ESSENCE-Q: Slavic language versions for developmental screening in young children

Abstract

PurposeThe Early Symptomatic Syndromes Eliciting Neurodevelopmental Clinical Examinations – Questionnaire (ESSENCE-Q) was developed as a brief screener to identify children with developmental concerns who might have neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). This study aimed to translate the ESSENCE-Q into south Slavic languages, namely, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Serbian, and Slovenian, and to evaluate its psychometric properties for screening purposes in clinical settings.Patients and methodsIn the study, the ESSENCE-Q was completed for 251 “typically developing” children and 200 children with 1 or more diagnosed NDDs, all aged 1–6 years. Internal consistency and construct validity were tested first, followed by generating receiver operating characteristic curves and the area under the curve. Optimal cutoff values were then explored.ResultsThe Cronbach’s α coefficients were 0.91, 0.88, and 0.86 for ESSENCE-Q parent-completed form, and the telephone and direct interview forms administered by trained nurse or specialist, respectively. The 3 versions produced area under the curve values (95% confidence interval): 0.96 (0.93–0.99), 0.91 (0.86–0.95), and 0.91 (0.86–0.97), respectively. An optimal cutoff for ESSENCE-Q parent-completed form was found to be ≥3 points, while for the telephone and direct interviews, it was ≥5 points.ConclusionWe found adequate measurement properties of the south Slavic languages versions of the ESSENCE-Q as a screener for NDDs in clinical settings. This study provided additional data supporting sound psychometric properties of the ESSENCE-Q.

ESSENCE‐Q obtained in routine Japanese public child health check‐ups may be a valuable tool in neurodevelopmental screening

“…Two previous studies suggested that the optimal cut-off values in clinical settings were around 3-5. 10,11 In contrast, the cut-off values in our current and previous studies were 1-2. 12 A score of only 1 could indicate developmental problems and trigger a follow-up at the child healthcare centre.…”

“…It was even better than the telephone and direct interview forms by trained nurses or specialists. 11 In addition, when the ESSENCE-Q was completed by a parent or caretaker, it showed good validity 10 in our first clinical validation study. Other studies have also demonstrated that when parental concerns were expressed in clinical settings, they provided useful perspectives on the child's developmental problems.…”

“…The Serbian ESSENCE-Q study found that gender did not affect the validity of the questionnaire. 11 This will need to be clarified by future investigations.…”

“…Similar results were found in our previous study 12 and the Serbian study. 11 More research is needed to clarify the usefulness of the ESSENCE-Q in screening younger and older children, as well as in adults.…”

“…There have been three previous psychometric studies that have focused on ESSENCE‐Q. Two of these studies were in clinical settings, and one was performed during routine public health check‐ups in Japan …”