The collaborative goal setting experiences of parents who have children with disabilities and occupational therapists

Abstract

Collaborative goal setting between parents and therapists is considered essential to the principles of the family-centered practice philosophy. It is considered best practice to underpin family and child therapy services with family centered practice. Only recently has research evolved that examines how parents and therapists experience collaborative goal setting practice. Within the occupational therapy literature occupational therapists are encouraged to engage clients in collaborative goal setting practices yet therapists have identified that achieving this is much more difficult than it is proposed. The purpose of this research inquiry is to explore the collaborative goal setting experiences of parents who have children with disabilities and occupational therapists. It does so within an Australian context and from the viewpoints of parents of children of all ages and disabilities. A naturalistic inquiry was conducted that used in-depth interviews and document analysis to explore the phenomenon of collaborative goal setting experiences of parents and occupational therapists. This inquiry generated five themes: “An obscure concept”: Learning to goal set; “The things we would discuss became the goals”: Goal setting experiences; “It’s just the beginning”: The impact of goal setting on families’ everyday lives and the occupational therapy process; “People vary in their life experiences”: Factors influencing goal setting experiences; and “More guidance, more direction”: How goal setting could be improved. Within these five themes the similarities and differences between parents’ and occupational therapists’ collaborative goal setting experiences were presented. The key findings derived from this inquiry were that goal setting was experienced as a dynamic, complex process and both parents and occupational therapists had to learn how to participate in collaborative goal setting. It identified that current collaborative goal setting practices require modifications to facilitate improved active participation of parents and children with disabilities.