Date Presented 04/04/19
OT practitioners may help parents with physical impairments complete activities of parenting. The purpose of this survey study was to identify the scope of practice and determine knowledge, information, and resources needed by practitioners providing services to parents with physical impairments. Results suggest practitioners are providing services and have a good foundation of knowledge. However, there is a need for more information and resources.
Primary Author and Speaker: Angela Lampe
Contributing Authors: Linda Gabriel
PURPOSE: About 6 million children in the United States have a parent(s) with a disability (Kirshbaum, 2013). Parents with disabilities and their children encounter many obstacles and their needs and experiences are not well understood (Powell, Callow, Kirshbaum, Preston, & Coffey, 2012). The purpose of this study is to describe the practice patterns, knowledge, skills, resources, and needs of occupational therapy practitioners working with parents with physical impairments. The research questions were:
How often and using what methods do occupational therapy practitioners evaluate and provide intervention to parents with physical impairments?
How do occupational therapy practitioners rate their knowledge, skills, access to resources, and need for additional information related to the provision of services of parents with physical impairments?
DESIGN: The study used survey methodology to describe the practice, knowledge, and needs of occupational therapy practitioners related to providing services to parents with physical impairments. Participants in this study consisted of occupational therapy practitioners providing services to adults with physical impairments. Participants were recruited in a variety of ways including postcards, email, snowball sampling, and dissemination of informational material at professional meetings and conferences.
METHOD: A specifically designed questionnaire with 60 close-ended and 2 open-ended questions was used to collect data for this study. A descriptive level of analysis was completed for this study. Frequencies, percentages, and means were calculated.
RESULTS: Fifty-one surveys were completed. Participants indicated they are working with parents with physical impairments across a variety of acute and post-acute settings with inpatient (21%) and outpatient rehabilitation (20%) the most represented settings. Participants are most frequently evaluating the parent’s ability to lift (58%), hold (52%), and transport the child (46%). For evaluation, participants most frequently interview the parent with an impairment (31.3%), interview of the parent without an impairment (19.4%), or use an interdisciplinary approach (18.8%). Intervention for the parent with a physical impairment is most frequently directed toward helping the parent lift and hold the child (both at 46%) and least often on bathing the child (28%). Most participants strongly agree or agree they have good foundational knowledge about evaluating and providing intervention to parents with a physical impairment. Most participants strongly agree evaluation and intervention for parents with physical impairments should be a component of practice and agree there is a need for developing or advancing the role of occupational therapy practitioners in this area. Participants indicated there was an urgent or moderate need for more resources and information related to adaptive equipment (66%,), childcare techniques (56%,), intervention plans (50%) and evaluation (48%). Few practitioners indicated there was no need for more resources or information in these areas.
CONCLUSION: Child rearing is an important occupation and not well understood among persons with physical impairments. Occupational therapy practitioners are providing services to parents with physical impairments across the service continuum, believe they have a good foundation of knowledge, and have expressed need for more information and resources. Results from this study may influence and inform occupational therapy researchers, educators, and practitioners regarding current practice trends and impact practice by discovering the information and resources needed by practitioners to support parents with physical impairments.
References
Kirshbaum, M. (2013). Adaptations supporting relationships between parents with physical disabilities and their infants and toddlers. Zero to Three, 62 – 69.
Powell, R., Callow, E., Kirshbaum, M., Preston, P., & Coffey, L. (2012). Rocking the cradle: Ensuring the rights of parents with disabilities and their children. National Council on Disability, 31(2).
