Coaching Community Volunteers to Support Children With Disabilities: A Brief Report

Abstract

Children with disabilities (CWD) participate in community settings less often than their nondisabled peers, often due to a lack of support. Occupational performance coaching (OPC) is an intervention that coaches adults to facilitate participation of CWD. This study examined if an OPC intervention provided to adult volunteers increased inclusion for CWD within a church setting. A mixed methods approach to using a cohort of Sunday school children with and without disabilities in a faith-setting was used. Improvements by 3 points in Goal Attainment Scale scores, by 3.2 points in total performance and 3.6 points in total satisfaction on the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure scores and improvements in the social networks were noted. This study suggests OPC used with community partners to be a feasible approach for increasing community inclusion for CWD.

Plain Language Summary

Coaching Community Volunteers to Support Children with Disabilities

Plain Language Summary: Children with disabilities (CWDs) participate in community settings less often than their nondisabled peers, often due to a lack of support. Coaching is a tool used by occupational therapists to support participation for people with disabilities. This study looked at using coaching with adult volunteers to support inclusion for CWD within a church setting. This study found improvements in participation and social interactions for CWDs after coaching was used in a church setting.