Validity, reliability, and transcultural adaptations of the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSID-III-NL) for children in Suriname.

BACKGROUND: A valid and reliable measure of infant neurodevelopment is needed in Suriname, South America. The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, 3rd edition (BSID-III), was created for evaluation of United States infants and toddlers and subsequently validated for use in Dutch speaking infants of the Netherlands (BSID-III-NL). Given that Suriname was a previous Dutch colony and Dutch remains the national language of Suriname, this study sought to evaluate the psychometric properties of the BSID-III-NL in Suriname. AIMS: Given that the cultural context differs between Suriname, the United States, and the Netherlands, the aims of this study were to determine if any cultural adaptations of the BSID-III-NL were needed for Surinamese infants and to evaluate its psychometric properties. METHODS: Two hundred and ninety-nine infants between the ages of 10 to 26 months were assessed in three geographic regions of Suriname between May 2018 and July 2019. Minor adaptations to the BSID-III-NL imagery were made based on the input of Surinamese pediatricians and neuropsychologists who were also involved in the administration of the BSID-III-NL in Suriname. Raw scores were collected for the cognitive, communicative, and motor subscales of the BSID-III-NL. Factor structure was evaluated with exploratory factor analysis and cluster analysis, and reliability of internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient for each subscale. RESULTS: Content validity was endorsed by pediatricians and neuropsychologists in Suriname who participated in the administration of the BSID-III-NL. Construct validity was demonstrated through agreement of items from cluster analysis where at least 81.56% of all variability was explained by clustering with correct or incorrect responses and mean raw scores in subscales increased with age group. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was above 0.77 for all subscales. CONCLUSIONS: This internationally validated developmental measure was found to be valid and reliable in assessing neurodevelopment of infants in Suriname.

Mobile health technology-enabled community health workers as pesticide interventionists in rural Suriname

OBJECTIVE: To bolster access for vulnerable communities to urgent pesticide-related health information and services using a mobile health technology-enabled community health worker (CHW) strategy. DESIGN AND METHODS: The project was designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of mobile health technology–enabled CHWs in promoting safe pesticide use in pesticide-induced suicide-prone communities in Suriname. The team focused on three interconnected components: message mapping, validation, and delivery testing. The text messages were tested to assess content, literacy, and the ability to solicit a recipient response to determine the effectiveness of mobile technology as a health intervention tool. RESULTS: Thirty-nine text messages addressed the following key themes: pesticide miss/overuse, pesticide accessibility contributing to its use as an attempted or successful suicide strategy, and pesticide handling and disposal. For each of these themes, at least three messages were developed. Most text messages emphasized safe pesticide handling as the root cause of both misuse and access. (The pesticide awareness and education campaign will be expanded country-wide.) CONCLUSION: The mobile health technology- enabled CHWs functioning as pesticide interventionists demonstrated that bidirectional text messaging was a promising awareness and education intervention strategy. Focusing on safe handling was a reasonable target for intervention in the absence of a comprehensive national pesticide policy governing import, distribution, access, handling, and disposal. Of note is that none of the messages to date directly focused on suicide, confirming the strategy to address suicide prevention as a holistic public health issue under a safe pesticide use “umbrella” rather than as an isolated, stigma-provoking problem.