Comparative effectiveness of videotape and handout mode of instructions for teaching exercises: skill retention in normal children

Garima Gupta,Stuti Sehgal

doi:10.1186/1546-0096-10-4

Abstract

BackgroundTeaching of motor skills is fundamental to physical therapy practice. In order to optimize the benefits of these teaching and training efforts, various forms of patient education material are developed and handed out to patients. One very important fact has been overlooked. While comparative effectiveness of various modes of instruction has been studied in adults, attention has not been paid to the fact that learning capabilities of children are different from that of adults. The intent of the present study is to compare the effectiveness of video and handout mode of instructions specifically on children.MethodsA total of 115 normal elementary-age children aged 10 to 12 years of age were studied. The children were randomized into two groups: A) the video group, and B) the handout group. The video group viewed the video for physical therapy exercises while the handout group was provided with paper handouts especially designed according to the readability of their age group.ResultsStatistical analysis using the student's't' test showed that subjects of both the video and handout groups exhibited equal overall performance accuracy. There was no significant difference between the groups both in acquisition and retention accuracy tests.ConclusionThe findings of the present study suggest that if the readability and instructional principles applicable to different target age groups are strictly adhered to, then both video as well as handout modes of instructions result in similar feedback and memory recall in ten to twelve year-old children. Principles of readability related to the patient age are of utmost importance when designing the patient education material. These findings suggest that the less expensive handouts can be an effective instructional aid for teaching exercises to children with various neuromuscular, rheumatic, and orthopedics conditions and the most costly videotape techniques are not necessarily better.

Highlights

Teaching of motor skills is fundamental to physical therapy practice
The key finding of this study is that the instructions conveyed to subjects via videotapes and via handouts exhibited equal overall performance accuracy and both the groups closely matched the conception of the exercises, thereby resulting in similar memory recall and providing relevant attention-focusing information on the exercises
Our findings suggest that handouts that are written at high readability levels and videotapes that contain concrete, simple, active, narrative instructions would be acceptable and more appropriate for our target population in India and other developing countries

Summary

Introduction

Teaching of motor skills is fundamental to physical therapy practice. In order to optimize the benefits of these teaching and training efforts, various forms of patient education material are developed and handed out to patients. While comparative effectiveness of various modes of instruction has been studied in adults, attention has not been paid to the fact that learning capabilities of children are different from that of adults. Full list of author information is available at the end of the article [1] Knowledge of these learning models is crucial to prescribing the relevant exercises to patients. Exercise prescription is fundamental to physical therapy (PT) This prescription starts with the child and parents learning the prescribed exercises correctly and hopefully remaining adherent to them at home. This two-step process is the key to success of such a physical therapy treatment program

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion