Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance Approach using telerehabilitation with parents to improve performance issues in children/adolescents with Dravet Syndrome

INTRODUCTION: The Cognitive Orientation to Occupational Performance (CO-OP) Approach, a problem-solving intervention process, has been shown to improve activity performance in children with Dravet Syndrome (DS). However, some individuals with DS have cognitive, language and/or behavioral deficits that preclude their ability to participate in the problem-solving process. To date, the CO-OP Approach has never been applied to parents with the goal of enhancing children/adolescent's performance. OBJECTIVE: Explore the feasibility of a telerehabilitation-based CO-OP Approach with parents of individuals with DS to improve their child/adolescent's performance in daily activities. METHODS: A quasi-experimental single group design with pretest-post-test and 1-month follow-up was used with 9 parents of children/adolescents with DS (aged 9-18 years), who received eight online CO-OP sessions. Five goals were chosen, three of which were treated. Parents rated performance and satisfaction on the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM). Activity performance was rated using the Performance Quality Rating Scale (PQRS). Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were conducted to assess intervention changes. RESULTS: COPM results, for trained and untrained goals, for both performance and satisfaction, improved significantly at post and follow-up. PQRS results for trained goals improved significantly at post and follow-up. Positive trends were also observed for untrained goals, but significance was achieved only at follow-up. CONCLUSION: These findings provide preliminary evidence that the CO-OP Approach can be implemented with parents to improve their child/adolescent's performance on both trained and untrained goals.