Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6319-4830

Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2024

Document Type

Problem/Project Report

Degree Type

OTD

College

School of Medicine

Department

Occupational Therapy

Committee Chair

Heather Livengood

Committee Co-Chair

Kayleigh Nolan

Committee Member

Kristen Paul

Abstract

Caring for children and meeting their needs comes with a variety of considerations regarding temperament, developmental progress, and socioeconomic impact. For children with special healthcare needs (CSHCN), those considerations become more complex. Community resource programs are designed to help families of CSHCN get access to the resources they need regarding general and healthcare services. A program was developed in collaboration with Parents Place of Maryland (PPMD) to create materials effective in educating parents of CSHCN on desired topics of interest, create a virtual environment where parents felt safe asking questions regarding specific topics of interest, and determine the most effective recruitment method for this type of service delivery. The topics that were chosen were based on themes that emerged from the literature review along with prevalence of diagnosis data for the state of Maryland. The topics chosen for the educational materials were developmental milestones, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), sensory processing and sensory processing disorder (SPD), and low-budget sensory solutions. These topics were the subject of created webinars, which were disseminated to parents of CSHCN, along with infographics created from webinar topics. To measure the effectiveness of the webinars in terms of perceived knowledge gained, a pre-and post-survey was developed and administered to ensure all objectives of the program were being met. The plan for analyzing data collected from the pre-and post-surveys from the four webinars was a quantitative approach using descriptive and inferential statistics. Overall, no statistically significant results were found, but an increase in mean differences indicated an increase in perceived knowledge gained by participants following the webinars. In terms of comfortability, participants felt comfortable asking questions following the webinars; the largest number of questions were asked following webinars two and four. A greater number of questions asked by participants indicated increased comfort for these topics. The most effective recruitment method for the program was through an email listserv. This program added information regarding the most effective way to recruit participants for community resource programs and further supported the use of webinars for educational purposes. This program also brought attention to the role of occupational therapists in this non-traditional setting to contribute to informational materials regarding diagnoses through the lens of occupational therapy.

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