Parent perspectives of therapy services for their children with physical disabilities

Children who have physical disabilities typically attend occupational and physical therapy services on a regular basis. The importance of being family centred when providing services to children with a disability has been highlighted in recent years. Thus, it was considered important to gather the opinions of parents towards the services their child receives.

To explore the perspectives of parents of children with physical disabilities to occupational and physical therapy services provided to their child.

Open interviews were conducted with 17 parents (14 mothers and three fathers) of children aged 7-13, selected through a purposeful sample. Data analysis was based on an inductive approach.

Nine categories emerged and were organized under three main headings: The role of the therapist, service location and arrangements, and characteristics of good service. Although several positive remarks were made, many parents in this study were poorly informed of intervention goals and what took place during therapy sessions. Most parents wished for mutual respect, joint decision-making in planning intervention, and collaboration with the therapy services. The aspiration for active but manageable roles that did not demand a burdensome amount of the parents' time and energy was evinced. The parents became increasingly critical of the services, as their children grew older. They placed emphasis on services being offered in their local community, and that more specialized service should be centralized, especially for the children with the most complex needs.

The results reflect the importance of the needs and wants of the parents and children being respected. Thus, parents should play an active role in defining priorities and strategies for implementation. The results also indicate that therapists need to put more thought into the conditions and environment of the child instead of focusing solely on underlying issues connected to their impairments.