The Impact of Developmental Screening on the Parents' Cognition of Child Development, and Attitude and Behavior in Seeking Medical Care

The purpose of this research is to explore about the impact of developmental screening on the parents' cognition of child development, and attitude and behavior in seeking medical care .It is estimated to be there are 5 to 10% of the children in preschool are suffering from developmental delay(Tsai,2005) ; rates of children found being with developmental delay is only 0.6-0.8% in Taiwan, and the ratio of those Children’ seeking medical care who are possibly with developmental delay is 37.9% on the basis of B.H.P. statistic in 2002. If we assume approximately200,000 infants were born in 2005, there are approximately 72,000 to 96,000 children with development delay who are under 6 years old. However, there are only 2728 to 3683 children who had been treated.

Glasco（2004）contended that if those children with developmental delay were able to be identified and treated before school age, the self-esteem, schooling ratio, and life quality would increase, and the disability level, family burden, and community cost would decrease . Thus, the researcher will explore the impact of developmental screening on the parents' cognition of child development, and attitude and behavior in seeking medical care. By doing so, we hope to understand why the rate of children with Developmental delay being treated is so low.

This research is a cross-sectional study. Via purposive sampling, participants are selected from some health center and kindergartens in Taipei County. Data are collected by these three questionnaires: “parents’ cognition of child development”, “attitude in seeking medical care ”, and “behaviors in seeking medical care ”. Furthermore, the children will also be screened by the “Preschool Child Developmental Screening”. After one month, they will be reassessed by the previous steps. Collected, data are analyzed and compiled statistics by SPSS 13.0 on the base of the purpose of this research and of variables. Our results and findings of this study are as follows:

1. The score is the lowest in parents’ cognition of the definition of child development, yet the score is the highest in parents’ cognition of treatment of development delay and of early treatment.
2. Parents’ attitude in seeking medical care tends to be positive. The positive attitude in seeking medical care scores highest, while the negative attitude in seeking medical care scores lowest.
3. Parents’ behaviors in seeking medical care have a tendency to be lower. After developmental screening, behaviors that seek medical treatment have apparently increased.
4. Generally speaking, parents’ cognition of child development has no correlation with attitude in seeking medical care and behavior in seeking medical care. However, there is a positive correlation attitude in seeking medical care and behavior in seeking medical care.
5. Before and after the developmental screening, cognition, attitude, and behaviors are positively related among the group passing the test and that failing the test.
6. 28 participants (17.3%) failed the first development screening at the first time, and the number of children who failed the second development screening at the second time was 12.(7.4%). Totally, there are 9 children seeking for medical treatment after 2 months counting from the date of the examination.
7. Before development screening being done, the parents’ cognition of child development whose child passed the development screening is higher than those whose child failed the test at the first time. What is more, there is no difference between attitude and behavior. After development screening being conducted, cognition of child development, attitude in medical, and behavior in medical have no difference among those who passed the development screening and those who did not.
8. After development screening being conducted, scores in cognition, attitude, and behaviors all increase.

Based on the aforementioned results and findings, we propose some suggestions as follows:
1. It is essential to fulfill child development screening. We suggest hospitals and kindergarten should be the ones which are responsible for organizing a community network. And they are supposed to conduct development screening for children regularly..
2. It is suggested that nursery teachers should promote child development screening more fully. By doing so, development delay can be identified and treated as early as possible.
3. Taiwanese government needs to promote information and knowledge pertaining to development delay via media.
4. It is recommended to enhance preventive health care services for children who are from 3~7 years old.
5. We suggest to increase the number of the questions of developmental screening in booklets of children's health.

In conclusion, developmental screening can surely enhance parents’ cognition of child development, attitude in seeking medical care, and behavior in seeking medical care. What is more, through development screening, we can identify children with developmental delay earlier, improving rates of seeking medical care. Via this research, we hope Taiwanese government and the medical staff and nursery teachers can pay close attention to the significance of child development screening, so we are more capable of identifying sickness and intervening as early as possible.