Occupation Based Telerehabilitation Intervention for Adolescents with Myelomeningocele: A Pilot Study
Shoshana Steinhart, S. Raz‐Silbiger, Maurit Beeri, Yafit Gilboa
Abstract
AIMS: This pilot study examined the impact of an occupation based intervention using a telerehabilitation format with adolescents with myelomeningocele (MMC). METHODS: We conducted a nonrandomized pilot study including four adolescents ages 14-18 with MMC. The intervention program included 10-12 sessions of the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance remotely delivered via videoconferencing. Outcome measures included the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), Wee-Functional Independence Measure;(Wee-FIM), and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL). Assessments were administered at baseline, post intervention and at three-month follow-up. RESULTS: Following intervention, participants rated their performance as having improved 2 points on the COPM for 8 out of 12 trained goals and on 2 out of 8 untrained goals. At 3-month follow-up improvement was reported on 9 out of 12 trained goals and 3 out of 8 untrained goals All participants made clinically significant improvements on the Wee-FIM total score following intervention and improvements were maintained at 3-month follow-up. The intervention effect on the PedsQL was inconclusive. Feedback interviews suggested that participants experience high satisfaction from the results and implementation of the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate potential efficacy of occupation based teleintervention for adolescents with MMC.