Experience of Engagement in a Somatosensory Discrimination Intervention for Children with Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy: A Qualitative Investigation

ABSTRACT

Background: To successfully modify an intervention from an adult population for use with children with cerebral palsy, it is important to understand the components that support a child’s motivation and engagement.

Method: Ten children who had participated in the Sense© intervention (mean age = 11 years 2 m [SD = 2 years]; four males; Manual Ability Classification System level I = 1, II = 9) and their primary caregivers (N = 11, 10 females) were interviewed. Transcripts were analyzed using framework analysis.

Results: Key themes were identified in the core domains of the Synthesis of Child, Occupational Performance and Environment in Time model. Child: children’s somatosensory discrimination ability improved; Motivation: incorporating child’s goals was essential, as were real-world gains; Environmental: parents were interested in having more involvement in the intervention.

Conclusion: The most engaging elements of the intervention for children were the attainment of their self-selected goals. Opportunities to modify the intervention for improved partnership with parents were identified.

KEYWORDS:

• Cerebral palsy
• engagement
• proprioception
• somatosensory discrimination
• touch perception

Acknowledgments

The authors would like that thank the participants for their time and valuable contribution. The authors would like to thank Amber Blackburn, Brittany Choy, Dr. Misty Blakeman, Simon Garbellini, Aimee Tomlinson, and Yvette Robert for their assistance with this work. The authors would also like to acknowledge support from the Telethon New Children’s Hospital Research Fund, the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation and Australian Post-graduate Awards (to BM and ST), the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) project: [Grant Number 1022694] and James S. McDonnell Foundation Collaborative Award (220020413) (to LMC).

Declaration of Interest Statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation; National Health and Medical Research Council [Grant Number 1022694, 220020413].