Caregiver Perceptions of and Confidence in Training in Home Programs for Brachial Plexus Birth Injury

The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of family perceptions and ability to use education pertaining to home program recommendations for brachial plexus birth injury (BPBI).

A descriptive survey design was used to ask caregivers of infants with BPBI about their experiences and perceptions of the methods used to train them to perform passive range of motion (PROM), their preferred way to learn something new, their confidence after being trained, and factors affecting the frequency that they performed PROM in the first year of life.

Twenty-nine caregivers of infants with BPBI ages two years or younger completed the anonymous survey. Respondents prefer a variety of methods to learn something new and most felt only somewhat confident or unconfident, and somewhat to very nervous to perform PROM after being trained, primarily due to fear about hurting their child. Time was the biggest factor affecting caregivers' ability to perform daily PROM, followed by lack of cooperation from their child.

The findings suggest that patient training and education needs to reflect core principles of occupational therapy by maximizing the fit between individual families and their contexts while using strategies to build caregiver capacity.