Background/Aim Children born preterm are at risk of neonatal complications but the long-term consequences for everyday functioning is not well known. The study aimed to identify patterns of everyday functioning in preschool children born preterm and at term in relation to perinatal data, neonatal risk factors, behaviour, and socioeconomic status. Registry data and data from parent rated questionnaires were collected for 331 children. Method A person-oriented approach with a cluster analysis was used. Results A seven cluster solution explained 65.91% of the variance. Most children (n = 232) showed patterns of strong everyday functioning. A minority of the children (n = 99), showed diverse patterns of weak everyday functioning. Perinatal characteristics, neonatal risk factors and socio-economics did not predict cluster group membership. Children born preterm were represented in all clusters. Conclusion, implications Most preschool children are perceived by their parents with strong everyday functioning despite being born preterm. However small groups of children are, for various reasons, perceived with weak functioning, but preterm birth is not the sole contributor to patterns of weak everyday functioning. More critical for all children's everyday functioning is probably the interaction between individual factors, behavioural factors and contextual factors. To gain a broader understanding of children's everyday functioning. Child Health Services need to systematically consider aspects of body function, activity and in addition participation and environmental aspects.
Background
Participation of children with ID it is argued must be understood in relation to the fit with the environment. Since caregivers are a vital factor within the close environment of a child with intellectual disability, their perceptions are unequivocally important.
Aims
The main aim of this study is to describe the self-reported participation of children with ID and the perceptions of their primary caregivers. Both frequency of attendance and perceived importance of activity was measured with self-reported and proxy-reports.
Methods & Procedures
A custom developed Picture my Participation (PmP) survey was utilised in an interview format with children with intellectual disability whilst their primary caregivers completed the survey independently.
Results
Overall, the perceptions of children with intellectual disabilities and of primary caregivers showed similarities regarding attendance and activities considered important. On group level, both children and primary caregivers perceived the child to have a high level of attendance ofFormal learning in school, Family mealtime, Interacting with family and Celebrations. An overall poor agreement in perceived frequency of attendance was found. However, in child-primary cargiver-dyads poor agreement in perceived frequency of attendance was found.
Conclusions
While primary caregivers and children’s ratings of attendance and selection of the most important activities appeared somewhat similar, there was a noted difference, in that primary caregivers’ were uniform in their selection, whilst there was a diversity in the selection of activities amongst children.
Background There is a paucity of research demonstrating the optimisation and maintenance of participation outcomes following physical activity interventions for children and youth with disabilities. Aim: To evaluate changes in physical activity participation in children with disabilities following a goal-directed, family-centred intervention at a healthsports centre, and to identify factors influencing participation following the intervention. Methods and procedures: A mixed methods pre-test post-test cohort design was applied. Recruitment occurred over a 12 month period during standard clinical service provision. The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) was administered to children and parents pre (T1) and post-intervention (T2), and at 12 weeks follow-up (T3). Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) was applied to assess outcomes at 12 weeks follow-up (T2 T3). Qualitative inquiry described barriers to goal attainment at T3. Outcomes and results: Ninety two children with a range of disabilities (mean age 11.1yr; 49 males) were included in the study. Statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in parent ratings of COPM performance and satisfaction of participation goals were observed following intervention. Ratings at 12 weeks follow-up remained significantly higher than baseline, and 32% of children attained their COPM-derived GAS goal. Environmental factors were the most frequent barrier to goal attainment following intervention. Conclusion and implications: These results provide preliminary evidence for goal-directed, family centred interventions to optimise physical activity participation outcomes for children with disabilities.