Achieving family and provider partnerships for children with special health care needs.
BACKGROUND
During the past 2 decades, family-centered care has evolved as the standard of care for children with special health care needs. A major principle of family-centered care is a strong partnership between the family and provider, working together to address issues and barriers to accessing comprehensive care and related services. The federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau defines a positive family-provider partnership as a core program outcome. Our objective was to assess the extent to which families of children with special health care needs feel as though they are treated as partners in decision-making by their doctors.


METHODS
We analyzed the 2001 National Survey of Children With Special Health Care Needs, a nationally representative telephone survey of caretakers for 38,866 children with special health care needs. Bivariate and multivariate statistical methods were used to assess the frequency of meeting the partnership core outcome, as well as the demographic and socioeconomic predictors of meeting core outcome. We also examined the effect of partnership on indicators of access and well-being for children with special health care needs.


RESULTS
Among children with special health care needs, 85.8% of families reported usually or always feeling like a partner in their child's care. However, living in poverty, minority racial and ethnic status, absence of health insurance, and depressed functional ability placed children with special health care needs and their families at elevated risk of being without a sense of partnership. We found that sense of partnership was associated with improved outcomes across a number of important health care measures, including missed school days, access to specialty care, satisfaction with care, and unmet needs for child and family services.


CONCLUSIONS
Results of the survey demonstrated that whereas most families of children with special health care needs feel they are partners in the care of their child, further work is needed, particularly for poor, uninsured, and minority children, as well as those with functional limitations. The survey results also demonstrate the importance of partnership; children whose care met the partnership core outcome experienced improved access to care and well-being.
Denboba
Diana
D
Division of Services for Children with Special Health Care Needs, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers La, Room 18A-18 Rockville, MD 20857, USA. ddenboba@hrsa.gov
McPherson
Merle G
MG
Kenney
Mary Kay
MK
Strickland
Bonnie
B
Newacheck
Paul W
PW
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003657:Decision Making; D019988:Children with Disabilities; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019458:Insurance Coverage; D008297:Male; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012923:Social Class; D014481:United States