Information sharing within an early intervention person-centered service for children with disabilities: A team’s perspective

Abstract

Background: At the core of successful interdisciplinary teamwork is information sharing. There is limited literature on the evaluation of integrated care services in terms of information sharing between service providers and families. This study explored the experiences of families, professionals and managers of information sharing within an early intervention service and aimed to identify the facilitators and challenges to this information sharing process. Methods: Data were collected qualitatively through 13 semi-structured interviews using the principles of grounded theory. The participants included six families, four team professionals and three managers who were all involved with an early intervention team in Ireland. Results: Although perceptions varied across participants, there was dissatisfaction with the early intervention. The participants identified ad hoc and systemic facilitators; systemic barriers and systemic gaps to the information sharing process. Although a framework and guidelines were in place for information sharing, its implementation was uncoordinated. Conclusions: There is a need for greater family participation in the information sharing process and for greater collaboration between service providers and families in the area of early intervention. There is a need for integrated, participatory and inclusive health care practices in order to increase the person-centeredness of services.