Long-Term Child and Family Outcomes After High-Risk Birth

A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067). This special issue belongs to the section "Pediatric Mental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (5 August 2025) | Viewed by 1363

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Psychological Sciences, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
Interests: preterm birth; multiple births; long-term follow-up; neurodevelopment; parenting; family systems

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Guest Editor
Department of Health Systems Sciences, Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine, Pasadena, CA 91101, USA
Interests: follow through; high-risk infants; digital technology; impact on family; educational outcomes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are very pleased to announce our plans to publish a Special Issue titled “Long-Term Child and Family Outcomes After High-Risk Birth”. High-risk birthing events create a complex landscape of medical, financial, functional, and developmental difficulties for families. Research shows that a high-risk birth significantly increases the risk for child developmental concerns across domains of cognition, behaviour, socioemotional regulation, neurodevelopment, and academic outcomes. The all-encompassing environment arising from high-risk births undoubtedly has the potential to bidirectionally impact on long-term child development. Despite this, empirical investigations on the impact of the family system on the child is limited. Therefore, to broaden the scope of this research area, this Special Issue will bring together international expertise, highlighting areas of both challenges and strengths for child development after high-risk birth.

  • Your contributions to this Special Issue could cover a wide range of areas, including but not limited to the following topics: Characterisation of long-term outcomes for high-risk infants during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
  • Evaluation of family and environmental risk factors on child development, such as parenting, attachment and bonding, sociodemographic indicators, and family adaptation.
  • Exploration of the role of different caregivers on long-term child development, for example, birthing parents, non-birthing parents, and grandparents.
  • Investigation of strengths-based child outcomes.

Dr. Grace C. Fitzallen
Dr. Ashwini Lakshmanan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • neonatal
  • high-risk infant
  • follow-up
  • child development
  • neurodevelopment
  • mental health
  • family
  • parenting
  • postpartum

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 6738 KB  
Article
Evaluation of the Acceptability and Feasibility of the Social Attention and Communication Surveillance-Revised (SACS-R) Tool for Early Identification of Autism in Preterm Infants: The Identify and Act Study
by Gayatri Athalye-Jape, Sarah Pillar, Sudharshana Saminathan, Kexian Wu, Stephanie Sherrard, Emma Dudman and Mary Sharp
Children 2025, 12(9), 1130; https://doi.org/10.3390/children12091130 - 27 Aug 2025
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Abstract
Introduction: Preterm birth is associated with a 3.3-fold increased likelihood of autism diagnosis, with lower gestational age conferring higher likelihood. In Australia, autism is typically diagnosed at around age four, potentially missing the optimal neuroplasticity window before age two. The Social Attention and [...] Read more.
Introduction: Preterm birth is associated with a 3.3-fold increased likelihood of autism diagnosis, with lower gestational age conferring higher likelihood. In Australia, autism is typically diagnosed at around age four, potentially missing the optimal neuroplasticity window before age two. The Social Attention and Communication Surveillance—Revised (SACS-R) tool identifies early autism signs in children aged 11–30 months, enabling pre-emptive intervention. Aims: This quality improvement (QI) study assessed the acceptability, and feasibility of SACS-R for early detection of autism traits in 12-month-old infants born very preterm/VP (gestation < 32 weeks), from both caregiver and clinician perspectives. Methods: From September 2024 to February 2025, 47 VP infants attending the 12-month Neonatal Follow-up Clinic (NNFU) at King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH), Western Australia, were assessed using SACS-R. Caregivers completed acceptability and feasibility questionnaires; clinicians completed similar surveys. Forty-seven infants met inclusion criteria; 12 clinicians provided responses. Results: Of 47 infants, 4 (8.5%) were identified as having a high likelihood of autism and referred for early intervention. Among caregivers, 29 (61%) provided complete acceptability responses and 28 (59%) feasibility responses, both predominantly positive. Clinicians reported high satisfaction (83%) and ease of use (91%), with 74% supporting routine implementation. Concerns included parental understanding and overlap with other assessments. Conclusions: Our QI study indicates that the SACS-R is highly acceptable and feasible in neonatal follow-up for preterm infants. Larger-scale evaluation of diagnostic accuracy and practical refinements based on feedback are warranted to support routine integration in early surveillance programs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Long-Term Child and Family Outcomes After High-Risk Birth)
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