Caregivers Perceived Enhancers and Barriers to Home Exercise Programme of Children with Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

Home exercise programme (HEP) is a vital component of physical therapy procedures for patients with cerebral palsy (CP). Cerebral palsy is a movement and postural disorder which occurs as a result of brain injury or injury to a developing brain. One of the complementary ways of giving physical therapy is by prescribing home exercise programme (HEP). However, there is paucity of information on adherence to home programmes among caregivers of children with cerebral palsy hence the need for this study. 30% of the respondents adhered to the HEP. A closer look at their activities, 27(56.3% of them performed the HEP for 30minutes- 1 hour, 15(31.3%) performed for less than 30 minutes while 6(12.5%) performed the HEP for greater than 1 hour. Majority 48% of the people that perform the HEP were the mothers. 71.4% of the respondents perceived lack of time as the greatest barrier to their adherence to prescribed HEP while they perceived emphasis by the therapist 63.3%, obvious improvement of their child/wards condition (77.6%), the desire for their Childs’ wellbeing (77.6%), and encouragement from the therapist as the major ehancers/motivators to their performing the prescribed HEP. The caregivers recommended that there is need for partners/ family support 57.1%, give time to practice and investigate HEP 57.1% and educate parents/ caregivers to provide emotional and physical support 73.5% to improve performance of HEPs. At the end of this study, it’s been discovered that there is low adherence to HEP among caregivers of children with cerebral palsy. Recommendations are made towards the use of family centered approach, counselling, and adoption of certain strategies to improve the performance of HEP. Further studies are also required with a larger sample size.