Recreational Therapy Services and the Functional Independence of Inpatient Pediatric Population

Abstract

Recreational Therapy (RT) is a relatively new and growing profession with an expanding body of literature. The benefits of RT services have been demonstrated through research studies for several decades. However; there is a lack of significant studies examining the efficacy of RT services in clinical settings; specifically in pediatric rehabilitation settings. In an effort to promote efficacy based research studies in the RT field, the American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) published a research agenda in 2003. This agenda highlighted the need for specific research areas in the field, including: (a) effects of leisure functioning on various aspects of health, (b) effect of leisure education on quality of life, (c) the effect of RT on overall independent functioning, and (d) effect of frequency and duration of contact with clients on RT outcomes. The current study aims to explore each of those impacts on the pediatric population. The purpose of the study is to determine if amount of recreational therapy services received during treatment significantly predicts changes in functional independence of pediatric patients in an in-patient rehabilitation setting. The study will be an examination of existing evaluation data from patients of an in-patient rehabilitation hospital who received RT services over a eight year period (2000-2008). The data analyzed in this study will utilize formerly collected electronic medical records data from an existing research study titled Effects of Recreational Therapy on Functional Independence Measure (FIM Scores and Patient Satisfaction (RW 06-01-05). The data includes demographic information (e.g., age, gender), amount of total rehabilitative services received (recorded in 15 minute units), information related to diagnosis and functional independence measure impairment group codes and pre- and post-treatment total pediatric Functional Independence Measure (Wee-FIM) scores. Independent variables for this study include: (a) number of treatment units of PT, (b) number of treatment units of OT, (c) number of treatment units of SLP, (d) number of treatment units of RT, (e) number of treatment units of Psychology, (f) gender, (g) age at admission, (h) frequency of utilization of each treatment service (i) diagnosis, and (j) pre-test Wee-FIM Scores. The dependent variables for this study include (a) change in total Wee-FIM, (b) change in cognition Wee-FIM, (c) change in mobility Wee-FIM, and (d) change in psychosocial Wee-FIM (from admission to discharge). In cooperation with a data manager from PCMH, the anonymity of participants of the study will be protected by assigning a identification number unique to this study to each participant. No patient names or other identifiers will be included in the dataset. Research questions include: 1. Does the amount of recreational therapy services received during treatment significantly predict changes in total Wee-FIM scores from admission to discharge? 2. Does the amount of recreational therapy services received during treatment significantly predict changes in mobility Wee-FIM scores from admission to discharge? 3. Does the amount of recreational therapy services received during treatment significantly predict changes in cognition Wee-FIM scores from admission to discharge? 4. Does the amount of recreational therapy services receive during treatment significantly predict changes in self-care Wee-FIM scores from admission to discharge? 5. Does the amount of recreational therapy services received during treatment significantly predict changes in psychological Wee-FIM scores from admission to discharge?