Skills on Wheels Program Development: Supporting All Participants, Caregivers, and Siblings

Abstract

This project was focused on three important aspects, all of which surrounded improving the Skills on Wheels Program for this year and future years. These aspects included improving and promoting the social participation and self-efficacy of the participants, educating, and promoting social support for the caregivers, as well as creating a space for the siblings of the participants to learn, play, and promote community. The latter two topics were focused on program development. However, the first topic was the research portion of this capstone. The goal of this research was to improve the participants initiation in social engagement/participation. The data was collected by giving the caregivers of the participants pre and post surveys about their children’s social engagement. Results of the surveys showed there was an increase in all three variables that were compared. This supports the programs that were implemented and their focus on improving social participation within the participants of the program. There were some implications for this research which includes number of caregivers surveyed, attendance of caregivers on both survey days, as well as the duration of time between each survey. For future sessions, it is suggested that these areas continue to improve, and that social engagement continues to be promoted throughout the program.