Building Families' Capacities: Community Forums with Parents and Occupational Therapists.

Background. Parents of a child considered to have special needs are at greater risk of stress and exhaustion. Although many occupational therapy interventions can help these children, they often require significant time and energy from families. Purpose. To document the perspectives of parents and occupational therapists regarding ways to offer services that help build families' capacities without overloading them. Method. A qualitative descriptive design guided online community forums with 41 parents and occupational therapists in Quebec, Canada. Findings. Nine key principles to build the capacities of families without overburdening them were identified. These include being sensitive to possible negative impacts of services, avoiding overwhelming the family with information or recommendations, taking the needed time, highlighting the positive, and offering flexible conditions for services. Implications. Our findings help identify how capacity-building rehabilitation services can be offered to families to optimize positive outcomes and minimize harms.

Evaluation of satisfaction with geospatial assistive technology (ESGAT): a methodological and usability study.

PURPOSE: Manual wheelchair users are more vulnerable, in situations such as road crossings, hazardous sidewalks or curbs and crossing of buildings and facilities threshold. Geospatial assistive technology (GAT) can help with route planning. However, it is important to ensure the usability of such products, as well as the satisfaction of persons with reduced mobility. The study's aim was (1) to develop and validate a questionnaire on the satisfaction of GAT, in English and French, and to (2) assess satisfaction, efficacy and efficiency of a GAT with manual wheelchair users following a filmed trial in a dense urban area. METHOD: A methodological study was conducted (development of the questionnaire, assessment of its content validity, feasibility and practicability) followed by a trial and post-observations with the videos. Two questionnaires (English, French) were concurrently validated by two groups of experts (n = 8), and then field-tested by wheelchair users (n = 8), using Google Maps Pedestrian routeing tool. RESULTS: The Evaluation of satisfaction with geospatial assistive technology (ESGAT) consists in a user profile and their experience with the technology, followed by 12 satisfaction criteria rated from 1-not satisfied to 5-very satisfied. Both questionnaires were rated as feasible and practicable to complete. The usability of Google Maps Pedestrian routeing tool was measured as "moderate" by manual wheelchairs since the total satisfaction score at the ESGAT was 3.9/5 (quite satisfied). The items with the lowest score were navigation assistance, hands-free function and security. The GAT was effective (87.5% have completed their destination) but not efficient (37.5% needed help).IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONFor manual wheelchair users paired with geospatial assistive technology:• A 10 minutes questionnaire was developed and validated to assess their satisfaction after testing aid in an urban area.• Satisfaction criteria to address are ease of access (service), learnability, hands-free function, ease of use for planning as well for navigating, transportability/ appearance, content, geographic information, effectiveness, efficiency, navigation assistance and security• A field test is necessary to ensure the effectiveness of the technology in avoiding or announcing potential obstacles such as sidewalk crossing ramp, damaged and congested sidewalk; sidewalk tilt (side slopes); thresholds at destination; verbal indication too soon or too late; incorrect indication; the arrow does not indicate the right direction; readjustment of the route needed; a lack of indication; and human intervention needed.

Alliance-Outcome Associations in a Community-Based Social Skills Intervention for Youth With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Although the alliance is a consistent predictor of treatment outcomes in psychosocial interventions, few studies have examined this association among youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In particular, youth-therapist alliance has never been examined in social skills interventions (SSIs), a common modality for this population. In this study, thirty-four youth with ASD (Mage = 12.41; 79% male) participated in a community-delivered, group-based SSI in a summer camp format led by eight Head Therapists (Mage = 32.12; 50% male). Early alliance and change in alliance over the course of the treatment were assessed via self- and observer-reported measures. Both self- and observer-rated alliance were associated with positive treatment outcomes as reported by parents (decreased problem behaviors) and other peers in the group (reciprocated friendship and social preference). These results provide the first evidence of the role of the alliance in an SSI for youth with ASD and add to the growing body of literature that demonstrates the importance of assessing and addressing the alliance in treatment for this population.