Home programmes based on evidence of best practice for children with unilateral cerebral palsy: Occupational therapists’ perceptions

Abstract

<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction</jats:title><jats:p> Evidence-based occupational therapy home programmes for children with unilateral cerebral palsy have demonstrated efficacy; however, uptake into routine practice is varied. The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the therapist-perceived supports and barriers to using occupational therapy home programmes for children with unilateral cerebral palsy, based on evidence of best practice in the United Kingdom. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Method</jats:title><jats:p> Fourteen occupational therapists completed semi-structured telephone interviews. Using a qualitative framework analysis approach, support and barrier factors were indexed against the Theoretical Domains Framework, before being categorised more broadly using the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation and Behaviour Model. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Findings</jats:title><jats:p> Common supports included: (a) strong leadership within the team to facilitate the translation of occupational therapy home programmes and evidence-based interventions into service-specific protocols; (b) knowledge exchange within professional networks and (c) mentorship. Common barriers included: (a) lack of resources; (b) restricted opportunities to review occupational therapy home programmes and (c) difficulties keeping up-to-date with the evidence in this area. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p> To be effective, occupational therapy home programmes need to be based on evidence of best practice; analysis indicated an urgent need to capture outcomes, record parental practice, further integrate ‘occupation’ within goal-setting, and develop use of conceptual models of practice to both enhance family-centred care and articulate the profession’s unique contribution. </jats:p></jats:sec>

Telerehabilitation to Improve Clinical and Health Conditions of Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Mini Review

“…Being remotely supervised and monitored, children with CP and their families were socially and professionally supported and systematically trained. [35,36] Fourth, although the collected empirical data were encouraging and promising, some failures occurred. Mixed results were still observed in secondary outcomes.…”