Examining the Effect of Occupational Therapy-Based Parent Coaching on Feeding Problems in Children With a Preterm Birth

January 18, 2026 updated by: Rukiye Begüm KOCA, Ankara Medipol University

Examining the Effect of Occupational Therapy-Based Parent Coaching on Feeding Problems in Children With a History of Premature Birth

Feeding problems are common in children with a history of premature birth, and these problems continue into early childhood. Feeding problems are affected by many biopsychosocial factors, and the context in which feeding takes place and the attitudes and behaviors of parents can also be effective in the emergence or continuation of these problems. The aim of our study is to evaluate the effects of occupational therapy-based parent coaching intervention on mothers and their children, who are considered to be primarily responsible for the feeding of children in our country. 46 mothers with premature children will be included in our study and participants will be randomly assigned to intervention/control groups. Mothers will fill out a sociodemographic information form, Canadian Occupational Therapy Measure (COPM), Behavioral Pediatric Feeding Assessment Scale, Sensory Profile Questionnaire - Oral Sensory Processing Subtest, Family Feeding Strategies Scale and Parental Self-Efficacy Scale via Google forms. Mothers in the research group will be given online occupational therapy-based parent coaching training for 10 weeks. Second evaluations will be carried out after the training; Final evaluations will be applied after 1 month of follow-up.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

39

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
    • Ankara/ Altındağ
      • Ankara, Ankara/ Altındağ, Turkey (Türkiye), 06110
        • Ankara Medipol University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Prematurity of the child (Birth week <37)
  • The child is between 3-6 years old
  • The mother must have the competence to use online platforms, technological tools and internet connection.
  • The mother must have sufficient education to read, understand and fill out the scales.
  • Mothers reporting complaints about feeding problems in their children

Exclusion Criteria:

  • It may affect the child's feeding; Having a food allergy, disability, neurodevelopmental disease, chromosomal or structural anomalies
  • The child is fed non-orally
  • Being receiving occupational therapy, oral motor therapy or nutritional therapy at any center
  • Not allowing practices such as video sharing, camera/audio sharing, and recording of sessions during the intervention.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Research Group
Mothers who will receive a 10-week occupational therapy-based parent coaching intervention will be included in this group.
Behavioral: Ergotherapy Based Parent Coaching
Occupational Therapy Based Parent Coaching intervention will last 10 sessions and will be carried out on the online platform. Sessions are planned to last between 45-60 minutes. The interviews to be held during the sessions are considered as the basic principles of parent coaching; It will be carried out in line with the principles of joint planning, observation, implementation, reflection and feedback. This intervention aims to educate mothers on proper feeding strategies for their children and to enable them to carry out these practices independently.
Other Names:
  • Informative Brochure Distribution
Other: Control Group
The control group will not receive an active intervention, but will be provided with an informative brochure on early childhood development. Additionally, once the research is completed, the right to participate in the intervention will be granted.
Other: Informative Brochure Distribution
No active intervention will be made to the mothers in the target group; an informative brochure about early childhood development will be distributed.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Behavioral Pediatric Feeding Assessment Scale
Time Frame: The scale will be applied 3 times in total: at the beginning of the study, 10 weeks after the first evaluation and 4 weeks after the second evaluation.
This scale will be used to evaluate children's nutritional problems. Behavioral Pediatrics Feeding Assessment Scale (BPFAS) was developed by Crist and Napier Philips in 2001 and its original version consists of 35 questions. The usage age range of the survey is between 9 months and 7 years, and it is the scale with the most comprehensive reliability and validity data among the nutrition surveys administered by parents for preschool children. The questionnaire has good test-retest reliability and internal consistency, acceptable-to-good sensitivity, and good-to-excellent specificity. The BPFAS is capable of screening for a broad spectrum of feeding difficulties (nutritional and textural selectivity, food refusal, and oral motor difficulties). Turkish validity study by Önal et al. It was made by in 2017.
The scale will be applied 3 times in total: at the beginning of the study, 10 weeks after the first evaluation and 4 weeks after the second evaluation.
Sensory Profile Questionnaire - Oral Sensory Processing Test
Time Frame: The scale will be applied 3 times in total: at the beginning of the study, 10 weeks after the first evaluation and 4 weeks after the second evaluation.

