Objective: We examined the parental perception and accuracy of Mandarin translated Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status, a screening questionnaire for parents’ concerns on their child’s various developmental skills.

Methods: The questionnaire was translated into Mandarin. Upon enrollment, caregivers completed the Mandarin PEDS^® and answered four questions about its acceptability and usefulness, and its ease of understanding and completing. The Mandarin PEDS^® were independently evaluated by a pediatrician and a community nurse, and classified as ‘high’ risk (> 2 predictive concerns), ‘medium’ risk (1 predictive concern), ‘low’ risk (any non-predictive concerns) or ‘no’ risk (if no concern) for developmental delays. The caregivers repeated Mandarin PEDS^® at a 2-week interval for test-retest reliability, while their children underwent testing for accuracy using a developmental assessment test.

Results: The majority (> 85%) of the 73 caregivers recruited perceived the Mandarin PEDS^® as acceptable and useful, as well as easy to understand and complete. Fifteen (20.5%) and 24 (33.9%) responses were classified as high and moderate risks respectively. The test-retest and inter-rater reliabilities were excellent, with intra-class correlation coefficients of 0.812 (95% CI: 0.701, 0.881, p < 0.001) and a kappa value of 0.870 (p < 0.001) respectively. Mandarin PEDS^® was 80.0% sensitive and 83.8% specific for those in high risk category (adjusted OR = 64.68; 95% CI 1.33, 3139.72; p = 0.035).

Conclusions: The Mandarin PEDS^® was well received by the caregivers, and it was reliable and accurate in detecting developmental delays among the Mandarin-speaking population. We recommend it for early detection of children with developmental and behavioral problems. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.