Widrich Talia J, Fournier Catherine, Shanmugarajah Lothika, Fucile Sandra
Talia J. Widrich, OT Reg. (Ont.), BSc, was MScOT Candidate, School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, at the time of this research.
Catherine Fournier, Erg, BSc, was MScOT Candidate, School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, at the time of this research.
Am J Occup Ther. 2025 May 1;79(3). doi: 10.5014/ajot.2025.051029.
School-based occupational therapists are well positioned to provide oral feeding management, yet understanding of how they can effectively address oral feeding goals in school systems is limited.
To evaluate the current role of occupational therapy in pediatric oral feeding management in school-based settings.
The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews was used as a guide. Six databases (CINAHL, Medline, PsycINFO, Embase, Web of Science, and Google Scholar) and four search engines (Bing, Google, Yahoo, and Ask.com) were searched with the keywords feeding, school, and occupational therapist. Studies with the following criteria were included: written in English, services provided in a school setting, children from junior kindergarten to Grade 12, and the management of oral feeding by occupational therapists in schools.
An initial 189 articles were generated, and 10 articles met the eligibility criteria after elimination of duplicate studies and title and abstract screening. Four areas emerged regarding the role of occupational therapy in feeding in schools: (1) using a multidisciplinary collaborative approach to support students with feeding needs; (2) offering assessment strategies that range from informal to standardized methods; (3) implementing various intervention techniques, but evidence is limited, and (4) formalizing policies to include feeding goals in students' individual education plans, although the process for doing so remains unclear.
The field of occupational therapy needs more evidence-based practice, more training in oral feeding management, and updated policies for oral feeding management in schools. Plain-Language Summary: Occupational therapists are well positioned to support the feeding needs of children in schools. This scoping review identifies four key roles for occupational therapists: collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to address feeding issues, conducting assessments from informal to standardized methods, providing a range of intervention strategies, and advocating for formal policies that incorporate feeding goals into students' individual education plans to better manage oral feeding challenges in the school setting.
学校的职业治疗师具备提供口腔喂养管理的良好条件，但对于他们如何在学校系统中有效实现口腔喂养目标的了解却很有限。
评估职业治疗在学校环境中对小儿口腔喂养管理的当前作用。
采用系统评价和Meta分析扩展版的首选报告项目作为范围综述的指南。使用关键词“喂养”“学校”和“职业治疗师”搜索了六个数据库（护理学与健康领域数据库、医学期刊数据库、心理学文摘数据库、荷兰医学文摘数据库、科学引文索引数据库和谷歌学术搜索）和四个搜索引擎（必应、谷歌、雅虎和Ask.com）。纳入符合以下标准的研究：英文撰写、在学校环境中提供的服务、幼儿园小班至12年级的儿童以及学校职业治疗师对口腔喂养的管理。
初步检索到189篇文章，在排除重复研究以及进行标题和摘要筛选后，有10篇文章符合纳入标准。职业治疗在学校喂养中的作用出现了四个方面：（1）采用多学科协作方法支持有喂养需求的学生；（2）提供从非正式到标准化方法的评估策略；（3）实施各种干预技术，但证据有限；（4）将政策正规化，将喂养目标纳入学生的个人教育计划，尽管这样做的过程仍不明确。
职业治疗领域需要更多基于证据的实践、更多口腔喂养管理方面的培训以及更新的学校口腔喂养管理政策。
职业治疗师具备支持学校儿童喂养需求的良好条件。本范围综述确定了职业治疗师的四个关键作用：与多学科团队合作解决喂养问题、从非正式到标准化方法进行评估、提供一系列干预策略以及倡导将喂养目标纳入学生个人教育计划的正式政策，以更好地应对学校环境中的口腔喂养挑战。
