Date Presented 04/22/2023

Despite reported confidence in understanding and implementation of self-regulation concepts, there is a desire and need for more educational resources to benefit clinicians, caregivers, and teachers. Educational videos as resources will be explored.

Primary Author and Speaker: Emily R. Bott

Additional Authors and Speakers: Amanda K. Giles

PURPOSE: Self-regulation requires that individuals identify environmental triggers, promoting an understanding of how to healthily respond (Neal, 2021). It serves as a treatment to sensory processing issues, which come with challenges in crafting behavioral responses, leading to inappropriate actions in certain situations (Pfeiffer et al., 2015). Powerfully You (PY) is a self-regulation education program implemented by trained occupational therapy clinicians in school and clinic settings. PY equips children, families, and teachers with strategies to improve self-regulation and participation in the environment. The purpose of this needs assessment is to evaluate clinician perceptions on how well parents understand self-regulation concepts based on the Powerfully You program and to identify the best medium for new educational resources.

DESIGN: This mixed-methods study utilized survey data from PY clinicians.

METHOD: An anonymous REDCap survey was emailed to PY clinicians consisting of Likert-scale items and open-ended responses. Quantitative data was analyzed with descriptive statistics; qualitative data was analyzed for themes.

RESULTS: Clinicians agreed that they understand PY concepts (100%, n = 17) and how to implement them (100%, n = 17). They also agreed that clinicians (94.12%, n = 16), parents (100%, n = 17), and teachers (100%, n = 17) would benefit from further educational resources, recommending educational videos and PDFs.

CONCLUSION: The results of this project will inform the development of additional resources to educate clinicians and clients on self-regulation concepts from PY.

IMPACT STATEMENT: To better equip clinicians, caregivers, and teachers in their understanding and implementation of sensory self-regulation strategies, developing more educational resources for Powerfully You is necessary. Clinicians recommended engaging visuals of educational videos and PDFs. PY can use these resources to supplement their program and raise awareness of self-regulation.

References

Neal, A. M. (2021). Somatic interventions to improve self-regulation in children and adolescents. J Child Adolesc Psychiatr Nurs, 34, 171–180. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcap.12315

Pfeiffer, B., Frolek Clark, G., & Arbesman, M. (2018). Effectiveness of cognitive and occupation-based interventions for children with challenges in sensory processing and integration: A systematic review. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 72, 7201190020. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2018.028233