Family-centred practices in the provision of interventions and services in primary health care

Abstract

The aims of this study were to explore how parents of preschoolers with cerebral palsy (CP) experienced the level of family-centred services using the Measure of Processes of Care (MPOC-20) within primary health care in Norway and to examine the relationships between these experiences and the provided everyday skills interventions and services. A survey was sent to 360 parents of preschool children with CP. The response rate was 34%. Of the MPOC scales respectful and supportive care and coordinated and comprehensive care received the highest ratings, and providing general information received the lowest. Our findings indicate lower levels of family centredness in primary health-care contexts than that reported in specialist health care. Significant positive associations were found between all the five MPOC-20 scales and the parents’ satisfaction with the amount of service coordination (p = .000–.004). The high scores for respectful and supportive care and the low scores for general information indicate that the families experienced relational help giving practices to a larger extent and participatory practices to a lesser extent. To increase the participatory aspects of family-centred practice, further research needs to address facilitators and barriers of information sharing and ways of giving this information both in specialist and primary health care.