Two sides of the mirror: parents' and service providers' view on the family-centredness of care for children with cerebral palsy.

BACKGROUND

In order to best meet the needs of both families and their children with cerebral palsy, many rehabilitation service providers have adopted a family-centred service (FCS) approach. In FCS parents are seen as experts on their child's needs, and the family and professionals collaborate in the rehabilitation process. However, parents and service providers might look at FCS from different points of view, i.e. look into the mirror from two different sides. The objective of this study was to explore the degree to which parents experience the service as being family-centred and to which extent the service providers experience their service provision as family-centred.

METHODS

A translated version of The Measure of Processes of Care 20 (MPOC-20) questionnaire was used to evaluate parents' experience of FCS, and a Measures of Processes of Care for Service Providers (MPOC-SP) questionnaire was used to evaluate the FCS provided by professionals. Parents visiting two university hospital neuropediatric wards (n= 67) during a 2-month period and who were willing to participate received the questionnaire. Also the service providers working on the same wards (n= 49) were invited to participate.

RESULTS

A total of 53 families and 29 service providers completed the questionnaires. Both parents and professionals generally rated the FCS positively. General information was rated lowest and respectful treatment the highest by both parents and professionals. The results revealed that written information about the child's condition, the possibility to choose when to receive information, and contact with other families in the same situation are areas in need of improvement.

CONCLUSIONS

The possibility to regularly evaluate services both from the families' and the professionals' perspectives should be part of quality development. Providing general information is a challenge for all service providers. The MPOC questionnaires can be used to highlight important areas of improvement in FCS.