CPERL Publication Alert: Home participation for infants with and without biological risk

CPERL Publication Alert: YC-PEM applied to examine infant home participation

Our colleague Beatriz Brugnaro was a PhD candidate training at CanChild when she invited Mary to collaborate in publishing a study in Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics. This study, to our knowledge, is the first to compare caregiver-reported current and desired home participation for infants with and without biological risk based on data from a culturally adapted Young Children’s Participation and Environment Measure (YC-PEM). The authors sampled 80 caregivers of infants during the COVID-19 pandemic, including those who had one or more of seven perinatal or postnatal risk criteria (e.g., prematurity, low birth weight, NICU admission) and those without biological risk. They found evidence of group differences in current home participation for household chores, but no group differences in desired change. This article contributes valuable knowledge about home participation restriction for this vulnerable population, in ways that can strengthen the argument for early intervention and early support programs that target participation.

Beatriz lives and works in Brazil, with background as pediatric PT and a sibling to a person living with disability. As a newly minted PhD who trained at CanChild as part of earning this degree, she shares: Developing this study made me realize how important and powerful the YC-PEM is for empowering families. Through their questions, many families saw new possibilities for participation with their babies, and this made me very satisfied during the research, as I noticed very positive feedback from families during the project. Conducting research that encourages the participation of infants is very rewarding! I would like to thank the team that worked brilliantly on this great work!