The utility of the child development review in Suriname: Validating a neurodevelopmental screener for use in a low- to middle- income Country

Background

Access to efficient, culturally relevant, and validated measures of neurodevelopment in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) remains a critical need. This study describes the validation and reliability of the Child Development Review (CDR), a parent report neurodevelopmental screening tool, for use in a cohort of Surinamese children aged 2–4 years.

Subjects

Complete data from 355 Surinamese children through the Caribbean Consortium for Research in Environmental and Occupational Health were utilized for validation. Convergent validity was assessed using a subset of 31 children with concurrently administered CDRs and Bayley Scales of Infant and Child Development Third Edition (BSID-III).

Methods

Cronbach's alpha was used to assess subscale reliability. Cluster analyses were used to assess internal factor structure. Measures of convergent validity used Cohen's Kappa statistic and partial correlations between comparative CDR and BSID-III subscales.

Results

Cronbach's Alpha values were acceptable for all CDR subscales (range 0.63 - 0.79). CDR subscale responses clustered into two distinct groups, representing milestones that were or were not achieved. Patterns of change indicate increased milestone achievement with increased age. Partial correlations indicated that the social, fine motor, and language subscales of the CDR and BSID-III subscales were significantly correlated. However, Cohen's Kappa was only significant for the gross motor CDR and BSID-III subscales.

Conclusions

The CDR has acceptable reliability, internal validity, and convergent validity. Use of the CDR should be considered as a screening tool for neurodevelopment in Suriname and may provide an efficient initial assessment of developmental delay in LMIC.