Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of the Apollo Model of Pediatric Rehabilitation Service Delivery

ABSTRACT

This article presents the experience of a rehabilitation program that undertook the challenge to reorganize its services to address accessibility issues and improve service quality. The context in which the reorganization process occurred, along with the relevant literature justifying the need for a new service delivery model, and an historical perspective on the planning; implementation; and evaluation phases of the process are described. In the planning phase, the constitution of the working committee, the data collected, and the information found in the literature are presented. Apollo, the new service delivery model, is then described along with each of its components (e.g., community, group, and individual interventions). Actions and lessons learnt during the implementation of each component are presented. We hope by sharing our experiences that we can help others make informed decisions about service reorganization to improve the quality of services provided to children with disabilities, their families, and their communities.

KEYWORDS. :

• Children
• pediatric
• program evaluation
• quality of care
• rehabilitation
• service delivery model
• service organization

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Chantal Camden, PhD, PT, was a doctoral student at the time of the study. She is currently doing a postdoctoral fellowship at the CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research at McMaster University and teaches at the Université de Sherbrooke. Bonnie Swaine, PhD, PT, is professor at the Rehabilitation School of Université de Montréal, and the director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal. Sylvie Tétreault, PhD, OT (c), is professor at the Rehabilitation School of the Université Laval. At the time of the study, Sophie Bergeron, MBA, and Carole Lambert, SW, were, respectively, the organizational development counselor and the head of the Children and Teenagers program, at the Centre de Réadaptation Estrie, in Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada.