Jacinta M. Saldaris

BMJ open • November 24, 2024

Zhenmei Yeap, Jessica Keeley, Rachel Skoss, Susan Hunt, Angela Kickett, Jacinta Saldaris, Thomas Nevill, Jenny Downs

Background: People with intellectual disability are at risk of poor physical and mental health. Risks to health are compounded by poor health literacy, that is, reduced capacity to access health services, respond quickly to changes in health status and navigate care pathways. Building health literacy skills is a strength-based way to increase health and optimise the use of healthcare services. The internet is a primary source of health information for many people, including people with intellectual disability and their families. This scoping review will aim to identify and collate online lay healthcare resources available to and developed for people with intellectual disability and their families and evaluate whether domains of health literacy are addressed. Methods: This review will be reported following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews guidelines. The proposed search strategy has three components. Resources will be identified by (1) reviewing disability organisation websites, (2) searching key disability and health terms in the Google search engine and (3) snowball sampling to identify additional resources through links in identified websites and resources. Resources will be selected if they are freely available, presented in or translatable into English, provide health information and are directed to people with intellectual disability or their family members. Extracted data will include descriptors of the source, format, area of health and targeted age range. Content relevant to domains of health literacy will be documented and gaps in available health information will be identified. Study findings will be presented in narrative, tabular and visual forms. Background: Ethical approval will not be sought because primary data will not be collected. The results will be disseminated in peer-reviewed literature, as conference presentations, as a synthesised resource for people with intellectual disability and their families and in summary documents for health service managers and policymakers.

Journal Of Clinical Sleep Medicine : JCSM : Official Publication Of The American Academy Of Sleep Medicine • July 04, 2024

Jacinta Saldaris, Scott Demarest, Peter Jacoby, Heather Olson, Kiran Maski, Elia Pestana Knight, Dana Price, Rajsekar Rajaraman, Bernhard Suter, Judith Weisenberg, Helen Leonard, Eric Marsh, Tim Benke, Jenny Downs

Objective: Sleep difficulties are common in CDKL5 deficiency disorder, a developmental and epileptic encephalopathy. This study evaluated the factor structure of the Disorders of Initiating and Maintaining Sleep (DIMS), Disorders of Excessive Somnolence (DOES), and Sleep Breathing Disorders domains of the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children for CDKL5 deficiency disorder. Methods: A cross-sectional psychometric study design was used. Data were collected for 125 individuals aged 3 years or older who attended a United States Centers of Excellence clinic or registered with the International CDKL5 Disorder Database. Results: The median age was 10.3 years (range 3.2-40.7 years) and 105 (84%) were female. Two of the 3 Sleep Breathing Disorders items were not observed by most respondents and analysis was restricted to the DIMS and DOES domains. Using all items in the initial confirmatory factor analysis, 2 items in the DIMS domain and 1 item in the DOES domain loaded poorly. After deleting these items and repeating the analysis, item loading (.524-.814) and internal consistency (DIMS: .78, DOES: .76) statistics were good. The square of the interdomain correlation coefficient was .17, less than average variance extracted values for both domains and indicating good discriminant validity. The Tucker-Lewis and Comparative Fit indices were slightly lower than the threshold of > .9 for establishing goodness of fit. Conclusions: The modified DIMS and DOES domains from the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children could be suitable clinical outcome assessments of insomnia and related impairments in CDKL5 deficiency disorder and potentially other developmental and epileptic encephalopathy conditions.

International Journal Of Language & Communication Disorders • March 07, 2024

Jacinta Saldaris, Jeremiah Ayalde, Samali Kankanange, Jessica Keeley, Helen Leonard, Peter Jacoby, Eric Marsh, Tim Benke, Scott Demarest, Jenny Downs

