For a study, researchers sought to assess the effectiveness of early, intensive therapy targeted at the lower extremity delivered to children with prenatal stroke using a parent-therapist partnership paradigm. They outlined a method for conducting a waitlist-control, single-blind, mixed-methods effectiveness randomized controlled trial that included an interpretive, description-based qualitative investigation. Participants range in age from 8-month-old hemiparetic prenatal stroke victims to 3-year-olds. Participants were assigned at random to either the immediate ELEVATE (Engaging the Lower Extremity Via Active Therapy Early) intervention group or the waitlist-control group, which received standard care for 6 months. The ELEVATE intervention consists of 4, 1-hour training sessions delivered by a parent or guardian and a child’s therapist over the course of 12 weeks. During the intervention, the kid was gently nudged while walking and standing with the damaged lower extremity as the primary target. The Gross Motor Function Measure-66 was the main performance indicator. The Young Children’s Participation and Environment Assessment, the Pediatric Quality of Life InventoryTM, and an instrumented assessment of spasticity were a few examples of secondary outcomes. How parents regard early, vigorous therapy and their role as a partner in the recovery was assessed with the aid of a cost-effectiveness analysis and qualitative component. The study may alter how young infants with perinatal stroke were rehabilitated if the ELEVATE method was successful. Investigators will learn more about the advantages and difficulties of the partnership model of rehabilitation through the parent interviews. The utilization of mixed approaches improved the application of this collaborative methodology in physical therapy practice.
Source: bmcpediatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12887-022-03525-6
