Child and parent engagement in occupational therapy

Abstract

Background Child and parent engagement in the therapeutic process has been linked to positive outcomes in several contexts of health care, particularly mental health. While child and parent engagement is advocated as an important part of occupational therapy practice, there is a paucity of research in this area. Engagement has been defined as a multifaceted state of involvement of the client over the therapy process in mental health and has been considered as both a process and a state in adult health care. In this thesis, the process and state of child and parent engagement as it manifests in occupational therapy will be explored. Aims The primary aim of this thesis was to understand engagement when working with children and their parents in occupational therapy. The objectives of this thesis were to: (1) review the literature on engagement and develop a perspective of its role in occupational therapy when working with children and families; (2) identify existing measures of parent engagement, examine which domains of engagement these measures capture and review their clinometric properties; (3) review measures of child engagement and motivation, examine which domains these measures capture and evaluate their psychometric properties and clinical utility; (4) develop an understanding of parent engagement through the perspectives of occupational therapists; (5) develop an understanding of child engagement from the perspectives of occupational therapy; and (6) explore occupational therapy strategies for engagement through therapy session observations and by gaining therapist perspectives. Research design Objective One was addressed by undertaking a literature review. Objective Two was addressed by conducting a systematic review on engagement measures for parents of children receiving developmental or rehabilitation services. Objective Three was addressed by conducting a literature search on child measures of therapy engagement. Objectives Four and Five were addressed by undertaking a qualitative investigation using interpretive description to understand occupational therapy perspectives about child and parent engagement through focus groups and/or Brisbane, Australia.