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. 2022 Apr 1;9(4):485.
doi: 10.3390/children9040485.

Effects of Occupational Therapy via Telerehabilitation on Occupational Balance, Well-Being, Intrinsic Motivation and Quality of Life in Syrian Refugee Children in COVID-19 Lockdown: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Sümeyye Belhan Çelik  1   2 , Esma Özkan  3 , Gonca Bumin  2
Affiliations

Effects of Occupational Therapy via Telerehabilitation on Occupational Balance, Well-Being, Intrinsic Motivation and Quality of Life in Syrian Refugee Children in COVID-19 Lockdown: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Sümeyye Belhan Çelik et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

We aimed to evaluate the effects of an occupational training program via telerehabilitation on well-being (WB), occupational balance (OB), intrinsic motivation (IM), and quality of life (QoL) in Syrian refugee children resettled in Turkey during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a single-center, prospective, randomized, non-blinded trial in which children aged 13-15 years and attending a secondary school were recruited. OB, WB, IM, and QoL were evaluated via the OB Questionnaire (OBQ11), the Well-Star Scale (WSS), the IM Scale (IMS), and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL). The intervention group attended online occupational therapy classes. Online classes were carried out as five sessions per week, each session lasting 1 h, for 3 weeks. Questionnaires were performed at the outset of the study and following the training program. Overall, 52 refugee children were randomized into the intervention and control groups, each including 26 children. The mean OBQ11, WSS, IMS, and PedsQL scores significantly improved more in the intervention group than in the control group. This was the first study investigating the effects of a customized online training course on OB, WB, IM, and QoL in Syrian refugee children, also affected unfavorably by the COVID-19 lockdown. Our results showed significant improvements in all the study scales that we used to quantify the alterations in the aforementioned traits.

Keywords: COVID-19; children; occupational balance; occupational therapy; quality of life; refugee; well-being.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
CONSORT flow diagram: the flow of children during each trial phase.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Boxplot with error bars showing mean scores of Occupational Balance Questionnaire (OBQ11) at baseline and after intervention.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Boxplot graph depicting median scores of Well-Star scale (WSS) at baseline and after intervention.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Boxplot graph depicting median scores of Intrinsic Motivation scale (IMS) at baseline and after intervention.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Boxplot with error bars showing mean scores of Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) total scale score at baseline and after intervention.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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