Mealtime Observation & Reflection Study: SEEM Version: 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The SEEM Study: Safe Efficient and Enjoyable Mealtimes: Creating a toolkit for families of children who need assistance with eating and drinking – an observational study
IRAS ID
325687
Contact name
S Morgan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
City, University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 3 months, 2 days
Research summary
Children with neurological disabilities (neurodisability) e.g., Cerebral Palsy can have difficulties with eating, drinking and swallowing (dysphagia). Some consequences are severe e.g., choking, parent stress, with risks higher when children need mealtime help e.g., physically fed.
Speech and Language Therapists (SLT) give parents personalised recommendations to support mealtime safety and enjoyment e.g., changing food textures. However, parents do not always notice difficulties or follow recommendations, and we are unsure which strategies help parents follow mealtime recommendations.This study has two questions:
What are the family-carers’ and children’s experiences of and thinking, during mealtimes, including what stops or helps them follow mealtime recommendations?
Do family-carers see signs of dysphagia and how do they respond?School-aged children (5-15 years) with neurodisability and family-carers (10 pairs, 20 people) will be recruited through east London NHS sites via their local SLT.
The researcher will video one mealtime at home while also recording swallow-sounds with a neck microphone. The child will be asked about their mealtime, in a child-friendly way.
Another day the researcher will meet (1-hour max) the family-carer (home or videocall; audio-recorded). They will watch the mealtime video and discuss mealtime experiences including mealtime guidelines. Clinical information will be collected from the child’s SLT.
The researcher will use the mealtime video and swallow-sound recording information to describe the child’s eating and drinking skills and difficulties e.g., food loss, atypical swallow sounds. They will watch the mealtime videos to see how the pair interact and how the family-carer responds to difficulties e.g., coughs. They will look at how the family-carer follows their personalised mealtime recommendations. They will analyse the child’s views and family-carers thoughts and feelings about the mealtime video and mealtimes generally, including the guidelines.
The study findings will be used to develop a future ‘strategy toolkit’ to improve mealtime safety and enjoyment.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/EM/0208
Date of REC Opinion
21 Sep 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion