First Advisor

Katharine Zuckerman

Date of Award

6-13-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Public Health Studies: Pre-clinical Health Science and University Honors

Department

Health Studies

Language

English

Subjects

Parents of developmentally disabled children, Early childhood special education, Learning disabled children -- Services for, Developmental disabilities

DOI

10.15760/honors.1131

Abstract

Objective: To test the association of parents’ concerns with Early Intervention (EI) developmental services outcomes including evaluation, eligibility, and enrollment in services.

Method: We collected survey data on parents’ concerns and EI service use data from a sample of 428 children referred to EI in 2016-2018 from six Oregon primary care clinics serving lower income families as part of a developmental and autism spectrum disorder screening intervention. We assessed EI service use trajectories and associations of parent concern presence, age of child at time of parents’ concerns, number of concerns, and type of provider concern, with EI evaluation, EI eligibility, and enrollment in EI services, using bivariate testing and multivariable logistic regression.

Results: Only 22.9% of children referred to EI were enrolled in services six months later. Children whose parents had developmental and/or behavioral concerns were more likely to receive an EI evaluation and were also more likely to be eligible for services, compared to children whose parents had no concerns. There was no association between age, number of concerns, or type of concern with EI evaluation, eligibility, or services enrollment.

Conclusion: Though only a minority of children referred to EI enroll in services, presence of parent concern is strongly associated with EI services evaluation and eligibility outcomes. Study results suggest that providers should assess the presence of parent concern when deciding on EI referrals, and provide more support to parents who are not concerned at all.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Comments

An undergraduate honors thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in University Honors and Pre-Clinical Health Studies, Health Sciences and General Science.

Additional authors:
Alicia Feryn, Oregon Health & Science University
Alison E. Chavez, University of Massachusetts Boston
Laura Wilson, Oregon Health & Science University
Margaret King, Health Share of Oregon
Julie Scholz, Oregon Pediatric Society
Eric Fombonne, Oregon Health & Science University
Katharine E. Zuckerman

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/35884

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