• Hanson HA
• Miller JE

• Affiliation / AECC University College
• Affiliation / Private Practice
• Affiliation(G) / England / Bournemouth
• Infant
• Observational Studies as Topic
• Open Access Document
• Patient Outcome Assessment
• Pediatric Chiropractic / United Kingdom

Background: The United Kingdom Infant Questionnaire (UKIQ) is a validated and reliable parent reported outcome measure based on common public health issues and presenting complaints of infancy. The UKIQ is proposed as a pragmatic tool for research purposes and an electronic version might be advantageous for large-scale data collection in chiropractic clinics.

Study objectives: The primary objective of this study was to test the feasibility of an electronic version of an infant outcomes instrument. To this end, feasibility benchmarks were set based on technical performance and acceptance of the tool by its users, chiropractic offices and mothers.

Materials and methods: In this prospective, multi-center observational study, mothers of infants (0-12 months) were asked to complete the electronic UKIQ at initial presentation and at follow-up in chiropractic clinics in the United Kingdom. Technical issues encountered and rates of non-consent were tracked during the study period. Feasibility benchmarks included the following: recruitment of four participating clinics, a minimum of 70% maternal consent to participation, 80% completeness of data, 80% response from mothers that the questionnaire was “easy to use” and a follow-up rate of 50%. Participating chiropractors and receptionists were asked for feedback and ratings of their experience with the tool. Additionally, clinics who showed interest in participating but did not participate were asked to provide feedback in order to elucidate barriers to implementation.

Results: During the testing period, 100 intake and 46 follow-up forms were completed. All feasibility benchmarks were achieved, except for follow-up rate (46%) and lower than anticipated participation of recruited clinics (n=2). No technical difficulties prevented mothers from completing the form and collected data had a high rate of completeness with <0.03% missing data for standard questions and no undecipherable answers. No incidents of maternal non-consent occurred and 98.9% of mothers found the tool easy to use. Clinicians and receptionists rated their experience with the tool highly (mean 5/5 for clinician perception of clinical utility and likelihood of continued use and mean 4.5/5 for receptionist’s ease of administering and 5/5 for receptionist perception of willingness of mothers to complete and ease with which mothers completed the questionnaire).

Conclusions: This tool is technically capable of large-scale data collection and well-accepted by users. However, implementation of the instrument in private chiropractic clinics was lower than anticipated. Future research must investigate methods to improve uptake of key outcomes instruments in chiropractic practices. 

Author affiliations: HAH: Private practice; JEM: AECC University College, Bournemouth, United Kingdom 

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