Coaching-in-Context With Informal Maternal Care Partners of Children With Spinal Cord Injury

Coaching to Support Children With Disabilities in Occupational Therapy: A Literature Review

IMPORTANCE

Coaching is an effective intervention strategy in occupational therapy but there lacks consensus in the literature about terms, definitions, and approaches used which can be barriers to the clinical use of this method.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this review is to understand how coaching adults is used as an intervention to support children with disabilities.

METHODS

Guidelines from foundational scoping review articles and PRISMA-ScR were followed. Studies using adult coaching as an intervention to support children with disabilities were reviewed. A total of 20 articles met inclusion criteria and were included in the review.

FINDINGS

The use of coaching terms and definitions vary. There are commonalities with coaching structures, "key ingredients," and use of outcome measures among studies which can provide a starting framework for occupational therapists wanting to use coaching as an intervention in their practice.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

Coaching adults to support children with disabilities is already known to be an effective occupational therapy intervention strategy. Developing structured protocols with clearer and more unified terminology may improve the fidelity of this intervention approach.

WHAT THIS ARTICLE ADDS

This article presents current practices in adult coaching to support children with disabilities in Occupational Therapy. The authors discuss commonalities across coaching practices for therapists who wish to use coaching protocols in their clinical practice.

The voice of caregivers of children and adolescents with spinal cord injuries: A scoping review

CONTEXT

Participation in SCI research with caregivers of children and adolescents with spinal cord injury (SCI) can occur in a range of different ways. This review explores the extent to which caregivers' participation is connected to what might be called a voice.

OBJECTIVES

To explore the voice of caregivers by collating available research with the participation of caregivers of children and adolescents with SCI, and synthesizing how the research has been conducted.

METHODS

The databases CINAHL, ERIC, MEDLINE, PsycInfo, and Scopus were searched for articles published between January 2008 and March 2022. Descriptive and narrative information was extracted and factors describing how caregivers participated were identified using an inductive approach.

RESULTS

Twenty-nine articles were identified, of which 28 had affiliations connected to the USA, and 25 to Shriners Hospitals for Children. In most of the articles, the caregivers were invited to participate in the research to complete or develop measures. Information from the caregivers was often captured using close-structured questions and summarized quantitatively with little or no exploration of the perspectives of the caregivers.

CONCLUSION

The voice of caregivers of children and adolescents with SCI in research is limited by representativeness, the pre-determined emphasis, a lack of involvement in the process, and the reported narrative. By reflecting on voice, caregivers can have their experiences and perspectives acted upon to a greater extent to bring change, ultimately leading to improved care and health for children and adolescents with SCI.

“I Could Really Use This”: Occupational Therapy Students’ Perceptions of Learning to Coach

Coaching, an evidence-based approach in other fields, is relatively novel within occupational therapy (OT) and is not yet widely taught in OT programs. In recent studies, experienced occupational therapists have reported that coaching added value to their practice, but OT students’ perspectives are missing from the literature. This phenomenological study explored OT students’ ( $n=14$ ) perceptions of the value of learning to coach while in fieldwork. Three themes emerged from the inductive qualitative analysis: Coaching Requires a Mindset Shift, Change is a Journey, and Impact on Clients. Occupational therapy students perceived that coaching required a different way of thinking and reimagining their role, saw the value of learning to coach in the clients’ outcomes, and recognized the potential for their future practice regardless of settings. The study findings suggest that incorporating coaching skills into OT education could be beneficial to students when they enter the profession.