infant to a greater extent than routine care; and (3) conditions for further implementation - nurses described that the time and effort needed to master new skills must be considered and practical barriers, such as lack of examination space, resource constraints and difficulties in documenting the assessment must be addressed before implementing the SOMP-I method in routine care. CONCLUSION: Child health nurses felt that the SOMP-I method fitted well with their professional role and increased the quality of care provided. However, significant barriers to implementing SOMP-I into routine child health care were described.

Using different approaches to conducting postal questionnaires affected response rates and cost-efficiency.

OBJECTIVE: To compare three different approaches for consent in postal questionnaire in terms of response rate, time consumption, and cost-efficiency, and to collect a demographic questionnaire for dropout analyses. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Population survey in Sweden. Mothers and fathers (n=600) of three hundred 3-year olds were divided into three groups. One group was asked to Actively Agree to participate in a cover letter and send consent back to receive the main questionnaire. The second group received the cover letter, the consent, and the main questionnaire in the initial mailings, Direct Delivery. The third group received the cover letter and consent form in which they were asked to Actively Decline participation within 7 days if they did not want to participate. Otherwise, they were sent the main questionnaire. All parents were asked to fill in a demographic questionnaire regardless of whether they wanted to complete the main questionnaire. RESULTS: The highest response rate was in the Actively Decline mode. The cost-efficiency for this approach was 1.52 compared with Direct Delivery and 1.29 compared with Actively Agree. CONCLUSION: Researchers can improve the response rate, time consumption, and cost-efficiency and obtain a demographic questionnaire for dropout analysis by using the Actively Decline approach for postal questionnaires.