Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
2025
Faculty Mentor
Nadine Hanner
Abstract
In the state of South Carolina, more than 58,000 children living with a disability or serious medical illness are not being served with the opportunity to participate in a summer camp (Denton, 2023). Summer camps encourage children to interact with their peers, experience play, and engage in enjoyable activities. These are all skills that children with disabilities and medical illnesses tend to struggle with (Makaroff et al., 2013). Lack of these skills can contribute to a lower overall quality of life for these individuals.
A quality improvement capstone project was completed in collaboration with a nonprofit organization that creates overnight summer camps, hospital camps, family fun days, and day camps for children with disabilities and severe medical illnesses. This project was designed to increase participation in play, social interaction, and build life skills in children with disabilities and serious medical illnesses through an at-home summer camp program. The project had two main goals: (1) to obtain in-depth knowledge of the benefits of camp programming and their therapeutic activities for individuals with disabilities and serious medical illnesses and (2) to create and organize a comprehensive at-home instructional manual that enables CRA’s campers to engage in meaningful, adaptable, and activity-based interventions.
Data was collected through descriptive statistics (survey utilizing single-answer multiple choice, Likert scale, and text box questions) and thematic analysis (informal interviews and open-ended discussion) to gain feedback on the project and determine sustainability. This revealed high satisfaction with the provided resource, the therapeutic benefit that the activities within the resource provide, and the likelihood that the caregivers would use the resource with their child.
Denton, B. (2023, March 24). About. Camp Rise Above.
https://campriseabove.org/about/
Makaroff, K. S., Scobie, R., Williams, C., & Kidd, J. (2013, January 29). Let's go to camp! An innovative pediatric practice placement. National Library of Medicine.
Recommended Citation
Boyleston, Megan R., "At Home Camp Programming to Improve the Quality of Life in Children with Disabilities and Medical Illnesses" (2025). Entry-Level Occupational Therapy Doctorate - Doctoral Capstone Symposium. 58.
https://medica-musc.researchcommons.org/muscotd-elotd/58