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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Rehabil. Sci.
Sec. Rehabilitation in Children and Youth
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fresc.2024.1413240

Evidence-based early rehabilitation for children with cerebral palsy: Co-development of a multifaceted knowledge translation strategy for rehabilitation professionals

Provisionally accepted
Jessica H. Hanson Jessica H. Hanson 1,2,3Annette Majnemer Annette Majnemer 1,2,3Filomena Pietrangelo Filomena Pietrangelo 4Leigh Dickson Leigh Dickson 4Keiko Shikako-Thomas Keiko Shikako-Thomas 1,2,3Noémi Dahan-Oliel Noémi Dahan-Oliel 3,5Emma Steven Emma Steven 4Georgia Iliopoulos Georgia Iliopoulos 4Tatiana Ogourtsova Tatiana Ogourtsova 2,3,4*
  • 1 Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  • 2 Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal (CRIR), Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  • 3 School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  • 4 Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital, Laval, Quebec, Canada
  • 5 Shriners Hospital for Children, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common childhood physical disability. Early and evidence-based rehabilitation is essential for improving functional outcomes in children with CP. However, rehabilitation professionals face barriers to adopting evidence-based practices (EBP)s. The objective of this project is to develop a knowledge translation (KT) strategy to support CP-EBP among pediatric rehabilitation professionals.We follow an integrated KT approach by collaborating with clinician-and patientpartners. Partners engaged in co-design through team meetings and content review via email. The KT strategy comprises two components: 1) An electronic (e)-KT toolkit was created from summarized evidence extracted from randomized clinical trials on early rehabilitation for children with CP, and 2) a multifaceted online KT training program developed with guidance from a scoping review exploring effective KT strategies.The e-KT toolkit summarizes twenty-two early interventions for children with or at risk for CP aged 0-5 years. Each module features an introduction, resources, parent/family section, and clinician information, including outcomes, intervention effectiveness, and evidence level. The KT training program includes three 10-15-minute video-based training modules, text summaries, quizzes, and case studies. Site champions, identified as qualified rehabilitation professionals, were onboarded to support the site implementation of the training program. A champion-training booklet and 1-hour session were designed to equip them with the necessary knowledge/resources.The tailored, multifaceted, and co-designed KT strategy aims to be implemented in pediatric rehabilitation sites to support professional's uptake of CP-EBPs. Lessons learned from its development, including the co-development process and multifaceted nature, hold potential for broader applications in rehabilitation.

    Keywords: cerebral palsy1, Evidence-based practice2, Knowledge translation3, rehabilitation4, Early interventions

    Received: 06 Apr 2024; Accepted: 17 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hanson, Majnemer, Pietrangelo, Dickson, Shikako-Thomas, Dahan-Oliel, Steven, Iliopoulos and Ogourtsova. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Tatiana Ogourtsova, Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital, Laval, QC H7V 1R2, Quebec, Canada

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.