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Therapists' perceptions of pediatric occupational therapy interventions in self-care
S K Swart1, E M Kanny, T L Massagli
1Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle 98195, USA.
Objectives:
This study examined the congruence between pediatric occupational therapists' self-care interventions and occupational therapy's philosophical base, which focuses on performance of self-care skills as primary in evaluation and intervention.
Method:
A questionnaire was mailed to 252 therapists serving children ages birth to 6 years. The questionnaire asked for therapists' perceptions about the importance, uniqueness, and frequency of 10 areas of intervention, including self-care.
Results:
Perceived importance of self-care was found to be strongly related to perceived frequency of self-care intervention. Practice setting was significantly associated with perceptions of uniqueness of self-care, and team membership status was significantly associated with importance of self-care. Most respondents perceived self-care intervention to be important (86%) and unique (80%) to occupational therapy. Seventy percent regularly provided intervention for self-care.
Conclusions:
The therapists' perceptions reflected continued regard for self-care as an important and unique area of pediatric occupational therapy but were somewhat discrepant with the actual frequency of self-care interventions.