Using a Co-design Approach to Create Tools to Facilitate Physical Activity in Children With Physical Disabilities.
Eline A M Bolster, Christa van Gessel, Maxime Welten and 5 others
PMID 36188842WHAT IT FOUND
Stakeholders shaped themes for supporting physical activity in children with disabilities: self-efficacy, autonomy, possibilities, individual needs, collaboration, environment and meaningful goals.
Eleven prototypes were created, but their effect was not tested.
Key findings
01The co-design process produced two outputs: insights about facilitating physical activity and prototypes of tools.
02Themes gathered from the co-design data included self-efficacy, autonomy, focusing on possibilities, needs of the individual child, collaborating with stakeholders, connecting with the child's environment, and meaningful goal setting.
03Eleven tool prototypes were designed, but the paper states their effect has not yet been evaluated.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
This is a co-design case study, not a trial. It describes how tools were made and what stakeholders said, not whether the tools increase physical activity. The effect of the designed tools has not been evaluated, so the paper cannot show that any prototype improves physical activity. The authors did not record which stakeholder group said each quote, so the themes cannot be read as separate parent, adult with disability, pediatric physical therapist or care sports connector views. Only fourteen pediatric physical therapists tested the first prototypes with children and parents, and the app was tested in a structured environment, so the usability feedback is limited. There was no comparison group, so any reported usability impressions cannot be taken as evidence of effectiveness. Co-design is time-consuming, and the large amount of interview, photo and film data made knowledge transfer difficult to capture and document.
Declared interests
Parts of the research were funded by SIA, the Netherlands Taskforce for Applied Research, grant RAAK.MKB08.006. One Planet Research Center was funded by the Province of Gelderland. The authors declared no commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the eleven prototypes as proven ways to increase physical activity. The paper states that the effect of the designed tools has not yet been evaluated.