The effect of goal directed play based intervention on functional performance in children with cerebral palsy

This study was planned to investigate the effects of goal directed play based intervention (PBI) on children's occupational performance and satisfaction, as well as functional performance in children with diparetic Cerebral Palsy (CP) and to determine the level of satisfaction of families with this approach. In the study including 30 children with diparetic CP, 15 randomized children received neurodevelopmental treatment, while the other 15 received additional goal directed PBI twice a week for 10 weeks. Occupational performance and satisfaction levels of participants were evaluated with Canadian Activity Performance Measurement and functional performance was evaluated with Pediatric Disability Assessment Inventory and the pre and post values were compared. In addition, the satisfaction levels of the families after the goal directed PBI were determined with the Visual Analog Scale. As a result, there was an improvement in occupational performance (p = 0.001) and satisfaction (p = 0.001) levels and functional performance of children in the goal directed PBI group, while a decrease in the need for caregiver assistance (p = 0.001). In the last evaluations, occupational performance (p=0.007), functional skills total score (p=0.004) and caregiver assistance total score (p=0.041) were increased in the control group, but no statistically significant difference was found in the satisfaction levels, functional skills sub-parameters and caregiver assistance sub-parameters of the children. In addition, the satisfaction level of the families from the goal directed PBI were found to be high (9.33 ± 1.04). According to these findings, it is considered that it would be beneficial to include the goal directed PBI in the routine treatment of children with diparetic CP, especially because of its positive effects on activity performance and satisfaction results. Also, it was found to be important to support individual intervention approaches with goal directed PBI in order to solve the problems of cases in performance areas such as self-care, mobility, social function. Despite these findings, further studies are needed in terms of long-term effects of the goal directed PBI.