Evaluation of a new method of screening psychosocial problems in 5-6 year-old children used by child public health specialists (jeugdartsen).
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The purpose of the study is to evaluate the new 'Screening procedure for identifying psychosocial
problems in 5-6 year-old children'. Do child public health specialists identify severe behavioural
and emotional problems more effectively when trained in the new screening procedure compared
with the situation prior to their training and with child public health specialists who have not (yet)
been trained? The training aims at a 15% increase in sensitivity and a 10% increase in the specificity of
the evaluation by child public health specialists relative tot the Child Behaviour Check List (CBCL).
An important task of the Child Public Health Care Service is the tracing and identification of
psychosocial problems in youth (Basistakenpakket Jeugdgezondheidszorg, 1998). However,
until now it has lacked effective procedures for fulfilling this task. The Breda Municipal Health Service
has developed a method for identifying psychosocial problems in infants. A preliminar evaluation
conducted in that region concluded that the method was applicable within the regular medical
examinations, was well received by both child public health specialists and parents, and enabled the
practitioners to identify more behavioural, emotional and developmental problems in children (De
Wijs, 1997). The present proposal evaluates this method on a national scale.