Assessing wellness in the well-child check: What about social and emotional development?
Can Fam Physician
; 65(3): e113-e120, 2019 03.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30867191
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To determine whether Canadian children aged 4 to 6 received well-child checks; to explore the nature of these checkups in a large family practice; and to examine the merit of using parent questionnaires about child resilience as a means of introducing a discussion about social and emotional development into this checkup.DESIGN:
Three-part mixed-methods study, using data derived from the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN), chart reviews of a family practice, and semistructured interviews with parents.SETTING:
Primary care practices associated with CPCSSN, and a large primary care practice in Kingston, Ont.PARTICIPANTS:
Patients who were born between 2008 and 2011, and a sample of parents whose children were between the ages of 6 and 9.METHODS:
International Classification of Diseases, version 9, codes from CPCSSN records were used to identify the prevalence of well-child checks in the 4-to-6 age group. Then 110 randomly selected charts from a large family practice were audited for inclusion of behavioural and social assessments of those aged 4 to 6. Finally, randomly selected parents from the same practice were invited to pilot-test the PERIK (Positive development and resilience in kindergarten) resilience questionnaire, interviewed about its merit, and asked to recall whether the identified areas of child development had been included in previous well-child checkups. MAINFINDINGS:
Data from CPCSSN indicated that 11% of Canadian children aged 4 to 6 had had an explicit well-child check by their family physician. Among the reviewed charts from the one practice, social context was documented for 45% of them, but social and behavioural development was usually not recorded. The 42 parents interviewed found the PERIK questionnaire useful, but not perfect, for opening discussions about aspects of child development that they had not realized were central to the child's future health.CONCLUSION:
This study offers an initial approach to exploring resilience in children and therefore addressing recognized and alterable predictors of adult well-being. Early social and emotional development predicts resilience that, in turn, foreshadows future health. The PERIK questionnaire facilitated discussions that could add tremendous value to the well-child checks of children aged 4 to 6.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Parents
/
Child Development
/
Child Welfare
/
Child Health
/
Surveys and Questionnaires
/
Resilience, Psychological
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
/
Screening_studies
Limits:
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
Can Fam Physician
Year:
2019
Document type:
Article