A magic-themed upper limb intervention for children with unilateral cerebral palsy: The perspectives of parents.

AIM: To explore parent's perspective of their child's participation in a magic-themed intervention called Amazing Magic Club (AMC), and to further our understanding of motivated engagement and the impact of themed group-based interventions for children with unilateral cerebral palsy (CP).

METHODS

Twenty-nine parents of children with unilateral CP completed semi-structured interviews. The child participants (n = 28) attended one of three AMCs; average age of the children was 10y 6mo (SD 2y 2mo). The parent interviews were analysed using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

The three themes are: "It's okay to be me", the magic effect and "I can do it". Parents observed their children to belong and learn about their abilities. The importance of the magicians and the performance is described. Parents observed their children to have increased self-belief and a new willingness to attempt difficult tasks.

DISCUSSION: AMC appears to capture intrinsic motivation for children with unilateral CP to complete challenging tasks.