Early Childhood Development Awareness and Practices of Family Physicians According to Healthcare Service Affiliation: Primary versus Secondary and Tertiary

Aim: Research emphasize the critical importance of early childhood development and this research aims to assess the knowledge of family physicians and their actual practices regarding early childhood development in primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare services. Methods: This analytical observational study was conducted using a web-based tool developed by the researchers. The tool included questions on sociodemographic characteristics, practices, knowledge, about early childhood development and evaluated the information transfer to the families byphysicians. The differences in information transfer were tested using the chi-square test and generalized linear models. Results: Analysis of the survey responses from 272 family physicians, with a median age of 34 years. Notably, 52.2% reported a visit duration of 5–10 minutes, and 65.8% reported having received training for early childhood development, 16.2% used standard developmental assessment tools. A quarter of physicians (25.4%) demonstrated complete awareness of the 11 items describing developmental delay, and 14.3% of physicians provided training to families on the 10 subjects queried in the research. Conclusion: The findings emphasize the need for targeted training programs, efficient utilization of available time during visits, and the incorporation of standardized assessment tools into family medicine practices to promote early childhood development. Keywords: child development, family practice, primary health care