The Long-Term Effectiveness of Implementing a Participation-Based Early Intervention Program for Children with Developmental Delay – a Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial

The “participation-based” early childhood intervention (PBEI) has become important services provided by rehabilitation professionals in Taiwan. The core concepts include “participation”, “family-centered”, “child/family-professional collaboration” and “professional development”. Though the tasks of Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taiwan and related Special Education Law (2013) are providing PBEI services in both medical and preschool settings based on research evidence, challenges existed in implementing the model. The “implementation science” provides solution to help the profession team in implementing the “participation-based” early intervention. The strategies of implementation science require at least four years of program planning, model exploration, professional preparation, data system for outcomes, and administration support. There is no clinical trial that applies implementation science to the frontline service in Taiwan. Therefore, the purposes of this are:(1) To form a practical model of PBEI in Taiwan; (2) To investigate the intervention outcomes of the PBEI program for children with developmental delay compared to traditional approach; (3) To investigate the implementation outcomes (processes of professional development andfamily empowerment) of PBEI program compared to traditional approach; (4) To investigate the cost-effectiveness of PBEI program compared to traditional approach by economic evaluation. This research is a five-year longitudinal follow-up project with a 2-wave (70 families for each) cluster randomaized control trial. The participants are young children aged 2-3 years who experience transition from home to preschool, the professionals (primary service providers), and classroom teachers. The 1st wave will implement a preliminary protocol developed by the implementation team. The 2nd wave will replicate and refine the protocol. The outcomes will be examined with two-way ANOVA with group-time interaction. The change of growth curve are analyzed by hierarchial linear modeling with clusters of preschool and prefession types. The project will form an evidence-based and contextual-appropriate practical PBEI model in Taiwan. The multiple outcome indices, process of parent-professional collaboration, and cost-effectiveness analysis would provide the framework of implementing community-based early childhood intervention services, and the blueprint for professional development.

Project ID:PC10507-0274
External Project ID:MOST105-2314-B182-012