Development of direct observation screening of autism spectrum disorder by public health nurses.

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K17325
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Clinical psychology
• Research Institution: Hirosaki University
• Principal Investigator: Osato Ayako 弘前大学, 医学研究科, 助教 (80597162)
• Research Collaborator: Saito Manabu ; Mikami Tamaki ; Koeda Syuhei ; Mikami Misaki ; Masuda Takahito ; Sakamoto Yui ; Adachi Masaki ; Takahashi Michio
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 乳幼児健診 / 早期発見 / スクリーニング / 神経発達障害 / 自閉スペクトラム症

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We conducted verification of the validity of the screening tool to extract children has possibility of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the cut-off value, based on the preliminary survey at the 3-year old health checkup. As a result, it was suggested that the combination of the SRS-2 Human Response Scale and the SDQ Children's Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire is appropriate as a measure of use for extracting ASD. Furthermore it found that the statistically reasonable value of SRS-2 was above 43.5 points. We have started the extraction in a 3-year-old health checkup with a child indicates a score of 44 or more on SRS-2 as the subject for precision screening from April 2018.
In addition, a total of more than 150 data such as the Autism Diagnostic Observation Test (ADOS) were accumulated to extract directly observable items.

Free Research Field

臨床心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では3歳児健診において早期発見の精度を上げるのに有用なツールとしてSRS-2とSDQの尺度の組み合わせが妥当であること、さらに統計学的検討によりSRS-2のカットオフ値を従来の値より低く（44点以上）設けることで感度良く神経発達症を抽出できるとの結果を得た。これは、乳幼児健診にて発達障害が疑われる児童の早期発見が勧告されている社会の現状において有用な成果と考える。現在は自閉症診断観察検査や運動検査など本人に直接実施する検査のデータも十分蓄積されたため、今後はさらに保健師等、健診に関わる者が直接観察可能なチェックリストを開発するための素地は整いつつあると考える。