User involvement in service integration and carers' views of co-locating children's services

Abstract

These results caution against assuming a simple pathway from parental views of local services to defining service needs to plan new services. The authors argue that parents lack sufficient knowledge of organisational changes to make an informed decision on whether these changes would bring about service improvements. Implications for research and professional practice are spelled out.

Young Children's Health and Wellbeing Across the Transition to School: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis

“…In a recent study by Kaehne and Catherall (2013), findings suggested that, despite efforts to include family/parents through service co-location and planning, the majority of parents were unaware or mistaken about changes to services and the impacts on transitions for their children. Parents' lack of knowledge about organisational structures and professional practice within children's services, as well as their focus on the specific needs of their own child rather than on those of children more generally, were issues raised by the authors (Kaehne & Catherall, 2013).…”

“…In a recent study by Kaehne and Catherall (2013), findings suggested that, despite efforts to include family/parents through service co-location and planning, the majority of parents were unaware or mistaken about changes to services and the impacts on transitions for their children. Parents' lack of knowledge about organisational structures and professional practice within children's services, as well as their focus on the specific needs of their own child rather than on those of children more generally, were issues raised by the authors (Kaehne & Catherall, 2013). In another review of the literature and research study of partnerships between parents and early childhood service providers, McInnes and Nichols (2011) also identified a potential lack of congruence between the goals and needs of parents and service providers, arguing that partnerships among a variety of professionals and parents can be disempowering for parents, adding layers of complexity and introducing barriers to their ability to make decisions based on their child's needs.…”

“…This finding echoes a review conducted over seven years ago by , demonstrating a continued gap in the field's knowledge base. There were, however, four other papers that, in some way, addressed related aspects of health and wellbeing for young children with special needs during transitions (Brinkman, 2012;Edmunds & Stewart-Brown, 2002;Kaehne& Catherall, 2013).…”

“…Several papers also cautioned against the assumption that a partnership model is necessarily 'good' or 'best' practice. Papers critical of the view that partnerships in and of themselves are the best solution point out that partnerships should be carefully constructed, facilitated and examined in order to maximise their efficacy (Kaehne & Catherall, 2013;Nichols & Jurvansuu, 2008;Wong, Sumsion, & Press, 2012 (Dockett et al, 2011, p.5). However, within the reviewed literature, service integration was often left undefined (see Wright, 2005 for further discussion and examples of early years service integration in Australia).…”

“…A Focus on those Most at Risk During Transition Within the literature there was a subset of papers and reports that focused on specific populations identified as 'at risk', such as children with special needs and/or chronic health conditions, children and families from low socio-economic status backgrounds, children of immigrant and refugee families, and Indigenous children (AMA Taskforce on Indigenous Health, 2013; Janus et al, 2008;Janus, Lefort, Cameron, & Kopechanski, 2007;Kaehne & Catherall, 2013;Rous et al, 2007;Sayers et al, 2012;Sims, 2011). While this review has highlighted that child health policies frequently emphasised the need for a partnership approach to be combined with a mix of flexible integration strategies, this is particularly so where vulnerable and disadvantaged families are concerned .…”