A study into the effectiveness of a postural care education programme for parents and teachers who are responsible for the postural care needs of disabled children at home and school.
The NIHR has awarded £ 241,930 grant for a collaborative project between Canterbury Christ Church University, the University of Kent and clinical partners at East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust and Chailey Heritage. It aims to assess the effectiveness of a postural care education programme for parents and teachers of children with physical disabilities.
Previous research has highlighted that a lack of knowledge of postural care and low levels of confidence in providing such care can hinder therapeutic goals, which in turn can affect posture, function and well-being. This education programme will attempt to address these issues by recruiting parents, teachers and teaching assistants in to a 6-week intervention that will comprise workshop-based training in postural care and one-to-one support from physiotherapists and occupational therapists. This programme will be rolled out across Kent, Surrey and Sussex over the next 18 months. Workshop participants’ knowledge of postural care and confidence in providing such care will be assessed before and after participation using a validated tool that was developed specifically for this project. The evaluation will also involve focus groups to consider the benefits of the intervention from the perspective of workshop participants and the children of these participants.
The project lead is Eve Hutton (EKHUFT), co-investigators are Kate Hamilton-West and Annette King (Centre for Health Services Studies) and Terry Pountney (Chailey Heritage). The project has been developed in cooperation with a long-standing advisory group, comprising professionals and parents with a range of experience in caring for children with disabilities. The group will provide input and guidance throughout the project.
For more information on the project please contact Sarah Hotham: S.Hotham @kent.ac.uk