Evaluation of Caregiver and Physiotherapist Perceptions of the Practice of Family-Centred Care in Paediatric Rehabilitation

Abstract

Background: The Family Centred Care (FCC) approach requires health care decision-making to be a collaborative one, with clinicians and caregivers working together as partners to define the therapeutic needs of the child with a health-related condition. Aim: The study evaluated the caregivers' and Physiotherapists' perceptions of the extent
in which family-centered care is being practised (implemented) in pediatric Physiotherapy services in Kano State, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study recruited 105 caregivers and 47 Physiotherapists using purposive sampling from secondary and tertiary hospitals in Kano. The data capture form was used to record the characteristics of the research participants. Perception of FCC was assessed with the measure of the process of care MPOC-20 and MPOC-SP for caregivers and service providers, respectively. The data were summarized with
descriptive statistics of frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation and analysed with Spearman rank-order correlation at a level of significance of P≤0.05. Results and Conclusion: About 75 (71.4%) of the caregivers have rated paediatric Physiotherapists as being respectful and supportive (5.32±0.93) to a great extent while
58 (55.2%) of them reported that physiotherapists provided coordinated and comprehensive care (4.8±1.13) to a moderate extent. But the majority of caregivers 73(69.5%) however, rated Physiotherapists low in the provision of adequate information (2.34±1.18). On the other hand, Twenty-eight (59.6%) of the Physiotherapists reported that they provided interpersonal sensitivity (5.11±0.69) to a great extent to the caregivers. About 25 (53.2%) of the Physiotherapists provided respectful care to a great extent and 22 (46.8%) provided such care to a moderate extent (4.97±0.79). Paediatric Physiotherapy in Kano State is comprehensive in most of the domains of FCC except for the provision of adequate information through booklets, videos about the child’s condition. It was recommended that Physiotherapists should endeavour to make the process of care more family-centered by providing adequate information to families.