Grant: Operating Grant: Maternal and Child Health

Many young Canadian children experience poor physical, cognitive, communicative, and psychosocial development. Public health nurses have a long history of providing preventive services to families to support parenting and promote healthy childhood development, but there has been little evaluation of the measures or systems used to identify those families who have the greatest need of their services. Therefore, the two objectives of this longitudinal study are to evaluate a postpartum screening measure (Parykn Postpartum Screen) that is commonly used by public health nurses across Canada to identify families with young children at risk for poor development and to develop and test a revised measure, and compare its predictive value with the Parkyn Screen. Evaluation of the Parykn Postpartum Screen will be conducted through secondary analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). Four cohorts of children selected from the first four cycles of the NLSCY will form the sample for this longitudinal study. Child health and developmental outcome measures will be drawn primarily from Cycles 3 through 6 of the NLSCY, when the children are either 2-3 or 4-5 years of age. The NLSCY collects data on risk factors that constitute the Parkyn screen (e.g., low birth weight, maternal age, parental mental health, and family financial resources). The NLSCY also collects data on child outcomes of interest such as health status and unintentional injuries, language development, and developmental delays. The results of this study are intended to contribute to more effective family risk screening in public health nursing practice, so that the children and families who are most at risk receive necessary support services. Results will be shared with health services policy-makers, practitioners, and researchers through various means including professional and academic journals, meetings, and conferences, and web sites.