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[Audiovisual stimulation in children with severely limited motor function: does it improve their quality of life?]
Salesa Barja1, Carolina Muñoz, Natalia Cancino
1Hospital Josefina Martínez. sbarja@uc.cl
Insights
Audiovisual stimulation significantly improved the quality of life for children with severe mobility limitations. This therapy also enhanced cognitive function in these pediatric patients.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Rehabilitation Medicine
- Quality of Life Research
Background:
- Children with neurological diseases often experience significantly reduced quality of life due to severe mobility impairments.
- Long-term hospitalization exacerbates the challenges faced by these children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of a structured audiovisual stimulation program on the quality of life (QL) in children with severe mobility limitations.
- To assess changes in cognitive, behavioral, and biological variables following the intervention.
Main Methods:
- A prospective study involving nine children (mean age 42.6 months) with severe mobility limitations.
- Implementation of a 20-day audiovisual stimulation program, with a passive phase followed by an observer-guided phase.
- Assessment included an adapted QL survey, cognitive tests, and recording of biological and behavioral variables.
Main Results:
- Eight patients completed the study, showing a significant improvement in quality of life scores from baseline (7.2) to post-therapy (9.4).
- Cognitive function showed improvement, and caregivers reported a favorable perception of the therapy's effects.
- No significant changes were observed in biological or behavioral variables.
Conclusions:
- Audiovisual stimulation is an effective method for enhancing the quality of life in pediatric patients with severe mobility impairments.
- The therapy positively impacts cognitive aspects and caregiver perception without altering biological or behavioral markers.
Introduction:
Children with neurological diseases that impose severe limitations on their mobility have a deficient quality of life (QL).
Aims:
To study whether the QL of such patients improves with the application of a programme of audiovisual stimulation.
Patients And Methods:
A prospective study was conducted on nine children, six of whom were males (mean age: 42.6 ± 28.6 months), with severely limited mobility and who had been hospitalised for long periods. Two audiovisual stimulation programmes were produced and applied, together with videos, by means of a specially designed structure. The stimulus was applied twice a day for 10 minutes over 20 days. The first ten days the stimulus was carried out in a passive manner and the second block of ten days it was performed with the guidance of the observer. Biological, behavioural and cognitive variables were recorded and an adapted QL survey was applied.
Results:
Three cases of spinal muscular atrophy, two of congenital muscular dystrophy, two of myopathy and two with other conditions were diagnosed. Eight patients completed the follow-up. From the baseline point of view, they presented a regular QL (7.2 ± 1.7 points; median: 7.0; range: 6-10), which improved to good on finishing the therapy (9.4 ± 1.2 points; median: 9.0; range: 8-11), with an intra-individual difference of 2.1 ± 1.6 (median: 2.5; range: -1 to 4; CI 95% = 0.83-3.42; p = 0.006). Improved cognition and a favourable perception in the caregivers were detected. No changes took place in the biological or behavioural variables.
Conclusions:
Audiovisual stimulation can be used to enhance the quality of life of children with severely limited mobility.
