PRIFAM: a shared experience leading to the transformation of everyone involved

Abstract

This article presents the PRIFAM, an interdisciplinary family intervention program co-constructed with parents of children with a disability. The PRIFAM’s theoretical foundations, clinical model of the adaptation/transformation process and tools have enabled professionals to conceptualize many years’ worth of research, clinical observations, and professional and personal experience. Through its relational foundations, the partnership forged between families and professionals contributes extensively to the adaptation of families and the well-being of professionals, by acknowledging their reciprocal resources and mutual competencies. The birth of a child with a disability triggers severe stress and plunges parents and families into a grieving process, but this process also leads to learning that generates transformation of the bereavement experience. A number of evaluative studies of the PRIFAM have demonstrated the importance of the close reciprocal relationship between research and clinical practice, which enables family intervention practices to evolve.