Abstract：
Despite long wait times, public paediatric developmental assessment services remain crucial for assessment of children. Assessment is a critical opportunity to guide the placement of supports to improve outcomes. There is little research examining how clinical assessment services conduct their assessments, present results and write reports to families. This study examined 85 reports provided to caregivers at a developmental assessment service. Reports were evaluated for whether they (1) addressed caregiver perceived needs, (2) used available data to provide appropriate information about child needs, (3) provided recommendations that were actionable and specific to needs, (4) had appropriate readability levels and (5) followed existing autism assessment guidelines. Findings showed clinicians were more focused on autism diagnostic needs while caregivers were more focused on non-diagnostic needs. Recommendations related to autism diagnoses were actionable, but they rarely addressed comorbidities such as cognitive impairments or mental health. For instance, only 13% of reports contained recommendations for conditions other than autism spectrum disorder, despite 61% of the population receiving two or more diagnoses. Reports largely followed autism assessment guidelines, but the language used was more complex for families than recommended. Recommendations for future practice are provided so that consideration may be given to how to improve the quality and effectiveness of reports for families attending services.
摘要：
未经批准：尽管等待时间很长，公共儿科发育评估服务对于评估儿童仍然至关重要。评估是一个重要的机会，可以指导支持的放置以改善结果。很少有研究检查临床评估服务如何进行评估，提交结果并向家庭写报告。这项研究检查了发展评估服务机构提供给护理人员的85份报告。评估报告是否(1)满足了护理人员感知的需求，(2)利用现有数据提供有关儿童需求的适当信息，(3)提供可操作和具体需求的建议，（4）具有适当的可读性水平，（5）遵循现有的自闭症评估指南。研究结果表明，临床医生更专注于自闭症的诊断需求，而护理人员更专注于非诊断需求。与自闭症诊断相关的建议是可行的，但是他们很少解决诸如认知障碍或心理健康之类的合并症。例如,只有13%的报告包含自闭症谱系障碍以外的其他疾病的建议，尽管61%的人接受了两种或两种以上的诊断。报告主要遵循自闭症评估指南，但是家庭使用的语言比建议的要复杂。提供了对未来实践的建议，以便可以考虑如何提高参加服务的家庭报告的质量和有效性。
