Introduction: Defecation is a part of narrower daily activities and is an important occupation of everyday life, as it is crucial for a person's independence, successful social inclusion and quality of life. Acquiring bowel continence and thus control over defecation is an important milestone in childhood that a child achieves through toilet training. This is the process by which the child learns the correct use of the toilet and, at the same time, conscious control over defecation. Weaning problems may be related to a sensory processing disorder. In order to plan occupational therapy treatment, these problems must be assessed with appropriate assessment instruments. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis was to translate the Questionnaire on Toilet Habits and, with the help of interviews, to learn about the experiences of Slovenian occupational therapists in treating children who have problems with bowel movements and to find out the usefulness and comprehensibility of the questionnaire. Work methods: We used a qualitative research approach in the research. We conducted semi-structured interviews with four occupational therapists in June and July 2022. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. The data obtained from the interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Four themes emerged from the analysis: questionnaire analysis, usefulness of the questionnaire, causes of defecation problems, and strategies for dealing with defecation problems. The results show that the questionnaire was understandable and useful to the interviewees, but they suggested some changes. It is considered to be time-efficient and structured and helps in defining the problems of children with defecation problems and planning treatment. Discussion and conclusion: The use of assessment instruments is crucial for occupational therapy as they clearly identify the problems that need to be addressed in treatment. The translated Toilet Habits Questionnaire is a simple and convenient assessment instrument for parents. It enables faster and structured evaluation. The results of the research show the usefulness of the questionnaire in everyday practice, especially in terms of obtaining data and planning occupational therapy treatment. It would make sense to do research on a larger sample.
|