Ms Amanda Schiller1, Cassandra Worssam, Sarah Kloeden, Sarah Sutton
1Rural Support Service, Adelaide, Australia
Abstract:
Feeding challenges in children are considered reasonably common. “Fussy feeding” is one of a number of generic terms used to identify children with feeding challenges. There is no single accepted consensus of definition of fussy feeding and prevalence is variable within the literature. Children within regional areas are often referred to health services for support regarding “fussy feeding” with minimal additional information provided. With a broad perspective of what constitutes ‘fussy feeding’ within the community, alongside a lack of evidence as to identifiable risk factors for longer term health consequences related to ‘fussy feeding’, it is difficult for health services to triage referrals in terms of both priority and which discipline might be most appropriate to support the presenting ‘fussy feeding’ concerns based on referral information alone. As a means of addressing this challenge, the Rural Support Service in collaboration with a regional local health network Child Health and Development team, trialled utilising the parent completed Behavioural Paediatrics Feeding Assessment Scale (Christ & Napier-Phillips, 2001) at the time of referral. This tool has been validated on Australian children and was utilised to 1) support triage and ascertain priority of referral and 2) guide the referral being placed onto the correct discipline waiting list/s and/or redirected as appropriate. Implementation and evaluation will be discussed, including challenges, suitability of the tool for its purpose and outcomes from the project.