Moving towards a better understanding of well-being for children with complex disabilities from using the Innowalk

Pickering, Dawn ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4779-5616 2023. Moving towards a better understanding of well-being for children with complex disabilities from using the Innowalk. Presented at: European Academy of Childhood Disability, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 24-27 May 2023.

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Abstract

Introduction Children with more severe physical disabilities are limited in their ability to participate in physical activities and exercise. It is known that increasing physical activity levels improves well-being across the general population, including children without disabilities. Whether this is so for those children who have mobility limitations and cannot communicate their feelings, is currently unknown. Well-being has different definitions and is especially problematic to measure, for those whose ability to speak is reduced. This research is observing non-ambulant children using the Innowalk, a robotic device, as one context for them to indicate their well-being, to support the development of a new scale. Patient and methods Children aged four to eighteen, with a range of physical and learning disabilities, supported by their parents in a special school context. A consultation group includes two young adults with cerebral palsy. Exploratory case study series made up of observations (field notes) and parental reported diaries and child/ parent interviews. Preliminary constructs for the proposed well-being scale include calmness, comfort, creativity, energy levels, engagement with other people or activities, expressing joy. Results Data is due to be analysed in February-April 2023, using Braun and Clark’s six stages of analysis. In addition to academic papers, an accessible booklet will be produced for the participants: ‘My well-being stories about the Innowalk’. Conclusion The scale developed will potentially enable the content validity to be evaluated in a future larger study to test out the psychometric properties of this proposed well-being scale in wider contexts.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Poster)
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Healthcare Sciences
Subjects:	R Medicine > RJ Pediatrics > RJ101 Child Health. Child health services
Funders:	Association of Paediatric Chartered Physiotherapists
Date of Acceptance:	6 February 2023
Last Modified:	22 May 2023 10:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/159565

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