An examination of clinicians’ experiences of collaborative culturally competent service delivery to immigrant families raising a child with a physical disability

Abstract

Purpose: Although collaborative, culturally competent care has been shown to increase positive health outcomes and client satisfaction with services, little is known about the ways that clinicians implement service delivery models with immigrant families having a child with a disability. The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of clinicians working with immigrant families raising a child with a physical disability and to examine the views and experiences of clinicians providing collaborative, culturally competent care to immigrant families raising a child with a physical disability. Method: This study draws on in-depth interviews with 43 clinicians within two pediatric centers in Toronto and Quebec. Results: Our findings show that clinicians remove or create barriers for immigrant families in different ways, which affect their ability to provide culturally competent care for immigrant families raising a child with a physical disability. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that there is a need for more institutional support for collaborative, culturally competent care to immigrant families raising a child with a physical disability. There is a lack of formal processes in place to develop collaborative treatment plans and approaches that would benefit immigrant families.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• Clinicians need greater institutional support and resources to spend more time with families and to provide more rehabilitative care in families’ homes.

• Building rapport with families includes listening to and respecting families’ views and experiences.

• Facilitate collaboration and culturally competent care by having team meetings with parents to formulate treatment plans.

• Child disability
• culture
• immigrant
• interprofessional care
• parent involvement

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Gillian A. King, Genevive Pierart, and Sylvie Tetrault for their significant contributions to this research project. We would also like to thank Meghann Proulx, Brigitte Corran and Marie-Laurence Cloutier for their research assistance.

Declaration of interest

This research was funded by a Bloorview Research Institute and Université de Laval (CIRRIS) Catalyst grant. The authors report no conflict of interest.