Use of Evidence to Reduce the Load of Therapy: Occupational Therapy for Cerebral Palsy

Background: Occupational therapy outcomes for motor improvement are different among the children with cerebral palsy to determine the effective factors related to gross motor achievement in the children with Cerebral palsy (CP), the present project was designed. Methods: In a quasi-experimental study, 59 CP patients with Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) 1-4 were evaluated by Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM). They were referred to four centers in Shiraz, Iran, in 2015. Results of therapy were monitoring five times during six months for each participant, according to achievement to stages of GMFM, and marginal modeling method was utilized. Results: The results revealed the significance of some factors including, age at starting occupational therapy services, number of sessions per week, type of spastic, level four of socio economic status (SES), grade two of GMFCS, and time effect on the outcome (upgrade to a higher level on each occasion) (P<0.05). Conclusion: Based on the odds ratio (OR) values, the number of occupational therapy sessions per week had the most positive effect on gross motor function upgrade for at least two half times. Age at starting occupational therapy service was the second important factor in the outcome. However, spending more time for therapy and early starting relates to family characteristics and also financial support.