Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Extending the developmental milestones checklist for use in a different context in Sub-Saharan Africa
AU - Prado, Elizabeth L.
AU - Abubakar, Amina A.
AU - Abbeddou, Souheila
AU - Jimenez, Elizabeth Y.
AU - Somé, Jérôme W.
AU - Ouédraogo, Jean-Bosco
PY - 2014/4
Y1 - 2014/4
N2 - AIM: Sub-Saharan Africa bears a disproportionate amount of global diseases related to neurodevelopmental delays in infancy, including malnutrition, malaria and HIV. Evaluating interventions to prevent such delays requires developmental assessment tools appropriate for Sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed to develop and evaluate such a tool.METHODS: The Developmental Milestones Checklist (DMC) was developed in Kenya to provide motor, language and personal-social scores for children aged from 3 to 24 months. We developed an extended version (DMC-II) in Burkina Faso, West Africa, and then evaluated the reliability and sensitivity of the scores to age and nutritional and environmental measures.RESULTS: The internal, interinterviewer and test-retest reliability of the DMC-II scores were >0.7. In 214 children aged 11.6-25.4 months, each score correlated with age (rs > 0.7). In 1123 children aged 16.8-19.9 months, the scores were sensitive to stunting, wasting and underweight (effect sizes 0.31-0.87 SD). The scores also showed expected correlations with measures of play materials in the home and activities with caregivers (rs = 0.13-0.41).CONCLUSION: The DMC-II is easily used by trained fieldworkers with no previous experience in developmental assessment. It is a practical, reliable and sensitive tool for evaluating motor, language and personal-social development in different contexts in Sub-Saharan Africa.
AB - AIM: Sub-Saharan Africa bears a disproportionate amount of global diseases related to neurodevelopmental delays in infancy, including malnutrition, malaria and HIV. Evaluating interventions to prevent such delays requires developmental assessment tools appropriate for Sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed to develop and evaluate such a tool.METHODS: The Developmental Milestones Checklist (DMC) was developed in Kenya to provide motor, language and personal-social scores for children aged from 3 to 24 months. We developed an extended version (DMC-II) in Burkina Faso, West Africa, and then evaluated the reliability and sensitivity of the scores to age and nutritional and environmental measures.RESULTS: The internal, interinterviewer and test-retest reliability of the DMC-II scores were >0.7. In 214 children aged 11.6-25.4 months, each score correlated with age (rs > 0.7). In 1123 children aged 16.8-19.9 months, the scores were sensitive to stunting, wasting and underweight (effect sizes 0.31-0.87 SD). The scores also showed expected correlations with measures of play materials in the home and activities with caregivers (rs = 0.13-0.41).CONCLUSION: The DMC-II is easily used by trained fieldworkers with no previous experience in developmental assessment. It is a practical, reliable and sensitive tool for evaluating motor, language and personal-social development in different contexts in Sub-Saharan Africa.
KW - Child Development
KW - Developmental assessment
KW - Infant Development
KW - Neurodevelopment
KW - Sub-Saharan Africa
U2 - 10.1111/apa.12540
DO - 10.1111/apa.12540
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 24354938
VL - 103
SP - 447
EP - 454
JO - Acta Paediatrica
JF - Acta Paediatrica
SN - 0803-5253
IS - 4
ER -