Data support value of parenting assessment screening tool
“In order to be useful, a screening tool has to be validated, not add significant time to the well-child visit, and result in useful data for the clinician to more effectively serve their families,” Suzanne C. Boulter, MD, of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, N.H., said in an interview. “The Quick Parenting Assessment Screen was developed at Vanderbilt, is free for clinicians to use, and takes an average of 1 minute to assess,” she noted. “This poster highlights a study that was done by residents and attendings at Vanderbilt who administered the tool to caregivers attending their well child clinics.”
Dr. Boulter explained the study was important because “there is increased emphasis on the social determinants of health within the context of well child care, and discipline is one aspect of significance in the assessment of adverse childhood experiences,” she said. “The practitioners overall felt that the tool improved communication with their caregivers, which increased the quality of the visit. It was also surprising that 79% of the providers noted that the caregiver was receptive to the assessment tool,” Dr. Boulter added.
“In general, this tool offers clinicians a quick overview of disciplinary practices in the households of their patients. It would be useful, as a next step, to expand the testing to a wider socioeconomic population of families,” she concluded.
The researchers had no financial conflicts to disclose. Dr. Boulter had no financial conflicts to disclose, but serves on the Pediatric News Editorial Advisory Board.