Annie Seccull BAppSc(OT), Founder and Director at Thrive Group
Laura Simmons BAppSc(OT), Founder and CEO at Theratrak
Annie Seccull is the Founder and Director of Thrive Group, a paediatric private practice in Shepparton within the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria. Thrive provides a rural occupational therapy service for children and adolescents from birth through to adulthood.
In our Therapist Thoughts interview with Annie, she said the hardest thing about her role is:
“Not being able to support and service everyone who needs access to an occupational therapist in our regional town Shepparton.”
In 2023, Annie worked with Theratrak Founder & OT Laura Simmons to ensure the program encouraged people from their growing wait-list to complete a 10-week home therapy program.
Find out about the wait-list program progress and read the full research project below.
Supporting our waitlists! Innovating therapy home practice using digital technology solutions.
Introduction: 10 Week Program
Thrive Group is a regional Victorian private paediatric practice which is one of the many services significantly impacted by compounding waitlists.
According to the 2022 workforce census report from National Disability Services suggests wait times for therapists can vary from six months to two years - with regional and remote areas impacted the most. This statistic highlighted the need for innovation and how we better support those waiting for occupational therapy input in a regional area.
At the start of 2023, Thrive Group had 250 participants on waitlists with limited ways to refer them to other regional services.
To support more families who were not receiving any 1:1 support, the team decided to design a range of Occupational Therapy Home Programs for the early intervention age group (under seven years) based on current occupational therapy models and leverage an innovative digital tool (Theratrak) to provide asynchronous care.
Theratrak streamlines processes, gamifies therapy prescriptions, supports clinical decision making and works to improve therapy outcomes. Therapists use the mobile app to create and send custom home programs. The participant app uses behavioural science, peer-to-peer mentoring and positive psychology methods to keep everyone on track outside therapy. Theratrak uses a novel reward system for engagement and skill-building, directly related to the participant's therapy goals, and the Theramates connect them with the therapy journey. Real-time qualitative and quantitative data is captured. Tracking progress, supporting clinical decision-making and assisting with reporting requirements for therapy funding.
Method: 4 Phases
Four phases were allocated to this project to determine the effectiveness of using an asynchronous digital solution to alleviate waitlist challenges: design, screening, implementation, and feedback collection. Qualitative data was captured at every stage to determine the viability of using Theratrak on an ongoing process.
Phase 1: Design
Thrive Group completed online research to determine the most appropriate digital solution. Digital platforms were assessed on price, accessibility, user design, customisability, and whether they were Australian-made.
Theratrak scored highest overall, and the ability to customise the platform with individual programs was rated very highly. Thrive Group’s team of Occupational Therapists developed a range of programs. Each program was designed from everyday therapy activities related to fine motor, gross motor, emotional regulation, self-care and social skills.
Phase 2: Screening
Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews with clients. Clients were evaluated for appropriateness for the program by an occupational therapist. Programs were selected from a range of predetermined weekly programs designed by Thrive Group from everyday therapy activities.
Phase 3: Implementation
Participants were given access to the program for 10 weeks which occupational therapists monitored. Participants were given access to the carefully selected program, which provided them with content and activities, including Instructions and videos that went with the physical resources, which were released via the platform Theratrak.
Phase 4: Collection of program feedback
Pre and post semi-structured interviews were conducted with at least one caregiver and the prescribing therapist to determine overall satisfaction with the program. Therapists used the internal reporting feature of theratrak to collect quantitative scores about improvements in satisfaction, confidence, performance and assistance. Participants were automatically prompted to enter this data after completing activities in their occupational therapy program at home. Programs were developed using existing knowledge, and some pdf handouts were created to support parent training and increase the clinic's brand visibility for the families whilst using the app.
Results and feedback about the program usage were also fed back to Theratrak’s developers to support future feature improvements on the platform.
Results: Clear Outcomes for Families
At the beginning of 2022, 250 clients were identified on the Thrive Group’s waiting list. Of that, 50% were deemed appropriate for the early intervention packages. Of the 50% of participants deemed appropriate, 33.6% purchased one of the packages within the four months (October, 2022, November 2022, December and January 2023) that this study took place.
Post-program semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents and caregivers, and they identified the following key themes:
Parents on our waiting list felt more supported.
Parents and caregivers appeared to increase their knowledge of basic OT concepts and activities to practice at home.
Increased knowledge of how occupational therapy can support their child in the home environment
Results: Program Average Feedback from Clients
Client 1: 6 years, 10 months completing emotional regulation program in November 2022.
Client 2: 4 years, 9 months completing fine motor program in October 2022.
Summary: Results for Participants, Families & Clinicians
Parents reported regularly accessing and completing programs but also forgetting to tick off the activities. This impacted the validity of the overall completion data.
Qualitative data showed improvement in children under the age of 7’s underlying skills that occupational therapists focus on.
Overall, average Program feedback for participants varied between +1 and +3 in relation to parent satisfaction, confidence, performance and assistance.
Therapists reported increased job satisfaction when using Theratrak. They reported that the digital platform saves them large amounts of time administratively as they can send a home program in a couple of minutes, their notes are completed and saved synchronously and they felt it increased their clients' engagement in participation in therapy activities at home.
Outcomes: Increased Satisfaction & Likelihood of Completion
Overall, parents reported high satisfaction levels with access to Theratrak.
Children seemed more likely to complete home program activities when we used Theratrak verses before this project.
Implications for Practice
Theratrak App has decreased and allowed Thrive Group to triage some more complex participants who need 1:1 support and provided adequate parent training to support families to complete some therapy at home.
Overall this has also diversified the earning capacity for the practice and may lead to future revenue improvements. Thrive Group will continue to provide Theratrak programs to participants on waitlists in the future. They will look to see how these programs can be shared with other therapists in other regions in the future.
Thrive Group supported an increased number of children in regional/ remote areas that would not have been able to access occupational therapy for at least six months.
Conclusion: Impact, Finances & Upskilling
Theratrak has proven to be a valuable and economical tool for Thrive Group. Further, co-design with Theratrak is needed to form a more robust NDIS reporting tool that links the client's goals to outcomes.
Further, Thrive Group will review the onboarding process for families that are new to Theratrak, how we explain the programs, and if therapist-supported app training may be beneficial. Thrive Group are also working with Theratrak to improve the onboarding process for families so they can quickly and easily learn to use the platform and see the importance of completing programs. We have also recommended some feature improvements for therapists to better see active programs from the therapist app.
References
Tam, C., Teachman, G., & Wright, V. (2008). Paediatric application of individualised client-centred outcome measures: A literature review. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 71(7), 286-296.
Bovend'Eerdt, T. J., Botell, R. E., & Wade, D. T. (2009). Writing SMART rehabilitation goals and achieving goal attainment scaling: a practical guide. Clinical rehabilitation, 23(4), 352-361.
Carswell, A., McColl, M. A., Baptiste, S., Law, M., Polatajko, H., & Pollock, N. (2004). The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure: a research and clinical literature review. Canadian journal of occupational therapy, 71(4), 210-222.
View the Poster: Supporting our wailists!
This ePoster was prepared for and presented at the Occupational Therapy Conference held in Cairns, QLD, Australia in June 2023. Read more about our trip to the conference here.
Interview with Director & OT of Thrive Group
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