Cultural influence in the development of functional independence

• Main Authors: Montserrat Santamaría-Vázquez, Valeriana Guijo-Blanco
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de São Carlos 2016-10-01
• Series: Cadernos de Terapia Ocupacional
• Subjects: Independence; Culture; Child Development; Activities of Daily Living.
• Online Access: http://www.cadernosdeterapiaocupacional.ufscar.br/index.php/cadernos/article/view/1248/765

Introduction: The occupational therapy discipline considers cultural aspects as keys to understanding the performance and development. Objective: To compare occupational performance among healthy children aged 3 and 7 years in daily life activities in different countries. Method: This is a comparative study, from Spain, Norway and Taiwan. We used the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI) scale of functional skills. Data from the three countries were compared using the Welch unpaired test. Results: The results show that there are significant differences between the three samples in all domains of the PEDI functional scales and for all age groups. Taiwanese children scored higher than Spanish and Norwegian children; and Spanish children scored higher than Norwegians in all of the PEDI functional domains. Conclusion: Culture has a decisive role in the development patterns of skills for acquiring independence in ADLs. Before planning an intervention, occupational therapist should take into account different cultural related issues.