Aims To analyze needs and requirements of Pediatric Physical Therapists (PPTs), parents, children and adolescents with and without developmental disabilities in the future use of an activity monitor prototype (AM-p) in everyday clinical practice. Methods Qualitative exploratory study with a thematic analysis approach, based on Braun and Clarke’s six steps. Codes derived from the analysis and central themes were collated, based on Fleuren et al.’s groupings of determinants. Results We interviewed 25 PPTs, 12 parents, and 12 children and adolescents. Within four groupings of determinants, we found nine themes: 1) development of information materials; 2) application: output visualization and ease of use; 3) design; 4) relevance and acceptance; 5) shared decision-making; 6) compatibility in daily living; 7) finances, 8) time, and 9) legislation and regulations. Conclusions End-users have similar basic needs, with individual fine-tuning to be addressed during further development of the AM-p. A child-friendly design, information material, and an easy-to-use application to read and interpret results, need to be developed. Efficient training for PPTs is important for the use of the AM-p and analysis of results. Communication between PPTs and children as well as parents enhances shared decision-making. We recommend involving diverse end-users to enable maximum customization of the AM-p.
"How can we transform neighbourhoods in a child-friendly way to increase the quality of life for all citizens?" ContextMetamorphosis starts from the premise that when a neighbourhood has many children on its public spaces, this is a major indicator that it is well designed as a sustainable neighbourhood. The word sustainability itself is already inseparably combined with children as it implicates “designed for the next generations”. Metamorphosis focuses on children – but not only that, children will also play a crucial role in most Work Packages of the project. They will act as ambassadors, driving forces, encouragers of actions, translators, evaluators, investigators and in many more roles. As such, children represent an enormous added value to achieve unconventional and innovative findings, methods and implementations. Aim projectThe project has started in June 2017 and will last for three years. Twelve partners from seven European countries work together on this project to achieve the following goal: “Transformation of neighbourhoods in a child-friendly way to increase the quality of life for all citizens.”Role BUasBUas is Work Package leader of ‘Capacity building’. This includes sharing the lessons learned from Metamorphosis with cities and countries who are not directly involved in the project. Another important part of this Work Package is developing didactic materials in order to implement the gained knowledge from the project in curricula of educational institutes.