This scale will be used to examine how children's oral sensory processing skills change before and after the intervention. Ergotherapist Prof. Sensory Profile of the individual developed by Winnie Dunn; It is a measurement tool used to evaluate sensory modulation, in other words, the tendency to respond to sensory stimuli during daily activities and which sensory systems affect daily life more. It is used in children between the ages of 3-10. The individual; The test, which is used to measure functional performance in daily living activities, sensory processing abilities and sensory processing effects, consists of 3 main sub-parameters (sensory processing, modulation and behavioral-emotional responses) and 9 factor scores consisting of these parameters.

*In our study, it was decided to use only the oral sensory processing subtest of questionnaire.
The scale will be applied 3 times in total: at the beginning of the study, 10 weeks after the first evaluation and 4 weeks after the second evaluation.
Canadian Occupational Therapy Measurement (COPM)
Time Frame: The scale will be applied 3 times in total: at the beginning of the study, 10 weeks after the first evaluation and 4 weeks after the second evaluation.
The Canadian Occupational Performance Measurement (COPM) is an outcome measure designed to identify changes in individuals' perceived performance and satisfaction levels over time in the areas of self-care, productivity, and leisure. In the application of the COPM, the client is first interviewed and listed occupations they want to do, are expected to do, but are unable to do, or are dissatisfied with the way they are performed. Performance and satisfaction levels are recorded before and after the intervention, allowing the difference between the two assessments to be calculated. The COPM will be used in this study to determine participants' goals for the intervention and to examine changes in performance and satisfaction following the intervention for the identified occupations.
The scale will be applied 3 times in total: at the beginning of the study, 10 weeks after the first evaluation and 4 weeks after the second evaluation.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Feeding Strategies Quesstionnaire
Time Frame: The scale will be applied 3 times in total: at the beginning of the study, 10 weeks after the first evaluation and 4 weeks after the second evaluation.

This questionnaire will be used to measure whether mothers' feeding strategies have changed before and after the intervention.It is a scale developed by Berlin et al. in 2005 to measure parents' feeding strategies for their children. FSQ consists of 27 items and is administered to children between the ages of 2-6. FSQ; It consists of 6 subheadings: child control in eating, meal time, environment structure, family control in eating, release and coercive interventions. The FSQ scale includes answers ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

It has been reported that the Feeding Strategies Scale can be used to evaluate child and parent feeding strategies regarding the prevention or treatment of pediatric feeding difficulties.

A Turkish adaptation study was carried out by Meral in 2017, and the total Cronbach alpha value of the scale is 0.80.
The scale will be applied 3 times in total: at the beginning of the study, 10 weeks after the first evaluation and 4 weeks after the second evaluation.
Parental Self-Efficacy Scale
Time Frame: The scale will be applied 3 times in total: at the beginning of the study, 10 weeks after the first evaluation and 4 weeks after the second evaluation.

This scale will be used to examine how parents' self-efficacy changes before and after parent coaching intervention. Parental Self-Efficacy Scale Guimond et al. It was developed by Cavkaytar et al. in 2005 and adapted into Turkish by Diken in 2007. It is a scale updated in 2014 and used to measure the self-efficacy perceptions of parents of children with disabilities regarding their parenting skills.

The scale is a 7-point Likert-type rating scale and consists of a total of 17 items. The lowest score can be obtained from the scale, 17 points, and the highest score can be 119 points. As the score obtained from the scale increases, the level of self-efficacy also increases.

Cronbach's Alpha internal consistency coefficient of the scale was found to be 0.95.
The scale will be applied 3 times in total: at the beginning of the study, 10 weeks after the first evaluation and 4 weeks after the second evaluation.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Ankara Medipol University

Investigators

  • Study Director: Gökçen Akyürek, Ph. D., Hacettepe University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

July 29, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 22, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

August 15, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 6, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 16, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

February 20, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 21, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 18, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 169

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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