Delivering family centred services in child-onset disability: a mixed methods approach to understanding health professionals' experiences and approaches

AimFamily-centred service aims to build family capacity to support their children, but behaviours supporting capacity-building vary. We explored what influences the way service providers think about and approach family-centred service.MethodAn online survey drew on experiences, beliefs, and perspectives of Australian providers. Descriptive statistics were applied to quantitative data and inductive content analysis to qualitative, with a comparative discussion to merge data.ResultsThe 73 participating medical and allied health professionals reflected family-centred service as a way of "knowing", "being", and "doing". There were no observed differences in beliefs, perceptions, or behaviours between those with different professional training, experience, or work contexts. Participants described Collaborative partnerships as a way of working together with families. Work was influenced by (1) Who I am, (2) How I perceive influences beyond me, and that (3) Overlapping values and priorities supports sustained motivation.InterpretationFindings indicated that providers "way of knowing" influenced their "way of doing". Education is needed to align providers understanding of family-centred service with contemporary evidence. Strategies tailored to each context are required to support providers to balance competing priorities for themselves, families they work with, and surrounding services and systems, and sustain and promote family-centred service in practice.