Parent Perspectives on Rehabilitation Services for Their Children with Disabilities: A Mixed Methods Approach

ABSTRACT

Health care providers have adopted a family-centered care (FCC) approach. Parent satisfaction is an indicator of the effectiveness of FCC. The purpose of this project was to describe parent perceptions of the extent to which FCC behaviors occurred in an outpatient pediatric rehabilitation facility. The Measure of Processes of Care (MPOC)-20, a quantitative measure of parent perceptions related to FCC, was completed by 246 families with children receiving outpatient rehabilitation services. Eleven parents were randomly selected to participate in individual interviews. Four themes emerged, which are as follows: (a) parents were satisfied; (b) parents valued personal and sustained connections with professionals; (c) parents expressed a desire to interact with other parents; and (d) some parents may benefit from additional written information. Sustained connections with professionals and opportunities to interact with other parents were important aspects of care provision. Provision of written information was ranked lower than other domains on the MPOC-20.

KEYWORDS. :

• Family functioning
• parent perspective
• qualitative studies
• service delivery