New research into understanding childhood leisure activities

Congratulations to Gateways Support Services occupational therapist Emily Lugton on having her research into accurate reporting of children’s activity choices published. Occupational therapists are encouraged to use specific surveys – or scales – that allow a child or parent to identify preferred types of play and leisure activities. This helps the therapist create programs that match a child’s interest with the aim of better engaging the child.

Emily’s research found that, because the scales were developed overseas, several of the listed activities – in particular snow sports – did not align with the experience of most Australian children. This mismatch could then skew the result, suggesting a child has fewer interests, or engages in fewer activities than might be the case if more relevant local choices were presented in the survey.

‘The recommendation is that we need to develop scales that are based on the local Australian experience, which may then benefit even further by drilling down to state or regional scales, because what a city child might do for leisure would be different to what a child in a regional area might do.’ Emily says.

She says the scales could also benefit from being transferred to an electronic device that is less overwhelming for a child to complete than the current paper based, tick-the-box style survey.

Emily was lead author of the paper alongside occupational therapists Ted Brown of Monash University and Karen Stagnitti of Deakin University. The paper was published in the Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools and Early Intervention.

To find out more about how Gateways Support Services’ expert therapy team can help your child and family, contact therapyintake@gateways.com.au or call your nearest Gateways Support Services office.