Promoting Family-Centered Care: A Provider Training Effectiveness Study

Abstract

Abstract Importance: Although family-centered care (FCC) is a best practice in pediatrics, health care providers report challenges in translating FCC from theory to practice. Objective: To measure the effectiveness of the Better Together (BT) training to enhance providers’ changes in FCC practice and self-efficacy. Design: Pretest–posttest quasi-experimental design. Setting: Continuing education centers in Israel. Participants: Eighty-two participants—occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, physical therapists, and art therapists—working in outpatient or school-based pediatric practices. Intervention: We developed BT on the basis of adult learning theory to prepare providers to implement best practices in FCC. The training was delivered as six consecutive in-person workshops (30-hr total over 10 wk). Outcomes and Measures: We used the Measure of Processes of Care (MPOC) Service Provider and Confidence versions to measure providers’ perceptions of how they used specific aspects of FCC in their practice and their related self-efficacy. Results: Observed changes included improved reports of FCC implementation and increased self-efficacy in all MPOC domains, with medium effect sizes. These outcomes were positively interrelated. Before the training, providers in outpatient settings who had more years of experience reported higher FCC use than less experienced participants in other settings; these differences disappeared by the end of the training. Conclusions and Relevance: BT training can enhance health care providers’ perceptions of FCC implementation and self-efficacy and minimize differences in FCC implementation by providers across expertise levels and practice settings. This study can inform the development of future FCC training interventions for providers, managers, educators, and researchers. What This Article Adds: Intensive training can improve both the way practitioners work with families and their self-efficacy in doing so. This study highlights the importance of self-efficacy in promoting knowledge translation.