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Rapid-Cycle Evaluation in an Early Intervention Program for Children With Developmental Disabilities in South India: Optimizing Service Providers' Quality of Work-Life, Family Program Engagement, and School Enrollment

Background: This paper explores how implementation and refinement of an early intervention (EI) program for children with delayed development was informed by an iterative, intentional and structured process of measurement. Providing access to early intervention therapy for children in rural areas of...

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Autores principales: Krishna, Dinesh, Muthukaruppan, Sankar Sahayraj, Bharathwaj, Aravind, Ponnusamy, Ramasubramanian, Poomariappan, Bala Murugan, Mariappan, Sathiya, Beevi, Ayesha, MacLachlan, Janna, Campbell, Zoé, Anthonypillai, Chamila, Brien, Marie, Cameron, Cathy, Flatman, Marina, Perlman, Lesley, Seilman, Stephanie, Jeyapragash, Abhinayaa, van der Haar, Lotte, Krapels, Joachim, Srinivasan, Sankara Raman
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7734086/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33330314
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.567907
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author Krishna, Dinesh
Muthukaruppan, Sankar Sahayraj
Bharathwaj, Aravind
Ponnusamy, Ramasubramanian
Poomariappan, Bala Murugan
Mariappan, Sathiya
Beevi, Ayesha
MacLachlan, Janna
Campbell, Zoé
Anthonypillai, Chamila
Brien, Marie
Cameron, Cathy
Flatman, Marina
Perlman, Lesley
Seilman, Stephanie
Jeyapragash, Abhinayaa
van der Haar, Lotte
Krapels, Joachim
Srinivasan, Sankara Raman
author_facet Krishna, Dinesh
Muthukaruppan, Sankar Sahayraj
Bharathwaj, Aravind
Ponnusamy, Ramasubramanian
Poomariappan, Bala Murugan
Mariappan, Sathiya
Beevi, Ayesha
MacLachlan, Janna
Campbell, Zoé
Anthonypillai, Chamila
Brien, Marie
Cameron, Cathy
Flatman, Marina
Perlman, Lesley
Seilman, Stephanie
Jeyapragash, Abhinayaa
van der Haar, Lotte
Krapels, Joachim
Srinivasan, Sankara Raman
author_sort Krishna, Dinesh
collection PubMed
description Background: This paper explores how implementation and refinement of an early intervention (EI) program for children with delayed development was informed by an iterative, intentional and structured process of measurement. Providing access to early intervention therapy for children in rural areas of India is challenging due to a lack of rehabilitation therapists and programs. Following a biopsychosocial framework and principles of community-based rehabilitation, a non-governmental organization, Amar Seva Sangam (ASSA), overcame those barriers by designing a digital technology supported EI program in rural Tamil Nadu, India. Program objectives included providing service access; supporting program engagement, child development and school enrollment; and positioning the intervention for scale-up. This paper contributes to a growing body of literature on how program design and implementation can be informed through a cyclical process of data collection, analysis, reflection, and adaptation. Methods: Through several strands of data collection, the design and implementation of the EI program was adapted and improved. This included qualitative data from focus groups and interviews with caregivers and service providers, and a mobile application that collected and monitored longitudinal quantitative data, including program engagement rates, developmental progression, caregiver outcomes, and school enrollment status. Results: Measurements throughout the program informed decision-making by identifying facilitators and barriers to service providers' quality of work-life, family program engagement, and school enrollment. Consultation with key stakeholders, including caregivers and service providers, and data driven decision making led to continual program changes that improved service provider quality of work-life, program engagement and school enrollment. These changes included addressing gender-related work challenges for service providers; forming caregiver support networks; introducing psychological counseling for caregivers; providing medical consultations and assistive devices; creating community awareness programs; improving access to therapy services; focusing on caregiver education, motivation and support; and advocacy for accessibility in schools. Conclusion: The process of using evidence-informed and stakeholder driven adaptations to the early intervention program, led to improved service provider quality of work-life, greater program engagement, improved school enrollment and positioned the intervention for scale-up, providing lessons that may be beneficial in other contexts.
