How pain management for children with cerebral palsy in South African schools complies with up-to-date knowledge

African Journal of Disability

 
 
Field Value
 
Title How pain management for children with cerebral palsy in South African schools complies with up-to-date knowledge
 
Creator Johnson, Ensa Nilsson, Stefan Adolfsson, Margareta
 
Subject general practice; primary care; primary health care evidence-based practice; intervention; clinicians; children with cerebral palsy; pain management
Description Background: Pain in children with cerebral palsy (CP) has its sources in musculoskeletal problems that can influence learning in a school setting. Best pain management is essential for these children, but school staff may not keep up to date with the latest developments and interventions. Therefore, staff’s perceptions of beneficial strategies may not comply with contemporary scientific knowledge about effective evidence-based interventions.Objectives: This study investigated how pain management intervention for children with CP in South African schools complied with international scientific knowledge about evidence-based interventions. The intention was to provide support for an update of knowledge on both individual level (i.e. professionals) and system level (i.e. decision makers).Method: Five focus groups were conducted with staff members at five schools for children with special educational needs in South Africa. Manifest and latent content analyses of professional statements identified interventions reported as beneficial and related them to higher and lower levels of intervention evidence as reported at the time of data collection.Results: Most treatment strategies concerned motor functioning that fell within the framework of physiotherapists and occupational therapists. Access to orthopaedic expertise was limited, waiting times were long and medication for spasticity treatment was not offered.Conclusion: A discrepancy between published evidence and clinical practice for pain management in children with CP in South African school settings was noted. Suggestions for improved early intervention to identify children’s hips at risk through surveillance programmes; and orthopaedic management are proposed to prevent deformities and unnecessary suffering in South African children with CP.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2019-11-22
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Qualitative
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/ajod.v8i0.575
 
Source African Journal of Disability; Vol 8 (2019); 13 pages 2226-7220 2223-9170
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://ajod.org/index.php/ajod/article/view/575/1266 https://ajod.org/index.php/ajod/article/view/575/1265 https://ajod.org/index.php/ajod/article/view/575/1267 https://ajod.org/index.php/ajod/article/view/575/1264
 
Coverage Africa; South Africa; Gauteng; Pretoria and Johannesburg 2014-2015 above 18; both genders; African; Colored; Indian; White
Rights Copyright (c) 2019 Ensa Johnson, Stefan Nilsson, Margareta Adolfsson https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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