Parental Adherence to Home Activities in Early Intervention for Young Children With Delayed Motor Development

Abstract

Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between characteristics of home activities and coaching practices with the adherence of parents of children with motor delays to home activities provided by physical therapists and occupational therapists in early intervention. Methods An online survey study was developed and distributed to physical therapists and occupational therapists across the United States. A survey flier was posted online on parent support groups, physical and occupational therapy groups, newsletters and organizations supporting parents of children with disabilities. Results A total of 720 respondents participated in the survey. Four hundred forty-six participants from 49 states met the inclusion criteria and were included in the analysis. Parents indicated that physical therapists and OTs apply the five coaching practices (joint planning, observation, practice, reflection, feedback). However, parents (63%) reported more time was needed on coaching. Parents’ stated that therapists’ modeling the activities was the most helpful teaching technique that enhanced their adherence to home activities. Coaching practices, appropriateness of the home activities to daily routines and home environment, provision of home activities enjoyed by the child, and parent self-efficacy were all significantly associated (P < 0.5) with adherence to home activities. Conclusions Parent’s adherence to home activities is affected not only by the type of coaching used by the therapists but also by the characteristics of the home activities provided for young children with delayed motor development. Impact statement The results of this study provide additional evidence supporting individualization of home activities to promote the parent’s continuous provision of learning opportunities to promote their children’s development. There was also support of the therapists’ use of the five coaching practices in EI to support the parent’s application of home activities when the therapists are not present.

The psychosocial determinants of adherence to home-based rehabilitation strategies in parents of children with cerebral palsy: A systematic review

“…Exercises that improve outcomes There were consistent ndings on the positive associations between parental perception of the bene ts and e cacy of exercise and HEPA in ve quantitative studies [22,30,33,37,40] and complemented by one qualitative study [42] which may support the generalisability of the ndings. In this case, it is thought that parents are highly motivated and hopeful when their children's conditions improve thanks to exercises performed.…”

The psychosocial determinants of adherence to home-based rehabilitation strategies in parents of children with cerebral palsy: A systematic review

“…The primary concern identified during the quality assessment was the universal use of convenience sampling across all studies, suggesting that participants might not accurately represent the target research population. Except for one study [ 32 ], none conducted power analyses or provided sample size estimates to justify their sample sizes. While there are no universal guidelines for determining the optimal sample size for multivariate analyses, a small sample size can undermine confidence in the findings [ 33 ].…”

“…This observation aligns with a previous systematic review that found that all 61 identified self-report measures lacked psychometric validity [ 36 ]. The current review also noted that factors such as social support and self-efficacy were sometimes assessed using a single item derived from related validated scales, which may not effectively capture the target concepts [ 32 , 35 , 37 ]. Other research efforts have tried to mitigate these issues by developing new measures based on existing scales or theories in the scientific literature [ 22 , 35 , 37 ] or by pre-testing and piloting the scales.…”

“…Positive cognitions . Of 13 studies included in this review, five quantitative studies have investigated cognitive factors such as high self-efficacy, high knowledge and ability, and low perception of the barriers that enhance parents’ HEPA [ 32 , 35 , 37 , 41 ]. According to these studies, all these factors are positively correlated with HEPA.…”

Implementation of coaching methods to decrease the parenting stress levels among teenage mothers in Indonesia: A quasi-experimental study

“…The emotional stability gained by mothers after undergoing parenting coaching interventions will create a pleasant atmosphere, allowing them to prepare nutritious meals for their children (Yendi et al, 2017 ). Moreover, mothers will more readily adopt healthy eating habits that can become long-term family practices (Di Pasquale & Rivolta, 2018 ), thereby enhancing their children’s nutrition and influencing the quality of physical, cognitive, and motor development during childhood (Gmmash et al, 2021 ).…”