Caregivers' perceptions of barriers and supports for children with sensory processing disorders

This study explored caregivers' perceptions of how children with sensory processing disorders participate in community outings, strategies to support successful outings and if multi-sensory environments mitigate participation barriers.

Seven mothers and two grandmothers of children with sensory challenges participated in focus groups. Following focus groups, participants took part in a workshop on sensory processing disorders and behaviour management strategies and experienced a multi-sensory environment. To ensure trustworthiness, researchers individually coded data, corroborated to develop categories, then recoded until reaching consensus. Three participants reviewed conclusions that the researchers derived from audit trails and focus groups to verify credibility.

When asked about their child's participation challenges, participants identified sensory processing difficulties, environmental triggers, specific locations visited and how caregivers managed participation challenges. Participants relied on preparation, planning and consistency. Participants had varying exposure to multi-sensory environments and some were uncertain how they supported participation.

Participants reported positive outcomes resulting from proactive planning to manage behaviour, anticipating environmental triggers and challenges posed by locations they visited, and that their child's challenges and their own abilities to meet them evolved over time. They speculated multi-sensory environments could support participation when they were well-designed.