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Assessing Care and Support Needs for Children With Acquired Brain Injury: Normative Data for the Paediatric Care and Needs Scale (PCANS)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Cheryl Soo ,
Robyn L. Tate ,
Vicki Anderson  and
Mary-Clare Waugh
Cheryl Soo*
Affiliation:
Australian Centre for Child Neuropsychology Studies, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Rehabilitation Studies Unit, University of Sydney, Australia. cheryl.soo@mcri.edu.au
Robyn L. Tate
Affiliation:
Rehabilitation Studies Unit, University of Sydney, Australia; Royal Rehabilitation Centre Sydney Australia.
Vicki Anderson
Affiliation:
Australian Centre for Child Neuropsychology Studies, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
Mary-Clare Waugh
Affiliation:
Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program, Children's Hospital at Westmead, Australia.
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr Cheryl Soo, Australian Centre for Child Neuropsychology Studies, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Flemington Rd, Parkville VICTORIA 3052 Australia.
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Abstract

Introduction: The Paediatric Care and Needs Scale (PCANS) was developed to address the dearth of scales currently available for measuring support needs of children with acquired brain injury (ABI). The scale assesses environmental supports (both supervision and physical assistance) across 14 domains of everyday activities from support for personal hygiene to participation in leisure and social activities. This study aimed to determine support needs in typically developing children using the PCANS in a normative sample of Australian children. Methods: Participants were parents of typically developing children aged 5–14 years (N = 300) recruited from a range of schools in metropolitan Melbourne. Children with ABI, diagnosis of a neurological or developmental disorder, or significant medical condition were excluded. Thirty parents of children in each of 10 age levels, with approximately equal sex ratio were recruited. Results: Findings suggest that support needs vary according to age of the child (p < .01) but not sex of child or occupational status of the parent. Additionally, children were found to have significantly higher support needs for supervision compared with physical assistance across most of the domains of the PCANS (p < .01). A greater number of age differences across PCANS domains were also found in younger children (5 to 7 and 8 to 11 years) compared to the older age group (age 12–14 years). Conclusions: This study reports normative data for the PCANS using a sample of children stratified by age. Findings will provide an essential point of reference to help guide clinical interpretation of the PCANS for assessing support needs of children with ABI.

Keywords

brain injurysupport needsnormative datachildrenICFenvironment
Type
Articles
Information
Brain Impairment , Volume 11 , Issue 2: Special Issue – Outcome Measurement for Children and Adolescents With Brain Impairment , 01 September 2010 , pp. 183 - 196
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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