Occupational Therapy’s Role in Feeding Therapy: Evaluating Feeding Therapy Process Using Evidence-Based Practice

Abstract

Feeding problems are common within the pediatric population served by occupational and speech therapists. The purpose of this doctoral capstone student project was to create educational materials that would advance implementation of feeding therapy services at K1ds Count Therapy, a pediatric therapy clinic in Brownsburg, IN. After conduction of a needs assessment, it was determined that a lack of educational resources for feeding therapists affected the quality of feeding therapy services offered at the site. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to examine evidence-based practices used in feeding therapy services prior to the creation of the educational materials. To evaluate the effectiveness of these materials, feeding therapists took a pre/post survey. Overall, the educational material was found to be beneficial by therapists; there was an increase of 16% of practitioners' who felt moderately knowledgeable or higher in providing education to caregivers regarding feeding.