Better together: advancing family-centered care

Abstract

Family-centered care (FCC) is recommended as “best practice” across a variety of pediatric service settings, as it yields better health and wellness outcomes for clients, and greater work satisfaction for practitioners and administrators (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2012). However, providers in multiple health care fields report challenges with translation of FCC concepts into their practice (Bamm & Rosenbaum, 2008; Graham, Rodger, & Ziviani, 2008; Lawlor & Mattingly, 1998; MacKean, Thurston, & Scott, 2005). Therefore, the aim of this doctoral project was to understand the barriers to FCC implementation, and to propose ways for supporting practitioners to enact FCC in their practice. The resulting solution is Better Together, an on-line professional development course designed to empower health care providers to become ambassadors of FCC and effectively enact the FCC practices in their daily interactions with clients and their families. The Better Together course content and structure are based on findings from a review of the literature specific to identifying core skills and knowledge essential for effective FCC practice, as well as best practices for professional development instruction. Methods for course implementation, funding, and dissemination are described, as well as a research plan for program evaluation.