Family-Centered Services by Medical and Rehabilitation Staff: A Descriptive Study

Objective Family is the center and core of the patient’s care, so the most effective therapeutic programs are those that emphasize the role of the family in treatment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the delivery of family-centered services by service providers for families and children in Iran based on the Persian version of the Measure of Processes of Care for Service Providers (MPOC-SP) Questionnaire. Materials & Methods In this study, 150 service providers participated including doctors, nurses, midwives, rehabilitation therapists, as well as graduates in public health. The Persian version of the MPOC-SP questionnaire was used to collect the study information. The collected data were then analyzed in SPSS 22. Results The results showed no significant difference between men and women providing the service regarding the components of the questionnaire for measuring the process of care. The mean of components in "providing general information" in the medical group was statistically significant and higher compared to the basic science group. The average score of "showing interpersonal sensitivity", "providing general information", and mean score of total services in different service centers were statistically significant. The average score of the "showing interpersonal sensitivity", "providing of general information" as well as the mean score of the whole questionnaire of the process of care in the private centers was statistically significant and higher than the governmental centers. The average components of "showing interpersonal sensitivity", "treating people respectfully", "providing of general information", as well as the average score of the total questionnaire of the process of care in different age groups of service recipients were statistically significant. The average of the same components in different service providers also had a statistically significant difference. Conclusion providers' responses showed that health and rehabilitation centers provided good services in terms of respectful behavior, but providing general information and showing interpersonal sensitivity were relatively weak areas. The average scores of these components as well as the average total score of the questionnaire were the highest in rehabilitation fields and then ranked by medical and other therapy personnel respectively.