An Sun-Joung L
Department of Occupational Therapy, Inje University, Gimhae, Gyeong-Sang-Nam-Do, Republic of Korea.
Occup Ther Int. 2014 Mar;21(1):33-41. doi: 10.1002/oti.1358. Epub 2013 Aug 12.
Documenting the effectiveness of an occupation-based family-centered therapy approach, when providing therapy for a young child with feeding problems, is needed in a culture such as Korea, which has a strong medical model of service. A case study was conducted involving a 16-month-old boy with feeding problems. An occupation-based family-centered therapy approach was carried out for 10 weeks. The results indicated that this approach addressed the physical components of the child's feeding problems and also the parent-child bonding, which together improved the overall family dynamics. Although these results may stimulate clinicians to consider an alternative approach to a medical model, further research with a larger sample is needed to provide sufficient evidence for therapists to shift to a new service delivery model.