The overall rate of Global Developmental Delay (GDD) was significantly high at 23.7%.

The most prevalent Developmental Delays were in gross motor, personal social, and fine motor skills.

The child's gender, the mother's work, family income and multi-children families were independent predictors of GDD.

Early developmental screening is essential for preventing the problem burden later in life.

This study was designed to assess the developmental outcomes among preschool-aged children and its associated factors in Palestine.

A cross-sectional, descriptive-correlational design involved a representative sample of preschool-aged children from kindergarten in Ramallah governorate. Data were collected using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, Arabic version-3. Associations between developmental delay (DD), parent, child and family characteristics were analyzed utilizing SPSS-25 version.

A total of 249 preschoolers participated in the study. The overall rate of children with Global Developmental Delay (GDD) was 23.7%. The most prevalent DD were in gross motor, personal social, and fine motor skills (25.3%, 17.7%, and 16.5%, respectively). Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that the male gender of a child (OR = 2.66, 95% CI [1.37, 5.19]), the mother's part-time work (OR = 6.01, 95% CI [1.68, 21.52]), low family income (OR = 3.67, 95% CI [1.05, 12.73]), and families with three or more children (OR = 1.43, 95% CI [1.15, 1.781]) were statistically significant independent predictors of GDD.

The study findings revealed higher rate of DD among preschoolers in Palestine than regional areas, especially in gross motor, fine motor, and personal social skills, which has consequences for both national and global health. According to the results, factors related to the child, the mother and the family are associated with the cumulative risk of preschoolers having DD.

It is a crucial role for pediatric nurses to detect DD early and its related risk factors through screening programs to limit the burden of problems in childhood and later adulthood.

Developmental delay

Preschoolers

Prevalence

Risk factors

Palestine

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