Practitioners' perceptions of the ASQ‐TRAK developmental screening tool for use in Aboriginal children: A preliminary survey

Abstract

Aim:To determine health practitioners' experience of using the culturally adapted Ages and Stages Questionnaire -Talking about Raising Aboriginal Kids (ASQ-TRAK) and the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-3 (ASQ-3) with Australian Aboriginal families and their perception about parents' acceptability and understanding of the instruments. Methods: We surveyed a convenience sample of practitioners who had used both the ASQ-TRAK and the ASQ-3 developmental screening tools with Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory and South Australia. We compared their experience and perception about parents' acceptability and understanding of both instruments. Results: All 38 respondents used the ASQ-3 and 35 the ASQ-TRAK; 100% rated the ASQ-TRAK as more acceptable and easier to understand for parents compared with 68% (P < 0.001) and 52.6% (P < 0.001), respectively, for the ASQ-3. A greater proportion of respondents were satisfied using the ASQ-TRAK (100%) than the ASQ-3 (65.7%) (P = 0.003). A higher proportion indicated that the ASQ-TRAK was respectful (85.3% compared with ASQ-3 27.8%, P < 0.001), culturally relevant (70.6% compared to 16.2%, P < 0.001) and engaging (76.5% compared to 16.2%, P < 0.001). Qualitative exploration of respondents' comments supported the quantitative findings. The ASQ-TRAK was considered more culturally appropriate, engaging and useful. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that the culturally adapted ASQ-TRAK is preferred to the ASQ-3 by health practitioners in the Australian Aboriginal context. Failing to address cultural and linguistic factors and applying measurement tools developed for one population to another, is problematic in any setting. While further research is required to explore parents' experience directly, these data provide support for the ASQ-TRAK to be used in this context.

Acceptability of the culturally adapted ASQ‐TRAK developmental screening tool to caregivers of Aboriginal children

“…However, this was an unexpected result, as prior work exploring practitioners' perceptions of the ASQ-TRAK in similar settings, found that staff rated the ASQ-TRAK to be significantly more engaging than the ASQ-3 for Aboriginal families. 15 A relevant factor that might explain this difference in our study is that while Aboriginal Cultural Consultants administered the majority of ASQ-TRAK questionnaires in urban and regional centres this did not occur in the remote sites. In these sites non-Aboriginal outreach child health nurses, not from the community, were responsible for administering the ASQ-TRAK.…”

“…Caregivers were surveyed about their ASQ‐TRAK experience. The survey (Appendix S1, Supporting Information) was adapted from a practitioners' survey 15 . It included nine questions, scored using a 5‐point Likert rating scale, which addressed the ease, acceptability and overall satisfaction, and interest in future screens using the ASQ‐TRAK.…”

Developmental Screening Tools Used with First Nations Populations: A Systematic Review

“…Table 3 presents an overview of studies included in this review. Of the 13 studies, nine were undertaken in Australia [ 13 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 22 , 23 , 25 , 27 ], two in the United States of America (USA; [ 21 , 24 ]), one in Canada [ 26 ], and one in Peru [ 11 ]. Eight studies were cross-sectional, two were qualitative, and three were mixed methods.…”

“…Five studies evaluated the Ages and Stages Questionnaires: Talking About Raising Aboriginal Kids (ASQ-TRAK; [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 25 , 27 ]), three evaluated the Ages and Stages Questionnaires Third Edition (ASQ-3; [ 11 , 24 , 25 ]), one evaluated the Ages and Stages Questionnaires Second Edition (ASQ-2; [ 26 ]), one evaluated the Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status [ 22 ], one evaluated the Brigance Screens [ 13 ], one evaluated the Parents’ Evaluation of Listening and Understanding Measure (PLUM; [ 23 ]), one evaluated the Hearing and Talking Scale (HATS; [ 17 ]), and one evaluated the Survey of Well-being of Young Children (SWYC; [ 21 ]). The majority of identified screening tools were universal developmental screening tools, with the two exceptions being PLUM and HATS which are specific domain screeners.…”

“…Of the five studies exploring the knowledge, acceptability and/or feasibility of administering developmental screeners, three studies were undertaken in Australia and evaluated the ASQ-TRAK [ 20 , 25 , 27 ], one study was conducted in Canada and evaluated the ASQ [ 26 ], and one was undertaken in the USA and evaluated the SWYC [ 21 ].…”