Relationship between Emotional Support for Parents and Autistic Children's Participation in Social and Physical Activities.

The purpose of this study was to determine if parents receiving emotional support is positively correlated with children's participation in physical and social activities and if such a correlation exists between parental emotional support in children labeled as autistic. Data were drawn from 30,501 children aged 6 to 17 years in the 2020 National Survey of Children's Health database and analyzed using a retrospective cross-sectional approach based on multivariate linear regression models. Results showed parental emotional support was statistically significantly correlated with children's physical and social activity in the total sample but was not significant for the emotional support of parents with autistic children. The findings suggest that other issues must be considered as contributing factors for parents of autistic children in relation to social and physical activity participation.

Responsiveness of Life Participation for Parents (LPP®): A Tool for Family-Centered Rehabilitation.

Aims:The Life Participation for Parents (LPP®) is a Quality of Life assessment designed to measure family-centered practice outcomes. Previous studies of the LPP have established its internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .85), test-retest reliability (r = .89), construct validity, and concurrent validity. This study examined the responsiveness of the LPP, hypothesizing change scores after 3 months of intervention would exceed that explained by standard error. Methods: Thirty-two parents of children with disabilities completed the LPP to identify family-centered issues. The LPP was completed a second time after 3 months of intervention. Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used to compare the median differences between two administrations. Minimal clinically important differences (MCID) were calculated for the total and two LPP subscales (efficiency and effectiveness). Cohen's effect size was calculated using the standardized response mean (SRM) to quantify the change. Results: The age range of the parents was 31-50 (72%), including 31 mothers (96.9%). Median differences between the two administrations were significantly different (p < .05). The MCID were 11.34, 9.82, and 4.48; the SRM were 0.42, 0.54, and 0.04, for the LPP total score, efficiency subscale and effectiveness subscale, respectively. Conclusions: The LPP is responsive to detect a change larger than measurement error in parental ability of participating in life occupations while raising a child with disabilities.

Family-centered principles implemented in home-based, clinic-based, and school-based pediatric settings.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to determine whether pediatric occupational therapy practitioners implemented family-centered principles in their practice. METHOD: Twenty-eight occupational therapy practitioners were interviewed in three practice settings: home based, clinic based, and school based. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze the results. Responses were compared across respondents and across practice settings. RESULTS: Responses varied among practitioners and, more significantly, practice settings. A continuum of family-centered practice was demonstrated, with home-based practice as the most family centered, school-based practice as the least family centered, and clinic practice varying in between. CONCLUSION: Occupational therapy practitioners are familiar with most principles of family-centered practice. However, implementation of those principles differs significantly across practice settings.

Life Participation for Parents: a tool for family-centered occupational therapy.

OBJECTIVE: This study describes the continued development of the Life Participation for Parents (LPP), a measurement tool to facilitate family-centered pediatric practice. METHOD: LPP questionnaires were completed by 162 parents of children with special needs receiving intervention at 15 pediatric private practice clinics. Results were analyzed to establish instrument reliability and validity. RESULTS: Good internal consistency (α = .90) and test-retest reliability (r = .89) were established. Construct validity was examined through assessment of internal structure and comparison of the instrument to related variables. A principal components analysis resulted in a two-factor model accounting for 43.81% of the variance. As hypothesized, the LPP correlated only moderately with the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (r = .54). The variables of child's diagnoses, age, and time in therapy did not predict parental responses. CONCLUSION: The LPP is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring satisfaction with parental participation in life occupations.

Measuring outcomes of family-centered intervention: development of the Life Participation for Parents (LPP).

Raising a child with disabilities impacts the ability of parents to participate in life situations. This paper describes the development of a new instrument, Life Participation for Parents, to measure outcomes of pediatric therapy on parental participation. Items were reviewed by six occupational therapists with experience in pediatrics and instrument development. The number of items was reduced to 23. The resultant instrument was completed by 29 parents of children with disabilities. Their scores were reviewed by the nine occupational therapists working with the children. Parent and therapist respondents were interviewed regarding item content. Instrument responses were evaluated for internal consistency. The respondents confirmed the face and content validity of the construct, variability in responses, and readability of the items. Good internal consistency for items was demonstrated (Cronbach's alpha .85). The preliminary results indicate that the Life Participation for Parents is a promising tool for evaluating parental issues and measuring parent outcomes in family-centered practice.