Supporting communication for children with cerebral palsy in hospital: Views of community and hospital staff

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the views of allied health and nursing staff on supporting the communication of children with cerebral palsy (CP) and complex communication needs (CCN) in hospital. METHOD: We conducted 12 focus groups with 49 community- and hospital-based allied health professionals and hospital nurses. RESULTS: Participants reported having active roles in supporting children’s seating, mobility, equipment, mealtime management and psychosocial needs, but not in supporting the children’s communication in hospital. Participants described several environmental barriers to supporting children’s augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) in hospital, and suggested a range of strategies to ease communication difficulties at the bedside. CONCLUSION: Results indicate a potential new role for community- and hospital-based health professionals in supporting nurses to implement AAC strategies at the bedside. Supporting nursing staff to remove environmental barriers and use communication technologies might create a more communicatively accessible hospital ward for children with CP and CCN.