Caregivers’ Perceptions of a High Repetition Sit-To-Stand Exercise Program for Children with Cerebral Palsy Who Have Mobility Limitations

Abstract

Aims

To explore caregiver perceptions about the outcomes and feasibility of a high repetition sit-to-stand home-based exercise program on themselves and their children with cerebral palsy who have mobility limitations.

Methods

Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 caregivers (17 women, mean age 39 y 6 mo (SD 8 y 4 mo) of 19 children with cerebral palsy (10 males, mean age 7 y 2 mo (SD 2 y 1 mo) classified as level III (n = 8) or IV (n = 11) on the Gross Motor Function Classification System. The children had completed a 6-week task-specific sit-to-stand exercise program. Each week a physical therapist and caregivers supervised the program: twice by the physical therapist and three times by the caregivers. Interviews were completed immediately after program completion, and transcripts were analyzed using a process of inductive thematic analysis within an interpretive description framework.

Results

Themes were: (1) caregivers saw positive changes in their children from completing the program, (2) seeing positive changes gave caregivers hope that their child could develop with further training, and (3) the program was feasible to complete.

Conclusions

Caregivers perceived positive changes in their children and expressed increased hope for their child’s future after a high repetition sit-to-stand exercise program, suggesting the program is feasible with caregiver supervision.

Keywords:

• Children with cerebral palsy
• caregiver
• sit-to-stand exercise
• qualitative
• feasibility

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the children and parents who participated in this research and all the paediatric rehabilitation staff who have contributed to this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Additional information

Funding

The first author (SC) is a PhD. student who is funded by Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand.