User Perspectives on Support Services to Disabled Children and Their Families

Abstract

The importance of the family to disabled children’s well-being has been stressed in recent decades and there has been a move to recognize parents as experts, and to seek their input in meeting the health care and educational needs of their children (Dunst et al., 2007). There is evidence that families’ self-reported experience of family-centred practices is associated with improvements in their satisfaction with services, improvements in their overall well-being, and lower parental stress in dealing with the service system. Although not directly related to child behaviour or development outcomes, family-centred practices indirectly contribute to positive child outcomes, most likely due to empowermenttype effects such as parents’ self-efficacy beliefs (Dempsey & Kean, 2008; Dunst et al., 2007). Furthermore, family-centred policies and practices are considered to promote democratization and gender equity (Bamm & Rosenbaum, 2008; MacKean et al., 2005).