Occupational Therapy in an Outpatient Sensory Integration Clinic:

A Pilot Study of Parent Perspectives on Obtaining Services

Katherine Lynch OTS, Claire Mulgrew OTS, Jillian Newell OTS, Jessica Perchaluk OTS, Heather Miller Kuhaneck PhD OTR/L FAOTA

Background & Literature Review Results

Family-centered care is essential for occupational therapy (OT) practice Parental understanding of an OTs role
(Rosenbaum et al., 2009) 33% had prior knowledge about and experience with OT
Examining parental expectations of OT service can provide insight into
0% stated having prior knowledge about sensory clinics or strategies
unmet needs (Cohn & DeMarinis, 2016; Cohn, Miller, & Tickle-Degnen, Parental rationale
2000) 100% stated they were referred
Research has identified common parental expectations of OT (Cohn &
100% of the interviews provided information about what made parents send
DeMarinis, 2016; Cohn, Miller, & Tickle-Degnen, 2000) their child to OT and why
Little is known about how parents find appropriate facilities or what they 67% were referred by their childs teacher
understand about the role of OT prior to beginning services 33% were referred by a non-family member in the childs life
This information can help clinic owners better educate referral sources and 67% of provided clear explanation of how their children were referred to OT
the public Parental process
This project sought to
0% of the interviews described why the parents chose a sensory clinic for
Examine parental understanding of OTs role in an outpatient sensory
care or how they determined the location
clinic.
Investigate parental rationale for obtaining OT services for children with
QUOTES
sensory processing disorder.
Prior to this point I didnt have any experience with OT
Explore parental process of determining location of services.
Im not [sure] if thats a thing that OT can address
Pilot interview questions

Methods Discussion & Limitations

DESIGN QUESTIONS RECOMMENDATIONS

Qualitative study with semi-structured
interview
PARTICIPANTS
Sample included two mothers of
preschoolers with sensory processing
disorder receiving occupational
therapy services and one mother of an
older child who had previously
received OT services.
Mothers were from suburban areas
with average incomes of approximately
$60- 80,000 per year.
Mothers were recruited from another
study.
Demographics Questions Revise and rephrase
marital status Tell me what you already know about
Were meant to expand upon prior work and received
mothers/fathers occupation OT?
mother's/fathers highest level of education a range of responses which focused primarily on OT
Add new questions
number of children role (Cohn, 2001; Cohn & Demarinis, 2016) Why did you choose a sensory clinic?
Can you please describe a typical week day in your home with Pulled information about role and rationale, but little Why did you choose this particular
your family? about process sensory clinic?
Can you tell me more about what has lead you to seek OT Add additional prompts to prior
services for your child? questions
What do you hope OT will work on with your child? Limitations
Which parts of the day are most
What is your experience with OT prior to this point? Question phrasing hindered the yield regarding difficult?
What are your expectations for therapy? What do you hope to parental process CONTACT INFO
see improve from therapy? Small sample size Katherine Lynch- lynchk3@sacredheart.edu, Claire Mulgrew-
mulgrewc@sacredheart.edu, Jillian Newell- newellj@sacredheart.edu,
ANALYSIS Jessica Perchaluk- perchalukj@sacredheart.edu
33% of the parents worked with an OT
Descriptive initial examination to assess the yield from trial
See handout for references
questions.