Objective: The present study examined the sensitivity and specificity of M-CHAT-Malay version [M-CHAT(MV)] to discriminate ASD from other developmental-behavioural disorders. Methods: This study was carried out in the Child Development Centre at a tertiary referral centre. Parents of 130 children aged 18–60 months, referred for developmental-behavioural disorders were asked to complete M-CHAT(MV). A child was considered to have ASD ifthey failed any 3 of the 23 total items or 2 or more of the 6 critical items. Results: Looking at the total items, M-CHAT(MV) has a good sensitivity (88.9%) to differentiate between ASD and other developmental-behavioural disorders, although specificity was only 47.8%. However, the critical items only has sensitivity of 71.4% and specificity of 77.6%. Sensitivity for children aged 49–60 months old was lower (80.0%) compared to those in the younger age group (100.0% and 90.3% for those aged 25-36 months and 37–48 months respectively). Based on the ROC curve, the optimal criteria to detect ASD was failing 1 out of 6 critical items or 3 out of 23 total items. Conclusion: M-CHAT(MV) is a good screening tool in differentiating ASD from other developmental-behavioural disorders although the critical items’ criteria may need to be lowered to improve its sensitivity in selected cohorts.
Introduction: Parents of children with chronic illness such as thalassaemia, experience parental anxiety as a result of multiple stressors; these parents will consequently undergo the process of coping and adjustment in order to overcome the situation. Identifying families who may require psychosocial intervention is an important step towards providing holistic management for these children.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the level of parenting stress amongst parents of children with thalassaemia. Risk factors associated with high parenting stress score were identified. Research instruments used were the Parenting Stress Index/Short Form and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations.
Results: A total of 54 subjects were recruited. High total parenting stress score (TPSS, defined at 75th centile) for this cohort was 99.5 whereas the mean TPSS was 86.18. Overall, 24% of these parents have high TPSS. Chinese ethnicity, number of children, monthly income, task-oriented and emotion-oriented coping mechanisms were significantly associated with a high TPSS. Logistic regression analysis revealed that low task-oriented but high emotion-oriented scores were risk factors with the greatest predictive power.
Conclusion: Early recognition of parenting stress is important to identify at risk parents so that interventions such as counseling and social support may be given.