Towards evidence-based support in motor activation of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities

Individually tailored and structural motor activity for people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities 

Structural integration of motor activity in the daily support of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) is important to stimulate their motor abilities to engage in activities such as eating and drinking and establishing contact with another person. In addition, motor activities for people with PIMD can be beneficial for mental health (e.g., decreasing challenging behavior).

The research of Leentje van Alphen presents an overview and analysis of the content and quality of motor activities actually in use for people with PIMD. A wide variety of motor activities is used in current practice to activate persons with PIMD, though their effectiveness is actually unproven. To ensure individually tailored and structural motor activity, a newly developed motor activation program was introduced. Next, the implementation and effectiveness of the program were analyzed on an individual level. In addition, the quality of an instrument to assess movement in people with PIMD was analyzed.

The analysis of the motor activation program has led to substantial changes in de implementation strategy. It also turned out that the Actiwatch seems able to assess obvious upper body movement in people with PIMD, and whether there is involvement in an activity situation. Furthermore, there are first indications that an effective implementation of the motor activation program leads to positive outcomes on an individual level. The clinical significance of the individual outcomes should be further explored.

Dissertation: https://hdl.handle.net/11370/52eda395-ad40-4b77-8794-48cb0b48ef4a