Development of a Practical Guide for Pediatric Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy: Enhancing Understanding and Informed Decision-Making

A practical guide was developed to support occupational therapists, health care professionals, and caregivers in making an informed decision about whether pCIMT is the right intervention for a particular child. Plain-Language Summary: Hemiplegic cerebral palsy is the most common motor disability that affects children, and it often causes difficulty moving one side of the body. Pediatric constraint-induced movement therapy (pCIMT) is an evidence-based intervention to help children use their more affected side. However, pCIMT is not widely available. With guidance from key informants, we designed a practical guide to support health care professionals and families in determining whether pCIMT could be an appropriate intervention. A three-phase toolkit development model was followed to design the practical guide. In this article, we report on Stages 1 and 2 (the development and expert review phases). Twelve experts and caregivers informed the development of the six sections of the practical guide. Future research should proceed to Stage 3 (the evaluation phase) to evaluate the effectiveness of the practical guide and identify implementation strategies for the guide to support pCIMT usage.