Parental and health visitor assessment of children development and factors affecting children development assessment in Hungary

Abstract

Unlike the international practice, knowledge of parents about child development has not been studied in Hungary and researches have not been aimed at examining the sources of parental knowledge. Therefore, the aim of our research was to measure parental knowledge about their children’s level of development according to development areas and to gather information about the sources of parental knowledge. There was an opportunity to examine the adequacy of parental assessment by comparing parent and health visitor (professional) opinions about the development level of children. The cross-sectional, descriptive study was realized in Budapest and in five further counties. The research showed that parents acquire information primarily through health visitors in connection with the children’s development, and in the case of the perception of certain developmental problems parents ask health visitors first. It also seemed to verify that the frequency of delay in development in the field of speech and cognitive development increases with the age of children, and these two development areas showed the greatest discrepancy between the parental assessment and the developmental standards represented by health visitors.