Increasing the Understanding of Episodic Care in Outpatient Pediatric OT: Therapists’ & Caregivers’ Perspectives

PURPOSE: The use of episodic care in pediatric OT is an emerging form of practice, and its effectiveness is unexplored. As a part of a doctoral capstone project, researchers measured changes in episodic care perceptions among caregivers following the implementation of educational materials and explored therapists' perceptions and experiences in the implementation of episodic care.

DESIGN: Researchers utilized an embedded mixed methods research design and recruited caregivers of current patients and staff members via convenience sampling at the targeted outpatient clinic. All participants were required to speak English and to have participated in or provided episodic care.

METHOD: Data collection was performed using Qualtrics online software and hard-copy questionnaires that collected both quantitative and qualitative data from caregivers' pre- and post-episodic care education. Staff members' data was collected using the same questionnaire format during week six of the capstone after introducing new episodic care educational materials. Data collection was followed by data analysis using descriptive statistics and coding, pattern coding, and triangulation to obtain themes that best summarize the research findings

RESULTS: Caregivers found additional episodic care education to be valuable. Specifically, the frequency, timing, environment, and manner of caregiver education impacted caregivers' perceptions of the episodic care model. Findings also uncovered discrepancies between caregivers' beliefs and staff's perceptions of caregivers' beliefs.

CONCLUSION: Caregivers found additional education of episodic care to be meaningful to ensure consistency between therapists' and caregivers' understanding of episodic care to strengthen the therapeutic relationship and to increase overall effectiveness. Therapists should also take note of the frequency, timing, and manner of caregiver education. Future research and implications will be discussed.

References

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