A Systematic Scoping Review to Identify Core Elements of Responsive Feeding Therapy for Children With Paediatric...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Nutrition
• Child Psychology
• Therapeutic Interventions

Background:

• Responsive feeding therapy (RFT) is an emerging intervention for children with pediatric feeding disorder (PFD).
• Current application of RFT lacks a consistent definition and standardized approach.
• This scoping review investigates the elements of RFT utilized in intervention studies for PFD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine how Responsive Feeding Therapy (RFT) elements are applied in intervention studies for pediatric feeding disorder (PFD).
• To identify common themes, goals, and outcome measures within RFT interventions.
• To highlight inconsistencies in the conceptualization and implementation of RFT.

Main Methods:

• A scoping review was conducted across five databases.
• Studies involving children aged 6 months to 18 years were included.
• Deductive content analysis was used to categorize RFT elements from extracted data on study design, population, intervention, goals, and outcomes.

Main Results:

• Twenty-seven studies were included, with only two explicitly referencing RFT.
• Three emergent themes were identified: supporting caregiver attunement, focusing on the child-caregiver relationship, and empowering the child.
• Common intervention goals included improving mealtime behaviors, increasing food variety, and enhancing caregiver responsiveness, with outcomes measuring both child and caregiver factors.

Conclusions:

• Responsive feeding therapy (RFT) is an emerging intervention for pediatric feeding disorder (PFD) with identified core elements.
• Inconsistencies in the conceptualization and implementation of RFT persist across studies.
• Future research should prioritize clarifying RFT's core components, objectives, and outcome measures for standardized application.