A parenting assessment can add value to a clinic visit by facilitating conversations about discipline and potentially mitigating adverse childhood experiences, based on survey data from 167 health care providers.
"Some of the most modifiable adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are unhealthy parenting behaviors," according to Amber J. Cooke, MD, of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., and colleagues. "Despite the widespread use of standardized health assessment tools in pediatrics, a gap in services is that parenting assessments are not routinely administered," they said.
In a study presented at the virtual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, the researchers assessed clinicians’ perspectives on the use of the Quick Parenting Assessment (QPA), a validated 13-item parent support tool designed to identify children exposed to unhealthy parenting practices such as yelling, threatening, humiliating language, and physical punishment.
The researchers surveyed clinicians about how they integrated the QPA into a 15-month or 30-month well-child visit. Clinicians were trained to review the QPA and respond to parents during the visit.
Overall, the health care providers reported that the QPA could be reviewed with parents in less than 3 minutes for more than 80% of encounters.
The QPA takes approximately 1 minute for parents or caregivers to complete.