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spelling pubmed-77340862020-12-15 Rapid-Cycle Evaluation in an Early Intervention Program for Children With Developmental Disabilities in South India: Optimizing Service Providers' Quality of Work-Life, Family Program Engagement, and School Enrollment Krishna, Dinesh Muthukaruppan, Sankar Sahayraj Bharathwaj, Aravind Ponnusamy, Ramasubramanian Poomariappan, Bala Murugan Mariappan, Sathiya Beevi, Ayesha MacLachlan, Janna Campbell, Zoé Anthonypillai, Chamila Brien, Marie Cameron, Cathy Flatman, Marina Perlman, Lesley Seilman, Stephanie Jeyapragash, Abhinayaa van der Haar, Lotte Krapels, Joachim Srinivasan, Sankara Raman Front Public Health Public Health Background: This paper explores how implementation and refinement of an early intervention (EI) program for children with delayed development was informed by an iterative, intentional and structured process of measurement. Providing access to early intervention therapy for children in rural areas of India is challenging due to a lack of rehabilitation therapists and programs. Following a biopsychosocial framework and principles of community-based rehabilitation, a non-governmental organization, Amar Seva Sangam (ASSA), overcame those barriers by designing a digital technology supported EI program in rural Tamil Nadu, India. Program objectives included providing service access; supporting program engagement, child development and school enrollment; and positioning the intervention for scale-up. This paper contributes to a growing body of literature on how program design and implementation can be informed through a cyclical process of data collection, analysis, reflection, and adaptation. Methods: Through several strands of data collection, the design and implementation of the EI program was adapted and improved. This included qualitative data from focus groups and interviews with caregivers and service providers, and a mobile application that collected and monitored longitudinal quantitative data, including program engagement rates, developmental progression, caregiver outcomes, and school enrollment status. Results: Measurements throughout the program informed decision-making by identifying facilitators and barriers to service providers' quality of work-life, family program engagement, and school enrollment. Consultation with key stakeholders, including caregivers and service providers, and data driven decision making led to continual program changes that improved service provider quality of work-life, program engagement and school enrollment. These changes included addressing gender-related work challenges for service providers; forming caregiver support networks; introducing psychological counseling for caregivers; providing medical consultations and assistive devices; creating community awareness programs; improving access to therapy services; focusing on caregiver education, motivation and support; and advocacy for accessibility in schools. Conclusion: The process of using evidence-informed and stakeholder driven adaptations to the early intervention program, led to improved service provider quality of work-life, greater program engagement, improved school enrollment and positioned the intervention for scale-up, providing lessons that may be beneficial in other contexts. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-11-30 /pmc/articles/PMC7734086/ /pubmed/33330314 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.567907 Text en Copyright © 2020 Krishna, Muthukaruppan, Bharathwaj, Ponnusamy, Poomariappan, Mariappan, Beevi, MacLachlan, Campbell, Anthonypillai, Brien, Cameron, Flatman, Perlman, Seilman, Jeyapragash, van der Haar, Krapels and Srinivasan. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Krishna, Dinesh
Muthukaruppan, Sankar Sahayraj
Bharathwaj, Aravind
Ponnusamy, Ramasubramanian
Poomariappan, Bala Murugan
Mariappan, Sathiya
Beevi, Ayesha
MacLachlan, Janna
Campbell, Zoé
Anthonypillai, Chamila
Brien, Marie
Cameron, Cathy
Flatman, Marina
Perlman, Lesley
Seilman, Stephanie
Jeyapragash, Abhinayaa
van der Haar, Lotte
Krapels, Joachim
Srinivasan, Sankara Raman
Rapid-Cycle Evaluation in an Early Intervention Program for Children With Developmental Disabilities in South India: Optimizing Service Providers' Quality of Work-Life, Family Program Engagement, and School Enrollment
title Rapid-Cycle Evaluation in an Early Intervention Program for Children With Developmental Disabilities in South India: Optimizing Service Providers' Quality of Work-Life, Family Program Engagement, and School Enrollment
title_full Rapid-Cycle Evaluation in an Early Intervention Program for Children With Developmental Disabilities in South India: Optimizing Service Providers' Quality of Work-Life, Family Program Engagement, and School Enrollment
title_fullStr Rapid-Cycle Evaluation in an Early Intervention Program for Children With Developmental Disabilities in South India: Optimizing Service Providers' Quality of Work-Life, Family Program Engagement, and School Enrollment
title_full_unstemmed Rapid-Cycle Evaluation in an Early Intervention Program for Children With Developmental Disabilities in South India: Optimizing Service Providers' Quality of Work-Life, Family Program Engagement, and School Enrollment
title_short Rapid-Cycle Evaluation in an Early Intervention Program for Children With Developmental Disabilities in South India: Optimizing Service Providers' Quality of Work-Life, Family Program Engagement, and School Enrollment
title_sort rapid-cycle evaluation in an early intervention program for children with developmental disabilities in south india: optimizing service providers' quality of work-life, family program engagement, and school enrollment
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7734086/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33330314
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.567907
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