Analysis of caregivers' perspectives on communication needs of children with complex communication in a residential care facility

This dataset presents responses of caregivers who provide support to children with complex communication needs (CCN) in a residential care facility organised in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. It consists of the participants’ biographical information that was obtained from the care facility manager as well as through the participants’ interviews. It also consists of interview questions and participants’ responses to the questions. Each question of the interview schedule was assigned its sheet in the Microsoft Excel file. The contents of each sheet consisted of a question number, the interview question, all the participants' responses to those questions as well as the codes and the identified themes. The study was conducted to explore caregivers’ perceptions and understanding of the communication needs of children with communication disabilities in a residential care facility/care centre. The study also investigated the role that caregivers played in meeting the communication needs of the children as well as the communication strategies that were implemented in the care facility. It was imperative to understand how caregivers perceived communication, and how their knowledge and understanding of communication influenced their level of interaction with the children as well as the participation of the children in daily activities. Understanding the caregivers’ perceptions will also provide insight into barriers to communication participation in residential care facilities for children with disabilities.The care facility that was purposefully selected for this study was a residential care facility that offered alternative and partial care to children with disabilities in Mamelodi, a township in the City of Tshwane. Participants included only caregivers who worked directly with children who had communication disabilities. The qualitative data was collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews with seven caregivers. The interview schedule was developed based on a range of previous studies and aimed to obtain information on (1) biographical information of the caregivers, (2) caregivers’ understanding of communication, (3) caregivers’ knowledge of the children’s communication needs and skills as well as (4) the views of caregivers regarding their roles in supporting communication. Caregivers’ responses were recorded on a voice recorder and transcribed verbatim. A translator was employed to transcribe and translate participants' responses that were not in English. A thematic data analysis method was then used to organize the transcribed data into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and identify themes. Dominant themes in the study were limited communication support resources, inconsistent speech therapy services and the need for training on AAC. Challenges and factors contributing to the limited communication support were also identified, namely short staffing, the additional teaching role, and the lack of knowledge and skills to support communication. The findings of the study also indicated that caregivers described the children's communication skills as emergent communicators and that caregivers mainly focused on the physical care of the children like bathing, feeding and medical care with not much time allocated to activities that encouraged communication participation. This is usually the case in many care facilities for children with disabilities in South Africa. Challenges that were presented by participants were rarely related to children’s inability to communicate through speech but rather the caregivers’ own challenges of caring for children with disabilities. It can be deduced that caregivers did not have much communication expectation from the children. There is a dire need for training of caregivers focusing on communication needs of children with CCN in care facilities, communication support skills as well as support by speech therapists knowledgeable in AAC.

本数据集展示了居住在护理机构内、为具有复杂沟通需求（CCN）的儿童提供支持的护理人员的回应，数据以 Microsoft Excel 电子表格的形式呈现。数据集包括从护理机构管理者处获取的参与者生平信息，以及通过参与者访谈获得的信息。此外，还包括访谈问题和参与者对这些问题的回应。访谈日程中的每个问题都被分配到了 Microsoft Excel 文件中的一个单独工作表。每个工作表的内容包括问题编号、访谈问题、所有参与者对这些问题所作出的回应，以及编码和识别出的主题。本研究旨在探讨护理人员对居住在护理机构或护理中心内具有沟通障碍的儿童沟通需求的认知和理解。研究还调查了护理人员满足儿童沟通需求所扮演的角色以及护理机构中实施的沟通策略。了解护理人员对沟通的认知以及他们对于沟通的知识和理解如何影响其与儿童的互动水平以及儿童在日常生活活动中的参与度至关重要。了解护理人员的认知将有助于揭示居住在护理机构内具有残疾的儿童参与沟通的障碍。本研究特意选择的护理机构是位于茨瓦内市玛梅洛迪镇的一所提供替代和部分护理服务的居住护理机构。参与者仅限于直接与具有沟通障碍的儿童工作的护理人员。通过半结构化面对面访谈收集了七位护理人员的定性数据。访谈日程基于一系列先前的研究制定，旨在获取以下信息：（1）护理人员的生平信息，（2）护理人员对沟通的理解，（3）护理人员对儿童沟通需求和技能的了解，以及（4）护理人员对其在支持沟通中角色观点的看法。护理人员的回应被记录在录音设备上，并进行了逐字转录。聘请了一位翻译员对非英语参与者的回应进行转录和翻译。随后，采用主题数据分析方法将转录数据组织到 Microsoft Excel 表格中，并识别出主题。研究中的主导主题包括有限的沟通支持资源、不连贯的言语治疗服务以及对于辅助交流（AAC）培训的需求。还确定了导致有限沟通支持的挑战和因素，包括人员短缺、额外教学角色以及缺乏支持沟通的知识和技能。研究的结果还表明，护理人员将儿童的沟通技能描述为新兴的沟通者，并且护理人员主要关注儿童的日常护理，如洗澡、喂食和医疗护理，而很少有时间分配给鼓励沟通参与的活动。这在南非许多为残疾儿童提供护理的机构中通常是这种情况。参与者提出的挑战很少与儿童无法通过言语进行沟通有关，而是与护理人员自身照顾残疾儿童所面临的挑战有关。可以推断，护理人员对儿童的沟通期望并不高。迫切需要对护理人员开展培训，重点关注居住在护理机构内具有复杂沟通需求的儿童的沟通需求、沟通支持技能，以及精通辅助交流的言语治疗师的支持。