Coaching-in-Context With Informal Maternal Care Partners of Children With Spinal Cord Injury

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Psychology
• Pediatrics

Background:

• Coaching-in-Context (CinC) is a strength-based, solution-focused coaching method.
• It utilizes positive psychology principles and evidence-informed techniques.
• CinC aims to help individuals perform optimally in desired or required roles.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the application of CinC with informal maternal caregivers of children with spinal cord injury (SCI).
• To assess the impact of CinC on caregiver outcomes.
• To identify factors influencing the implementation of coaching programs for this population.

Main Methods:

• A multicenter, single-group, pre-post treatment study design was employed.
• Participants received up to 10 CinC sessions over 10 weeks.
• Standardized measures including the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), Parenting Stress Index (PSI-4-SF), and Pediatric Measure of Participation (PMoP SF) were administered pre- and post-intervention.

Main Results:

• Seven mothers completed the study, with children diagnosed with paraplegia or tetraplegia.
• Significant improvements were observed in COPM performance (p < .001) and satisfaction (p < .001) scores post-coaching.
• Pediatric Measure of Participation (PMoP) self-scores also showed a statistically significant increase (p < .043).

Conclusions:

• Coaching-in-Context (CinC) demonstrates preliminary efficacy for informal maternal care partners of children with SCI.
• The study underscores the importance of considering the mode of delivery and time commitment in coaching program implementation.
• CinC offers a promising intervention to support caregivers in pediatric SCI.