Therapists' perceptions of pediatric occupational therapy interventions in self-care.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined the congruence between pediatric occupational therapists' self-care interventions and occupational therapy's philosophical base, which focuses on performance of self-care skills as primary in evaluation and intervention.


METHODS
A questionnaire was mailed to 252 therapists serving children ages birth to 6 years. The questionnaire asked for therapists' perceptions about the importance, uniqueness, and frequency of 10 areas of intervention, including self-care.


RESULTS
Perceived importance of self-care was found to be strongly related to perceived frequency of self-care intervention. Practice setting was significantly associated with perceptions of uniqueness of self-care, and team membership status was significantly associated with importance of self-care. Most respondents perceived self-care intervention to be important (86%) and unique (80%) to occupational therapy. Seventy percent regularly provided intervention for self-care.


CONCLUSIONS
The therapists' perceptions reflected continued regard for self-care as an important and unique area of pediatric occupational therapy but were somewhat discrepant with the actual frequency of self-care interventions.
Swart
S K
SK
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle 98195, USA.
Kanny
E M
EM
Massagli
T L
TL
Engel
J M
JM
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012648:Self Care; D016896:Treatment Outcome