“I Do Lots of Things”: Children with cerebral palsy’s competence for everyday activities

Abstract

This study explored how children with cerebral palsy describe competent performance in everyday activities and sought to better understand the processes by which the children developed competence. Five children with cerebral palsy aged six to 17 years participated in a three-step procedure that included two observations, one semi-structured interview with narrative elaboration, and one cognitive interview. Three factors influenced the competence of children in this study: the environment—people, places, and objects; the quality of the activity—fun and importance; and the child’s personal characteristics—strengths and impairments. The process of building competence was characterised by practice and problem-solving. The outcome of this process was being competent or “doing lots of things”. Children played an active role by problem-solving impairment-related challenges or environmental barriers. “Doing” was not related to the child’s skills or level of independence, but to engagement in activities considered fun and important to the child.

Keywords:

• Activities of Daily Living
• children with disabilities
• competence
• leisure activities
• physical environment
• self-efficacy
• self-report
• social environment

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the children and their parents who took the time to participate and contribute to this study. Thank you to Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar, PhD, Roberta Paikoff, PhD, Susan Magasi, PhD, Patricia Bowyer, EdD, Kelly Munger, MS, Sue Berger, PhD, and Simone Gill, PhD for providing feedback on the analysis and drafts of this manuscript.

The findings reported here are based on research funded by the American Occupational Therapy Association Dissertation Research Grant, and the University of Illinois at Chicago Graduate College to the first author, as well as the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research ARRT Grant No. H133P050001, to Boston University, Dr Alan Jette, PI. No restrictions have been imposed on free access to, or publication of, the research data. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the above parties, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organisations imply endorsement by the funders, Boston University, or the University of Illinois at Chicago. Opinions reflect those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the funding agency(ies). The author(s) had no financial or other conflicts of interest. This study was conducted while the first author was a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL.