Promoting Family-Centered Care: A Provider Training Effectiveness Study

Area of Science:

• Pediatric healthcare
• Professional development
• Family-centered care

Background:

• Family-centered care (FCC) is a recognized best practice in pediatrics.
• Healthcare providers encounter challenges in applying FCC principles in clinical practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the Better Together (BT) training program.
• To assess the impact of BT training on providers' FCC practice and self-efficacy.

Main Methods:

• A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was employed.
• Eighty-two pediatric healthcare providers participated in a 30-hour in-person training program.
• The Measure of Processes of Care (MPOC) assessed FCC implementation and provider self-efficacy.

Main Results:

• The BT training significantly improved providers' reported FCC implementation and self-efficacy across all measured domains.
• Medium effect sizes were observed for the changes in FCC practice and self-efficacy.
• Initial differences in FCC use based on experience and setting were no longer significant post-training.

Conclusions:

• The Better Together (BT) training effectively enhances healthcare providers' family-centered care (FCC) practices and self-efficacy.
• The training minimizes disparities in FCC implementation among providers with varying experience and in different practice settings.
• This study underscores the value of intensive training in promoting knowledge translation and improving provider confidence and practice in FCC.