DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2016.v04i10.003

Pages: 3564-3568

Early intervention program is a system of services that helps infants and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities. This program is known to start as early as in the neonatal intensive care unit. The team providing these services comprises of various different professionals of which physiotherapists are one of the key team members. This study aims at analyzing the level of knowledge the novice physiotherapists possess about early intervention program. The objectives are to determine their knowledge in various aspects of the program and to pick out the areas which are lesser known. These goals were accomplished by carrying out a cross sectional survey of the novice physiotherapists with the help of validated questionnaire. The study was divided into different domains which enables the researcher to find out the particular areas in each domain where the novice physiotherapists lack knowledge. The results showed that among the conditions treated under early intervention, conditions like cancers and osteogenesis imperfecta are not so popularly known whereas autism is well known. Similarly, among the techniques used in early intervention, strapping, splinting and stretching techniques are lesser known than other techniques like positioning and giving respiratory therapy. Likewise professionals like medical pharmacists and nurses are lesser known to be involved in the early intervention team. Moreover the majority of the study subjects gained knowledge about early intervention through their syllabus, therefore revision of the syllabus can be done in the future according to the information gained from this study.