TY - JOUR
T1 - Scalable Transdiagnostic Early Assessment of Mental Health (STREAM)
T2 - a study protocol
AU - Williams, Elin H.
AU - Thompson, Nicholas M.
AU - McCray, Gareth
AU - Crespo-Llado, Maria M.
AU - Bhavnani, Supriya
AU - Gajria, Diksha
AU - Mukherjee, Debarati
AU - Del Bianco, Teresa
AU - Lockwood-Estrin, Georgia
AU - Mason, Luke
AU - Ngoma, Vukiwe
AU - Namathanga, Chisomo
AU - Nkhata, Richard
AU - Bennie, Allan
AU - Ranjan, Alok
AU - Kawelama, Ulemu
AU - Midha, Naina
AU - Singh, Anindita
AU - Mpakiza, Innocent
AU - Gautam, Akshat
AU - Gulati, Sheffali
AU - Johnson, Mark H.
AU - Lancaster, Gillian
AU - Belmonte, Matthew K.
AU - Jones, Emily
AU - Patel, Vikram
AU - Chandran, Sharat
AU - Mbale, Emmie
AU - Divan, Gauri
AU - Gladstone, Melissa
AU - Chakrabarti, Bhismadev
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 BMJ Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
PY - 2024/6/13
Y1 - 2024/6/13
N2 - Introduction Early childhood development forms the foundations for functioning later in life. Thus, accurate monitoring of developmental trajectories is critical. However, such monitoring often relies on time-intensive assessments which necessitate administration by skilled professionals. This difficulty is exacerbated in low-resource settings where such professionals are predominantly concentrated in urban and often private clinics, making them inaccessible to many. This geographic and economic inaccessibility contributes to a significant € detection gap' where many children who might benefit from support remain undetected. The Scalable Transdiagnostic Early Assessment of Mental Health (STREAM) project aims to bridge this gap by developing an open-source, scalable, tablet-based platform administered by non-specialist workers to assess motor, social and cognitive developmental status. The goal is to deploy STREAM through public health initiatives, maximising opportunities for effective early interventions. Methods and analysis The STREAM project will enrol and assess 4000 children aged 0-6 years from Malawi (n=2000) and India (n=2000). It integrates three established developmental assessment tools measuring motor, social and cognitive functioning using gamified tasks, observation checklists, parent-report and audio-video recordings. Domain scores for motor, social and cognitive functioning will be developed and assessed for their validity and reliability. These domain scores will then be used to construct age-adjusted developmental reference curves. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been obtained from local review boards at each site (India: Sangath Institutional Review Board; All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) Ethics Committee; Indian Council of Medical Research - Health Ministry Screening Committee; Malawi: College of Medicine Research and Ethics Committee; Malawi Ministry of Health - Blantyre District Health Office). The study adheres to Good Clinical Practice standards and the ethical guidelines of the 6th (2008) Declaration of Helsinki. Findings from STREAM will be disseminated to participating families, healthcare professionals, policymakers, educators and researchers, at local, national and international levels through meetings, academic journals and conferences.
AB - Introduction Early childhood development forms the foundations for functioning later in life. Thus, accurate monitoring of developmental trajectories is critical. However, such monitoring often relies on time-intensive assessments which necessitate administration by skilled professionals. This difficulty is exacerbated in low-resource settings where such professionals are predominantly concentrated in urban and often private clinics, making them inaccessible to many. This geographic and economic inaccessibility contributes to a significant € detection gap' where many children who might benefit from support remain undetected. The Scalable Transdiagnostic Early Assessment of Mental Health (STREAM) project aims to bridge this gap by developing an open-source, scalable, tablet-based platform administered by non-specialist workers to assess motor, social and cognitive developmental status. The goal is to deploy STREAM through public health initiatives, maximising opportunities for effective early interventions. Methods and analysis The STREAM project will enrol and assess 4000 children aged 0-6 years from Malawi (n=2000) and India (n=2000). It integrates three established developmental assessment tools measuring motor, social and cognitive functioning using gamified tasks, observation checklists, parent-report and audio-video recordings. Domain scores for motor, social and cognitive functioning will be developed and assessed for their validity and reliability. These domain scores will then be used to construct age-adjusted developmental reference curves. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been obtained from local review boards at each site (India: Sangath Institutional Review Board; All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) Ethics Committee; Indian Council of Medical Research - Health Ministry Screening Committee; Malawi: College of Medicine Research and Ethics Committee; Malawi Ministry of Health - Blantyre District Health Office). The study adheres to Good Clinical Practice standards and the ethical guidelines of the 6th (2008) Declaration of Helsinki. Findings from STREAM will be disseminated to participating families, healthcare professionals, policymakers, educators and researchers, at local, national and international levels through meetings, academic journals and conferences.
KW - child & adolescent psychiatry
KW - cognition
KW - community child health
KW - machine learning
KW - mental health
KW - public health
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85196138020&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-088263
DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-088263
M3 - Article
C2 - 38871663
AN - SCOPUS:85196138020
SN - 2044-6055
VL - 14
JO - BMJ Open
JF - BMJ Open
IS - 6
M1 - e088263
ER -