Play participation measure for children aged eight to eleven years: a systematic review ; and, Contextual factors influence childhood participation: the need for a paediatric activity card sort, Australia

Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (Occupational Therapy) Honours

School

School of Exercise and Health Science

Faculty

Faculty of Computing, Health and Science

First Supervisor

Dr Sonya Girdler

Abstract

Play Participation Measures for Children Aged Eight to Eleven Years: A Systematic Review

Background For occupational therapists, the primary aim of therapy is to enhance a child's participation in meaningful occupations, The primary occupation for children is play. Participation in play facilitates social, cognitive emotional and physical development. The growing body of evidence highlighting the importance of play has seen an emergence of measures designed to assess a child's play. Past and current measures vary in the aspects of play measured. The purpose of this systematic review was to appraise play participation measures appropriate for children between the ages of five and eleven that exist within the literature, and to identify the similarities and differences inherent in their structures and psychometric properties.

Methods Electronic searches of four databases and manual searches of reference lists located studies detailing the development and psychometric properties of play measures: Assessments that exclusively measured play participation and conjunctively measured environmental factors were included. Data extraction was undertaken by two independent reviewers.

Results Electronic searches yielded 536 papers. Results of the systematic review identified ten generic measures of play participation suitable for children between the ages of five and eleven. All measures varied in their focus and purpose, targeted population, measurement context, applicability to ICF-CY play domains, and reliability and validity properties.

Conclusions and Significance of the Study Occupational therapists require clinical reasoning skills to systematically appraise available measures of play participation. Evaluation will ensure selected measures meet the assessment needs and needs of the child, facilitating accurate assessment and the subsequent result of client centred therapy and effective service provision.

Contextual Factors Influence Childhood Paliicipation: The need for a Paediatric Activity Card Sort - Australia

Background The Paediatric Activity Card Sort (P ACS) is a measure of childhood participation and was developed and validated with children living in North America. Contextual differences present limitations in the sensitivity of activity items when applied to Australian children. The purpose of this study was to identify activities common to the participation profiles of children residing in metropolitan Perth, Western Australia for potential inclusion in the activity items ofthe PACS-Australia.

Methods The study comprised a cross sectional survey. Activities for potential inclusion in the PACS Australia were sourced from administration of the PACS and a semi-structured interview with typically developing children aged 8-11 years residing in metropolitan Petth, Western Australia.

Results Forty one children (22 girls and 19 boys) with an age range of8-11.9 years completed the survey. Mean participation scores for the domains of personal care, school/productivity, hobbies/social activities and sports were 10.39, 12.29,28.17 and 4.59, respectively. Group differences were found in relation to gender for personal care (girls mean rank=24.27, boys mean rank=17.21 ,p=0.036) and sports participation (girls mean rank=14.2, boys mean rank=28.87,p=0.000). Seventy four 'activities not included in the PACS were also listed.

Conclusions and Significance of the Study Activity items were not found to be comprehensive with a number of common Australian childhood activities absent. Further, several PACS activities were not found to be common among Australian children. The P ACS is a valuable tool however, when applied to Australian children, is limited by a lack of comprehensive, contextually relevant activity items, highlighting the need for a P ACS-Australia.


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