Watch Me Move: A Program For Parents of Young Children With Gross-Motor Delays

ABSTRACT

Aims: Watch Me Move (WMM) is a 6-week parent education program for caregivers of children with gross-motor delays. The aims are to improve parent-child interaction in a gross-motor context, increase parents' knowledge of behavioral cues and gross-motor development, and decrease perceived parental stress. Methods: Forty mothers of children, 6 months to 3 years of age, with a gross-motor delay participated in a randomized control trial comparing parents who received the WMM program plus standard of care physiotherapy (n = 24) with parents whose children received standard of care physiotherapy (n = 16). Results: Mothers who received the WMM program had significantly higher change scores on two subscales of the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale (NCATS; i.e., cognitive growth fostering, and responsiveness to caregiver) and on the Parent Knowledge Questionnaire assessing knowledge of behavioral cues and gross-motor development. There were no significant group differences on the other four NCATS subscales (i.e., sensitivity to cues, response to child's distress, social emotional growth fostering, and clarity of cues) or the Parenting Stress Index. Conclusions: The addition of WMM to traditional physiotherapy improved aspects of mothers' ability to interact with their children and their knowledge of behavioral cues and gross-motor development.

KEYWORDS:

• Gross motor delay
• parent–child interaction
• pediatric physiotherapy
• parent education

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the valuable contribution of Shirley Leew, PhD (Senior Research Scientist and Director, Research Excellence Support Team, Alberta Health Services) for assistance in writing the grant for this project; professional advice and discussions about research design; and for her feedback and editing of an early draft of this manuscript. We thank Conny Betuzzi (Manager at the Alberta Children's Hospital) for her constant support; Lewis Gitelman, MA Ed Tech senior specialist instructional design, for his help with educational design; Laura Schmidt for the blinded scoring of the NCAST; Jodi Seiver for data analysis, Brenda Wilson. MSc, Karen Benzies. PhD, and all of the children, families, and therapists who partook in this study.

Declaration of Interest

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

Funding

This research was supported in part by an Allied Health and Nursing Research Grant and the Neuroscience Department of the Alberta Children's Hospital.

About the Authors

Candice Natrasony, BMR(PT), and Debra Teitelbaum, BSc PT, MSc, are affiliated with the Child Development Centre of Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.