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. 2025 Jul;51(4):e70100.
doi: 10.1111/cch.70100.

'Feeling like you can't do anything because you don't know where to start'-Parents' Perspectives of Barriers and Facilitators to Accessing Early Detection for Children at Risk of Cerebral Palsy

Sue-Anne Davidson  1   2   3 , Ashleigh Thornton  3   4 , Deborah Hersh  2 , Courtenay Harris  2 , Catherine Elliott  2   3 , Jane Valentine  1   2   3   4
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'Feeling like you can't do anything because you don't know where to start'-Parents' Perspectives of Barriers and Facilitators to Accessing Early Detection for Children at Risk of Cerebral Palsy

Sue-Anne Davidson et al. Child Care Health Dev. 2025 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Early detection of cerebral palsy (CP) risk is possible from 12 weeks corrected gestational age (CGA) using standardised assessments; however, up to half of children at risk are not referred early, missing out on early intervention. We investigated the barriers and facilitators to accessing early intervention from the perspective of parents of children who did not receive services by 6 months CGA.

Methods: Parents of children with CP were invited to participate in qualitative semistructured interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data and develop themes.

Results: Eight mothers of children who did not receive standardised screening participated in interviews, from which three themes, 'responding to delays', 'systemic barriers' and 'complexities of diagnosis', were developed from the data.

Conclusions: Parents require more support to access and engage in early detection services; health system processes are difficult to navigate, and health professionals require education and training to recognise risk factors for CP in all health settings and refer promptly. Improving system processes, education and training and partnering early with parents to improve their experience when interacting with the health system may increase early engagement and optimise long-term outcomes for children at risk of CP and their families.

Keywords: cerebral palsy; diagnosis; mothers; paediatrics; qualitative.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Participant recruitment flowchart. *CGA, corrected gestational age.
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