Rehabilitation of Infant Oral Feeding Difficulties: A Survey of Occupational Therapists Practice Approaches

ABSTRACT

This study identifies the scope of occupational therapy practice for the rehabilitation of oral feeding difficulties in infants who are in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). A written survey was administered to 127 occupational therapists who work with infants in the NICU. All 68 (54%) respondents used a client-centered approach, taking into consideration the infant (intrinsic), caregiver, and environmental (extrinsic) factors. Family and health team education was the most commonly provided service with the majority of occupational therapists providing services only until feeding problems were resolved. Continuing education (n = 20, 30%) and own clinical experience (n = 22, 33%) were the two most common justifications to support their choice of practice. These results suggest a client-centered approach in the rehabilitation of oral feeding difficulties is commonly used, but services are not extended beyond hospitalization. Few occupational therapists used peer-reviewed journals as sources of evidence for their practice strategies.

KEYWORDS:

• Infant
• bottle feeding
• sucking
• evidence-based practice

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

About the authors

Caitlin Hardy and Jessica Senese, are occupational therapy students in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy program at Queen's University.

Sandra Fucile, is an assistant professor adjunct in the department of pediatrics and at the School of Rehabilitation Therapy at Queen's University.