Participation in the Home Environment among Children and Youth with and without Disabilities

Abstract

Introduction: This study examines participation patterns and environmental supports and barriers for children with and without disabilities within their home setting. Method: The Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth (PEM-CY) is a newly developed, reliable parent/caregiver-report tool, which combines assessment of children's participation and the environment. The PEM-CY was completed online by 576 parents of children or youth (5 to 17 years old) with and without disabilities from Canada and the United States. ANOVA analyses were performed to examine group differences in PEM-CY summary scores. Item-level differences are presented descriptively using radar plots. Results: After controlling for age and income, significant differences between children with and without disabilities were observed for all home-based PEM-CY participation and environment summary scores. Differences between the two groups were also evident at the item level, particularly when comparing the percentage of children and youth who never participate in specific home-based activities and when comparing perceived barriers to participation. Conclusion: Although all children and youth participate frequently in home-based activities, those with disabilities tend to participate in less complex and quieter/sedentary activities. This, in addition to parental report of environmental barriers to participation, highlights the potential importance of home-based occupational therapy intervention to optimise participation in this setting.

Comparative study of home and community participation among children with and without cerebral palsy

“…First, both diversity of types of activities and level of involvement were lower in participants with CP as compared to other participants' groups with various developmental disabilities Law et al, 2013). In contrast, our study noted higher average frequencies and participants with TD were involved to a greater extent in comparison to those with TD from the aforementioned studies.…”

“…The PEM-CY is a reliable and valid parent/caregiver-report instrument that combines assessment of children's participation and the environment across three settings: home, school and community. Detailed information about the conceptual basis, development, and psychometric properties of the PEM-CY have been described elsewhere (Anaby et al, 2014;Bedell et al, 2013;Bedell, Khetani, Cousins, Coster, & Law, 2011;Coster et al, 2011Coster et al, , 2012Khetani et al, 2014;Law et al, 2013).…”

“…Participants involved in our research were on average older (12.7 and 12.1 years compared to 11.7 and 10.6 years). In addition, children with disabilities in other samples had a broad range of diagnoses and disabling conditions and the results were collectively given Law et al, 2013).…”

Differences between Pre-School Children with and without Special Educational Needs Functioning, Participation, and Environmental Barriers at Home and in Community Settings: An International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health for Children and Youth Approach

“…Young children reveal higher satisfaction levels with the activities they participate in (Ullenhag et al, 2014), but their intensity of participation diminishes with age (King et al, 2009;Palisano et al, 2011). While at school, children and youth with disabilities participate less frequently and with lower levels of involvement in home and community activities than their typically developing peers Law et al, 2013).…”

Parental views regarding seating and participation for young children with cerebral palsy

“…In addition parents have raised the issue of cost and availability of equipment which are commonly regarded as barriers to participation for children with cerebral palsy as well (Law et al, 2013). As a consequence, in the United Kingdom (UK) parents are increasingly seeking support from charities such as Whizz-Kidz, to secure adaptive seating systems that are not always available through publicly funded services (Sharma & Morrison, 2007).…”