Practice Patterns for Addressing Developmental-Behavioral Concerns in Sickle Cell Specialty Care

Objective: Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) are at elevated risk for neurodevelopmental and behavioral disorders. This article describes developmental-behavioral practice patterns among sites who were part of the Dissemination and Implementation of Stroke Prevention Looking at the Care Environment (DISPLACE) consortium in the context of current guidelines for addressing these concerns. Methods: An internal survey was developed for the principal investigators of the DISPLACE study to identify developmental-behavioral clinical practices across the 28-site consortium, including methods for identification, referral practices, access to psychologists, and barriers to services. Descriptive data were pulled from the survey to describe practice patterns. Results: Most sites used informal methods to detect developmental-behavioral concerns, though over one third of sites were using a structured protocol. The most common referral indications for further developmental and neuropsychological evaluation were parent, provider, or school concerns or stroke. Evaluations were predominantly completed by pediatric neuropsychologists and pediatric psychologists. Despite most sites reporting access to a psychologist within the SCD clinic, sites also reported long waitlists and difficulty accessing providers for evaluation and treatment services. Insurance difficulties were also a common barrier. A range of additional barriers were reported at the patient, provider, organizational, and policy/socioenvironmental levels. Conclusions: Many sites in the DISPLACE consortium were adhering to existing care guidelines for pediatric SCD; however, there was also wide variation in practices for which guidelines are absent or unclear. Additional work is needed to inform guidelines, to specify the role of psychology within specialty SCD care. and to overcome barriers to care.