Difference in home participation patterns and environmental factors between Korean children with and without disabilities

Abstract

Purpose

To identify the participation patterns of Korean children with and without disabilities at home, and the environmental factors affecting their participation.

Materials and methods

The Korean Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth were applied to 184 caregivers of children aged 5 to 13 years in South Korea. To explore home participation patterns and environmental factors at the item level, analysis of covariance, Pearson’s chi-square tests, and radar plots were used.

Results

The largest group differences in participation frequency were in “school preparation” and “homework” and those at involvement level were in “indoor play and games,” “getting together with other people,” “school preparation,” and “homework.” More caregivers of children with disabilities desired changes in their children’s participation in all activities. They also perceived that “physical, cognitive, and social demands of typical home activities,” “supplies,” and “money” hindered children’s home participation.

Conclusions

The findings provide information about how Korean children participated in home-based activities, whether their caregivers desired changes in their participation, and what environmental factors impede their home participation. These can help service providers understand the interaction between participation and environmental factors and offer insight into where their service goals should be focused for the successful participation of children with disabilities at home.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• As children with disabilities spend much time at home, their parents need to consider both how many times their children participate and how much they get involved in home-based activities.

• Rehabilitation service providers need to focus on whether parents are satisfied with their children’s participation in home activities to decide where much effort is needed for meaningfully occupying children’s time at home.

• The goal of rehabilitation services can be to mitigate a poor fit between children’s abilities and the demands of activities for successful participation in home activities.

• Measuring not only the quantity of participation but also the quality of participation is helpful for setting a collaborative goal with parents to improve the participation of children with disabilities at home.

Keywords:

• Participation
• environment
• child disability
• home
• cross-cultural

Acknowledgements

I thank Mary Law, Dr. Paul Stratford, Prof. Carol DeMatteo, and Cheryl Missiuna (School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University in Canada) for their support and advice to develop the KPEM-CY. I also thank Hwan Kim, PhD (College of Rehabilitation Sciences at Daegu University in South Korea) and Hyeran Kim, BSc(OT) (pediatric occupational therapist at Daedeok-gu Community Rehabilitation Center in South Korea) for their help to recruit participants in the development of KPEM-CY. Lastly, I thank all Korean rehabilitation service providers and parents of children who supported and participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).