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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Wil Ng, MHSc¹, Donna Reynolds, MD, MSc, FRCPC², Erin Kennedy, MHSc¹, Kate Feightner, MSc³, Philippa Holowaty, PhD⁴, Karen Wade, BScN, MSc¹, Paul Fleiszer, MHSc¹, Frances Glascoe, PhD⁵, and David Northrup, MA⁶. (1) Planning and Policy Directorate, Toronto Public Health, 7th Floor, 277 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON M5B 1W2, Canada, (2) Durham Region Health Department, 605 Rossland Road East, PO Box 730, Whitby, ON L1N 0B2, Canada, (3) Public Health and Social Services Department, City of Hamilton (formerly of), 1 Hughson Street North, 4th Floor, Hamilton, ON L8R 3L5, Canada, (4) Halton Region Health Department, 1151 Bronte Road, Oakville, ON L6M 3L1, Canada, 905-825-6060, Philippa.Holowaty@halton.ca, (5) Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University, 2201 West End Avenue, Nashville, TN 37235, (6) Institute for Social Research, York University, 4700 Keele street, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada

Introduction: The Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS) identifies children at risk for developmental problems and has been validated in a written format for use in clinical settings. This project assessed the feasibility and reliability of using PEDS in a telephone-based lay-interviewer survey. Methods: Adults in three public health regions in Ontario, Canada with children aged 0-6 years in their households were surveyed over the telephone by trained lay interviewers. Responses to the PEDS portion of the survey were taped and reviewed by the author of PEDS, an expert in child development. Reliability was assessed by comparing the PEDS scores of the telephone interviewers and the expert (Phase A). In addition, participants were mailed a hardcopy PEDS for written completion. Scores from the written PEDS were compared with those from the telephone interviews (Phase B). Reliability was assessed by agreement, kappa, weighted Kappa, and prevalence adjusted bias adjusted Kappa (PABAK). Results: For Phase A, 221 participants resulted in overall agreement of 83.3% with a weighted Kappa of 0.74 (95%CI: 0.66-0.82) and PABAK of 0.78, indicating good to excellent agreement. For Phase B, there were 198 participants resulting in overall agreement of 69.2% and weighted Kappa of 0.62 (95%CI: 0.53-0.70) and PABAK of 0.59, representing fair to good agreement. Conclusion: Lay telephone interviewers can be trained to administer PEDS over the telephone. This method of administration provides a new and reliable method for measuring children at risk of developmental problem at the community level.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the reliability of PEDS in a telephone-based survey.
• Apply PEDS in a telephone survey to estimate the prevalence of children at risk for developmental problems.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation