Occupational Therapists Enhance Comprehensive Health Assessments for Children in Foster Care

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Health
• Developmental Pediatrics
• Rehabilitation Medicine

Background:

• Children in foster care (CFC) exhibit high rates of developmental health needs.
• Comprehensive health assessments (CHA) are recommended for CFC, including developmental evaluations.
• The specific contribution of occupational therapy (OT) to multidisciplinary CHA teams for CFC is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To detail findings from OT evaluations within CHA for CFC.
• To ascertain if OT evaluations impact developmental health recommendations for CFC.
• To investigate the role of OT in identifying and addressing developmental needs in this population.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective study was conducted at a specialized clinic for CFC.
• Compared 335 children who received OT evaluation during CHA with 217 who did not.
• Developmental assessments were performed by OTs using observation and standardized testing; statistical analyses compared referral rates.

Main Results:

• Among children evaluated by OT, 69% showed delays in at least one developmental area.
• OTs provided developmental strengthening strategies to 74% of evaluated children.
• Children receiving OT evaluations had significantly higher rates of developmental referrals (58%) compared to controls (38%, p<.001).

Conclusions:

• Occupational therapy integration into CHA for CFC enhances the identification of developmental needs.
• Rehabilitation specialists like OTs can effectively provide strategies to support child development.
• OTs play a crucial role in improving developmental outcomes for children in foster care.