Graduation Semester and Year
Fall 2026
Language
English
Document Type
DNP Project
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice
Department
Nursing
First Advisor
Dr Kim Hatchel
Abstract
Pediatric feeding disorder (PFD) can significantly affect a child’s nutrition, development, and overall health, yet concerns may go undetected during routine primary care visits. This Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project focused on providing standardized PFD screening for children aged 4 years and younger during their pediatric well-child visits. During the initial 8-week period, screening was completed only when parents expressed feeding concerns. This resulted in 3 children identified with potential PFD. During the following 8 weeks, all eligible pediatric well-child visits received standardized PFD screening along with their other developmental screeners, resulting in 8 children identified with potential feeding concerns. These findings demonstrated that universal screening identified more children who may have gone unrecognized when relying on reported concerns alone. Standardized PFD screening, alongside existing standard developmental assessments, may improve early identification, referrals, and interventions for children with feeding difficulties in primary care.
Keywords
Feeding and eating disorders; Mass screening; Primary health care; Child
Disciplines
Pediatric Nursing
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Redden, Leslie D., "Standardizing Pediatric Feeding Disorder Screening in Primary Care" (2026). Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects. 42.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/nursing_dnpprojects2/42