Cerebral Palsy Course Assignment

Introduction

This page provides guidelines for completing the required assignment for the Managing Children with Cerebral Palsy course in Physiopedia Plus.

The assignment is designed to:

1. Provide you a method to demonstrate that you have understood the course content and are able to implement it into your professional practice.
2. Allow you to dig deeper into a topic that is of particular relevance to you and your context.
3. Contribute to your profession.  On achieving a pass we acknowledge that your work is of a sufficient standard to be published in Physiopedia (with your permission of course!) which can then be used by the physiotherapy community for teaching and learning purposes. This is a great opportunity to contribute to the profession and demonstrate your professional leadership!

Requirements

This assignment is a required part of the course to gain your course completion certificate.  The assignment must be submitted before 30 October 2016. 

To pass this assignment we expect a good level of academic writing. The assignment should:

1. Demonstrate evidence of learning from the course.  We must be able to see that you have reflected on your practice and how what you have learned has changed your practice.  
   
2. At least THREE references as evidence for the approach taken. These references must be cited in the text where they support your statements and listed at the end of your assignment. Read more about referencing here.

Please note - You will not receive a mark for your case presentation / assignment. All submitted assignments are reviewed by the course team and a completed/passed assignment will only be added to your PP+ activity log if your submission is considered to be of sufficient standard. We are not looking for correct or incorrect answers! We are looking for the implementation of the techniques and skills covered during the course and an engagement with the relevant literature.

The team are aware that many course participants will struggle writing in english. This will be taken into account when reviewing the submissions. Please DO NOT COPY text from the internet, the course resources or from other participants submissions into your assignment. If you do this your assignment will be failed and you will be asked to resubmit. We want to see a unique submission written in your own words.

Submission

We recommend you write your case presentation using Word or similar and keep a copy for yourself when you submit it.

You should submit your assignment online through this link:

• Submit assignment here
  

Choose one of the following for your assignment

To satisfy all contexts and learning styles there are 6 options for the assignment (each described in more detail below). You should choose to do ONE of the following:

1. Patient case study
   
2. Knowledge translation
3. Training colleagues
   
4. Pilot project
5. Discussion summary
6. Physiopedia page
   

Patient case study

Throughout the course several case studies were presented, it is time to present your own case study.  A patient case study is an evidence based report of your interaction with a patient. You should use the following template:

1. Title - the title should be specific to and descriptive of this case.
2. Abstract - this is where you simply summarise your case study into a story which flows logically. It is a narrative that consists of a short version of the whole paper. There are no headings within the narrative abstract.
3. Introduction - what is particularly interesting about the case you want to describe.
4. Case presentation - this is where you describe the case in detail. The complaint that the patient has, information obtained from the history, results of clinical examination and working clinical impression of patient.  You should include the ICF environment, personal, structure, functional and participation model here.
5. Management and outcome - this is where you clearly describe the care plan, as well as the care which was actually provided, and the outcome.
6. Discussion - In this section you should identify any questions that the case raises, implications for practice and summarise the clinical conclusions.
7. References - Only use references that you have read and understood, are cited in the text of the case study and support your writing.

More detailed guidelines for writing a case study

See an example case study in Physiopedia

Marking criteria: following the template, interventions supported by evidence, appropriate clinical conclusions

Knowledge Translation

A lot of information has been provided throughout the course, one of the main challenges is to transfer this knowledge to family members or other caregivers working with children with Cerebral Palsy. You should create a knowledge translation resource such as an information leaflet, infographic, poster, presentation, plan for phone app etc.  The resource should provide 5 key messages you want to spread. Make sure to include a target population, the way you want to target them and a proper explanation of the key messages you want to transfer.

Marking criteria: correct key messages, appropriateness of communication, innovativeness

Training colleagues

Marking criteria: training idea, relevance of training proposed, justification for the training that was provided

Pilot project

Many of the ideas presented throughout the course might require a change of practice in the way in which services for children with Cerebral Palsy and their caregivers are organized and provided. Propose a pilot project idea that could improve the care for children with Cerebral Palsy in your area. Attempt to make the project feasible and make sure to include a proper justification as if you were writing a proposal to senior management in a health or social facility.

Marking criteria: feasibility, innovativeness, relevance

Physiopedia page

The Physiopedia page that you write should be chosen from the list below or it can be a related subject that you would like to explore. You Physiopedia page should be physiotherapy specific and evidence based. It should be structured in relation to the content of the page, divided by subheadings, concisely written, supported by up-to-date published literature and referenced. It should also include media (copyright free images and youtube video) to enhance your writing as well as links to other Physiopedia pages and external resources to lead readers to other sources of knowledge. Your finished Physiopedia page should be 1000-2000 words in length, you will therefore need to write concisely and efficiently.  

You can either choose to write a new page in Physiopedia of your choosing or review and update one of the existing pages.

New pages:

• Handling the Child with Cerebral Palsy
• A page on one of the specific therapeutic interventions from this page - Specific Therapeutic Interventions
• Innovation in Cerebral Palsy
• ..... feel free to suggest other ideas!!

Pages to review and update:

• Cerebral Palsy and the Interdisciplinary Team
• Development of the Child with Cerebral Palsy
• Evaluating the Child with Cerebral Palsy
• Outcome Measures in Cerebral Palsy
• Physiotherapy Treatment Approaches for individuals with Cerebral Palsy
• Positioning the child with Cerebral Palsy
• Feeding the Child with Cerebral Palsy
• Activities of Daily Liiving and Play with the Child with Cerebral Palsy 
• Vocational Training for Individuals with Cerebral Palsy
• [1]Specific Therapeutic Interventions for Individuals with Cerebral Palsy
• Early Intervention and Cerebral Palsy
• Working at Care Centres for Individuals with Cerebral Palsy
• Biomechanics for Cerebral Palsy Orthotics
• Gait Analysis in Cerebral Palsy