title: Participation in physical play and leisure: developing a theory- and evidence-based intervention for children with motor impairments.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Children with motor impairments (e.g. difficulties with motor control, muscle tone or balance) experience significant difficulties in participating in physical play and leisure. Current interventions are often poorly defined, lack explicit hypotheses about why or how they might work, and have insufficient evidence about effectiveness. This project will identify (i) the 'key ingredients' of an effective intervention to increase participation in physical play and leisure in children with motor impairments; and (ii) how these ingredients can be combined in a feasible and acceptable intervention.
  
  
  METHODS
  The project draws on the WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health and the UK Medical Research Council guidance for developing 'complex interventions'. There will be five steps: 1) identifying biomedical, personal and environmental factors proposed to predict children's participation in physical play and leisure; 2) developing an explicit model of the key predictors; 3) selecting intervention strategies to target the predictors, and specifying the pathways to change; 4) operationalising the strategies in a feasible and acceptable intervention; and 5) modelling the intervention processes and outcomes within single cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The primary output from this project will be a detailed protocol for an intervention. The intervention, if subsequently found to be effective, will support children with motor difficulties to attain life-long well-being and participation in society. The project will also be an exemplar of methodology for a systematic development of non-drug interventions for children.
authors: Health Services Research Unit, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen, UK. n.kolehmainen@abdn.ac.uk
authors: Niina
authors: N
authors: Kolehmainen
authors: Jillian J
authors: JJ
authors: Francis
authors: Craig R
authors: CR
authors: Ramsay
authors: Christine
authors: C
authors: Owen
authors: Lorna
authors: L
authors: McKee
authors: Marjolijn
authors: M
authors: Ketelaar
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Rosenbaum
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D019988:Children with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D009043:Motor Activity; D019957:Motor Skills Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D009788:Occupational Therapy; D010290:Parents; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D010988:Play and Playthings; D012107:Research Design