Parent/Carer growth measurement study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Are parent/carer-led growth measurements appropriate and sufficiently accurate to provide anthropometry for remote consultations? A mixed methods study.
IRAS ID
343219
Contact name
SARAH TRACE
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Hospital's Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 31 days
Research summary
Looking towards the future, two-thirds of healthcare professionals (HCP) predict at least a quarter of their outpatient consultations will be managed by on-line video consultations(Trace, 2022), demonstrating a need for adequate ways to measure growth in a home setting. The British Dietetic Association Paediatric Subgroup produced guidance for remote consultations, which includes instructions for parents or carers to measure infants and children using domestic bathroom scales and a tape measure. This guidance has not been tested thoroughly and was designed only to manage acute issues faced during the Covid-19 pandemic, rather than for routine clinical care. Remote consultations are here to stay and consequently, growth data is unavailable or requested from parents/carers. As accurate growth information is a key part of assessment, we need to test if parents/carers can reliably and routinely measure their child's growth accurately. The aim of our study is to examine the accuracy of measurements when parent/carers use British Dietetic Association Paediatric Subgroup (BDA-PSG) guidance (know thereafter as ‘instructions’) to measure their child’s growth at home (know thereafter as parent/carer-led measurements), compared to measurements taken by experts in a hospital clinic (known thereafter as HCP-led measurements). Families can participate with children aged 0-16 years, if they will be attending a scheduled hospital appointment (where growth measurements are taken routinely) and own a set of bathroom scales and a tape measure. The parent/carer will be asked to use the instructions provided and their own equipment to weigh and measure their child 48-72 hours before the hospital appointment and record the result. This will be compared to the hospital measures. They will only be asked to complete this procedure once and we will also ask parents if they feel it was acceptable and easy to do, recording their thoughts on the experience.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/NW/0224
Date of REC Opinion
23 Jul 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion