Camp-based psychosocial intervention dosage and changes in independence in young people with spina bifida

Abstract

Aim: To examine associations between camp-based intervention dosage and changes in independence-related skills for young people with spina bifida. Method: Participants were 110 individuals (mean age [SD] 14y 7mo [6y 1mo], range 6–32y; 66 females, 54 males) who attended a summer camp for individuals with spina bifida between 2 to 6 times (mean 2.40; operationalized as ‘dosage’). Parents of young campers (e.g. those <18y) also participated in data collection. Campers and/or parents completed preintervention measures assessing campers’ level of medical responsibility, mastery over medical tasks, and social skills. Outcomes included change in preintervention scores from dose 1 to final dose. Results: Hierarchical regression analyses with and without covariates (age, IQ, and lesion level at dose 1) revealed that increased dosage was significantly associated with greater parent-reported improvements in campers’ medical responsibility and mastery over medical tasks. Increased dosage was also significantly associated with camper-report of increased medical responsibility, but this relationship was no longer significant when including covariates. Intervention dosage was not associated with changes in campers’ social skills. Interpretation: Repeated participation in a camp-based intervention was associated with improvements in condition-related independence. Future work may focus on the development of interventions to promote improvements in social skills for young people with spina bifida. What this paper adds: Participating in an intervention over multiple summers is associated with increases in campers’ responsibility for spina bifida-related tasks. Repeated summer camp intervention participation is associated with improved mastery over condition-related tasks for campers with spina bifida. Repeated camp intervention participation is not associated with changes in social skills for campers with spina bifida.