Active involvement of parents in monitoring the development of their child

In this public-private partnership TNO and the Bernard van Leer Foundation will develop a web based tool with video instructions for involving parents in assessing developmental milestones of their child.

In 2017, research published in The Lancet affirmed that parents’ ‘nurturing care’ is among the most decisive factors for healthy child development (Britto et al.). By responding to a child’s cues, parents and caregivers help children develop social and emotional skills and trusting relationships. By talking, singing and playing with their children, parents stimulate brain development and lay the foundations for lifelong learning.

Hence, parent engagement with their child is of great importance. Recently, TNO conducted a pilot study in which the potential of self-assessment of developmental milestones was investigated. In the pilot study parents indicated that they very much enjoyed assessing the milestones and that it gave them a new perspective on the development of their child (Grevinga et al., 2018). However, the employed written instructions of the milestones were unsuitable for some parents, and more modern instructions, such as short video clips, were suggested by the participating parents. It is believed that developing video instructions on the developmental milestones and a web based tool can be a fruitful direction to also engage vulnerable parents in the process of monitoring development.

In the current study, the propose is to build on the pilot study by:

• Developing video instructions for parents on how to assess the developmental milestones, in co-creation with (vulnerable) parents and professionals;
• Developing and pilot testing a web based tool that holds the video instructions and allows parents to enter the results of the milestones relevant to their child, with special emphasis on vulnerable parent groups;
• Studying the validity and experiences of milestones assessed by (vulnerable) parents. Parent scores will be compared to professional scores and parents report on their knowledge and behaviour;
• Designing an evidence-based implementation plan of the tailored instrument based on the results of the validation study. Directions of future applications, both in the Netherlands and abroad, will be explored (such as exploring the possibilities of personalised feedback).