Journal article
Parents' experiences of early screening for cerebral palsy: A qualitative reflexive thematic analysis
KLI Cameron, F Coulston, AKL Kwong, K Whittingham, C Morgan, RN Boyd, C Crowle, H Sakakini, A Spittle
Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology | Published : 2025
DOI: 10.1111/dmcn.16190
Abstract
Aim: To explore parents' experiences of early screening for cerebral palsy (CP) in three Australian states. Method: This is a qualitative description study using semi-structured interviews. Participants were parents of children who had CP (n = 5), or high risk of CP (n = 10), or no CP (n = 11) at 2 years, and had completed early screening for CP. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Three themes describe parents' experiences of early screening. (1) ‘A new, destabilized world’ explores how parents are thrown into an unexpected parenting pathway with the birth of an infant at high risk of having developmental challenges. (2) ‘Early is best … but not easy’ explores par..
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Funding Acknowledgements
We thank the parents who gave their time and shared their stories and experiences for this study to benefit others. This work was supported by National Health and Medical Research Council Partnership Grant AP1152800, the Centre of Research Excellence in Newborn Medicine (GNT1153176), and the Centre of Research Excellence the Australian Cerebral Palsy Clinical Trials Network (NHMRC1078851). Additional funding for the Queensland Early Detection and Early Intervention Network was provided by the Queensland Department of Innovation Advance QLD program 16-103. RNB is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council Investigator Grant (NHMRC1105038).