Background: Communication impairments are a leading concern for parent caregivers of individuals with rare neurodevelopmental disorders (RNDDs). Clinical trials of disease modifying therapies require valid and responsive outcome measures that are relevant to individuals with RNDDs. Identifying and evaluating current psychometric properties for communication measures is a critical step towards the selection and use of appropriate instruments. Objective: This systematic review offers (1) a description of parent-reported communication measures and (2) evidence for their psychometric properties, in RNDDs. Methods: The systematic review protocol was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO; CRD42022334649). MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase, PsychINFO, Web of Science, CINAHL Plus, Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov, the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry were searched from inception to August 2023. Methodological assessment of quality was completed using the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) checklist. Parent-reported measures used in observational studies and clinical trials were identified. Data on utility, reliability and validity for RNDDs were extracted. Results: Sixteen parent-reported communication measures were used in RNDD research, the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales being most commonly used. Validation data in RNDDs were identified for six of these measures. Limitations related to sample size or the scope of psychometric testing. Conclusions: Many communication measures have been used for RNDDs but there are few data validating their use. Valid and reliable methods of measuring communication in persons with RNDDs is a priority for future high-quality clinical trials. Conclusions: What is already known on the subject Communication is a critical domain for families with a child with a rare neurodevelopmental disorder (RNDD). Validated outcome measures are essential for accurate evaluation and interpretation of responses to treatments in clinical trials. What this paper adds to existing knowledge We identified 16 parent-reported communication measures that have been used with RNDDs, but only six measures had validation data for at least one RNDD. High quality evidence is accumulating, with all validation studies in this review published between 2020 to 2023. Modifications of existing measures may be required to assess communication for RNDDs. What are the clinical implications of this work? This systematic review catalogues the available psychometric data for communication measures and indicates an ongoing need for new validation studies to ensure they are fit-for-purpose for upcoming clinical trials in RNDDs. This review will inform the selection of communication measures for clinical trials and research studies.

Epilepsia • February 08, 2024

Jacinta Saldaris, Peter Jacoby, Jenny Downs, Eric Marsh, Helen Leonard, Elia Pestana Knight, Rajsekar Rajaraman, Judith Weisenberg, Bernhard Suter, Heather Olson, Dana Price, William Hong, Erin Prange, Tim Benke, Scott Demarest

Objective: The CDKL5 Clinical Severity Assessment (CCSA) is a comprehensive, content-validated measurement tool capturing the diverse challenges of cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 (CDKL5) deficiency disorder (CDD), a genetically caused developmental epileptic encephalopathy (DEE). The CCSA is divided into clinician-reported (CCSA-Clinician) and caregiver-reported (CCSA-Caregiver) assessments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the factor structure of these measures through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and evaluate their validity and reliability. Methods: Participants were recruited from the International CDKL5 Clinical Research Network to take part in an in-clinic CCSA-Clinician evaluation (n = 148) and/or complete the CCSA-Caregiver questionnaire (n = 198). CFA was used to determine domains, and factor loadings and validity were assessed. For the CCSA-Clinician, inter-rater reliability was assessed by nine CDD experienced clinicians via 14 pre-recorded evaluations. Eight clinicians re-viewed and re-scored the videos after 4 weeks to evaluate intra-rater reliability. The CCSA-Caregiver was completed on a second occasion by 34 caregivers after 2-4 weeks to assess test-retest reliability. Results: CFA resulted in three domains for the CCSA-Clinician (motor and movement, communication, vision) and four domains for the CCSA-Caregiver (seizures, behavior, alertness, feeding), with good item loadings across both measures. Structural statistics, internal consistency, discriminant validity, and reliability were satisfactory for both measures, and scores were consistent between known groups. Conclusions: This study provides strong evidence that the CCSA measures are suitable to assess the clinical severity of individuals with CDD, supporting their use in clinical trials. Further evaluation of responsiveness to change in a longitudinal assessment is planned. Use may also be appropriate in similar DEEs but would require validation in those populations.

American Journal Of Medical Genetics. Part A • October 24, 2023

Jessica Keeley, Sofia Benson Goldberg, Jacinta Saldaris, Judy Lariviere, Helen Leonard, Eric Marsh, Scott Demarest, Tim Benke, Peter Jacoby, Jenny Downs

CDKL5 deficiency disorder (CDD) is a genetically caused developmental epileptic encephalopathy that causes severe communication impairments. Communication of individuals with CDD is not well understood in the literature and currently available measures are not well validated in this population. Accurate and sensitive measurement of the communication of individuals with CDD is important for understanding this condition, clinical practice, and upcoming interventional trials. The aim of this descriptive qualitative study was to understand how individuals with CDD communicate, as observed by caregivers. Participants were identified through the International CDKL5 Disorder Database and invited to take part if their child had a pathogenic variant of the CDKL5 gene and they had previously completed the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Checklist (CSBS-DP ITC). The sample comprised caregivers of 23 individuals with CDD, whose ages ranged from 2 to 30 years (median 13 years), 15 were female, and most did not use words. Semistructured interviews were conducted via videoconference and analyzed using a conventional content analysis. Three overarching categories were identified: mode, purpose and meaning, and reciprocal exchanges. These categories described the purposes and mechanism of how some individuals with CDD communicate, including underpinning influential factors. Novel categories included expressing a range of emotions, and reciprocal exchanges (two-way interactions that varied in complexity). Caregivers observed many communication modes for multiple purposes. Understanding how individuals with CDD communicate improves understanding of the condition and will guide research to develop accurate measurement for clinical practice and upcoming medication trials.