Volume 90, Issue 8 , Pages 1389-1395, August 2009
Effect of Adaptive Seating Devices on the Activity Performance of Children With Cerebral Palsy
Abstract
Rigby PJ, Ryan SE, Campbell KA. Effect of adaptive seating devices on the activity performance of children with cerebral palsy.
Objective
To evaluate the short-term impact of 2 adaptive seating devices on the activity performance and satisfaction with performance of children with cerebral palsy (CP), as observed by their parents.
Design
Baseline-intervention-baseline study.
Setting
Homes of participating families.
Participants
Parents and their children (N=30), mean age of 4 years 6 months, with Gross Motor Function Classification System levels III and IV CP participated.
Interventions
Two special purpose seating devices: one for sitting support on the floor or on a chair, the other for postural control on a toilet.
Main Outcome Measures
Changes in activity performance and satisfaction were measured through parent ratings on the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure. We interviewed parents biweekly using the Home Activity Log to describe and explain their child's activity performance during the 3 study phases.
Results
Parents identified 139 activity performance issues (4.6 a child): 58.3% in self-care, 34.5% in play, and 7.2% in socialization and quiet recreation. We used paired t tests to demonstrate significantly improved performance and satisfaction with self-care and play activities when the children used the adaptive seating devices during the 6-week intervention phase. Three themes arose from the analysis of comments made by parents during Home Activity Log interviews: adaptive seating can have an enabling influence on the child, caregivers and family find adaptive seating useful, and the adaptive seating devices did not meet every family's needs.
Conclusions
Parents reported that their young children with CP were more able to engage in self-care and play activities when using specific adaptive seating devices in their home. Parents indicated that their child's activity performance decreased after the seating devices were removed from their homes.
Key Words: Activities of daily living, Disabled children, Rehabilitation, Treatment outcome
List of Abbreviations: CP, cerebral palsy, COPM, Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, FIATS, Family Impact of Assistive Technology Scale, GMFCS, Gross Motor Function Classification System
Supported by SickKids Foundation/Institute for Human Development, Child and Youth Health, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (grant no. XG 04-088).
A commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has conferred or will confer a financial benefit on the author or one or more of the authors (Rigby, Ryan). The seating devices used in this study were developed at Bloorview Kids Rehab in Toronto, ON, Canada. Bloorview Kids Rehab receives royalties from the sale of the study devices from Otto Bock HealthCare Canada Ltd.
Reprints are not available from the author.
PII: S0003-9993(09)00311-6
doi:10.1016/j.apmr.2009.02.013
© 2009 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Volume 90, Issue 8 , Pages 1389-1395, August 2009
