Participation in Daily Life: Influence on Quality of Life in Ambulatory Children with Cerebral Palsy.
Jaclyn Omura, Molly Fuentes, Kristie Bjornson
PMID 29783065WHAT IT FOUND
Higher overall participation linked to better psychosocial and total quality of life in children with cerebral palsy.
However, simply doing activities more often correlated with lower quality of life scores. Satisfaction with participation did not predict quality of life.
Key findings
01Level of participation was positively associated with psychosocial and total quality of life, but not physical quality of life.
02Increasing age and frequency of participation were negatively associated with all quality of life domains.
03Satisfaction with participation did not influence any aspects of quality of life.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study relied on parental report for quality of life and participation, which may not reflect the child's own experience or definition of success. The sample was small and limited to children aged 2-9 in a single geographic region, restricting generalizability. It was a cross-sectional analysis, so it cannot prove that changes in participation cause changes in quality of life. The negative association between frequency of participation and quality of life may be influenced by parental recognition of the child's limitations during frequent activity.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. Funding was provided by the National Institutes of Health.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the negative link between frequency of participation and quality of life as evidence that doing more activities harms children. The authors suggest this may reflect parents' increased awareness of limitations when activities are frequent, rather than the activity itself being detrimental.