Comparing three coaching approaches in pediatric rehabilitation: contexts, outcomes, and mechanisms

Abstract

Purpose

This Perspectives paper advances understanding of coaching in pediatric rehabilitation. We compare three coaching approaches designed for pediatric rehabilitation: Coping with and Caring for Infants with Special Needs (COPCA), Occupational Performance Coaching (OPC), and Solution-Focused Coaching in Pediatric Rehabilitation (SFC-peds).

Objectives

Our objectives are to contrast the theory underpinning the approaches, discuss the evidence for outcomes and hypothesized mechanisms of change, consider the necessary mindsets of effective coaches, and propose directions for research and practice.

Summary

The coaching approaches have different theoretical bases and are designed for specific contexts, yet are similar in their mechanisms of change and intended outcomes. There is growing evidence of important effects of coaching on coachees’ goal achievement, empowerment, and capacity building. Studies indicate that stakeholders value coaching, and provide a preliminary understanding of the mechanisms, including engagement and self-efficacy, by which coaching approaches support clients’ self-directed and sustained change. Open, curious, and client-centered practitioner mindsets are fundamental to effective coaching.

Conclusions

Coaching is a distinctive group of relational, goal-oriented, and evidence-based approaches that support goal achievement and empowerment. These approaches reflect and advance an ongoing paradigm shift in pediatric rehabilitation—a movement from therapist-as-expert approaches to those that build empowerment and capacity.

IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION

• Coaching is a distinctive group of theory-based approaches that support clients’ goal achievement and empowerment, and build capacity

• Coaching practitioners are collaborative facilitators who assist clients and families with their own discovery of solutions that fit their everyday contexts

• The evidence suggests that coaching triggers engagement and self-efficacy, which are the mechanisms by which changes in longer-term outcomes occur

• Open, curious, and client/family-centered practitioner mindsets are fundamental to effective coaching

Keywords:

• Capacity building
• COPCA
• empowerment
• engagement
• goal attainment
• OPC
• SFC-peds

Acknowledgements

Gillian King holds the Canada Research Chair in Optimal Care for Children with Disabilities, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. This chair is supported by matching funds from the Kimel Family Opportunities Fund through the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation. The authors gratefully acknowledge the feedback of our colleagues on drafts of the manuscript, including Mijna Hadders-Algra, Michèle Brülhart, Patrizia Sonderer, and Patricia Baldwin.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

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