Participation of Iranian Cerebral Palsy Children in Life Areas: A Systematic Review Article

Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common cause of chronic disability that restricts participation in areas of occupations for children. The main aim of rehabilitation is enhancement of their clients for participation in occupations. The aim of this study was to overview of the factors influencing the participations of children with CP in Iran.

A systematic, evidence-based process (Duffy 2005) was used. For data gathering electronic databases including Google scholar and Iranian and foreigner famous journals in the fields of pediatrics, were used. The main key words for search were Activity of Daily Living (ADL), Instrumental Activity of Daily Living (IADL), play, leisure, work, rest/sleep, social participation, and education. All the papers of this study were about the factors influencing the participation of Iranian CP children during 2000-2016. Totally, 156 articles were found eligible as for Iranian CP children study, of which 100 articles were discarded. Because of repetitive and duplicability of some articles, 17 articles were removed as well.

The most studies about Iranian CP children participations in life areas were in the ADL area of participation (N=12), and the lowest articles were in the area in the field of: Work (N=2), play (N=2), and sleep/rest (N=2). Most of the occupational therapists do not focus on the all life areas.

In Iran, many researchers do not pay attention to the participation of CP children. Many articles just paid attention to the sensory, motor or cognitive components of their clients.