TSAD KADIMA AS A

FAMILY CENTERED
SERVICE-
PARENTS’
PERCEPTIONS
Davidovich Orit
Dr. Schenker Rony
Family Centered Service-
FCS
 Fcs is an approach and philosophy to
providing services to children with special
needs and their families. The family is
seen as a vital and natural partner
throughout the course of the child
development

 CanChild Center for Childhood Disability research, 2004

Premises of FCS
 Parents know their children best and
want the best for their children
 Each family is unique
 Optimal child functioning occurs within a
supportive family & community context

CanChild Center for Childhood Disability research, 2004

Advantages of FCS
Advantages on the family level
Increasing the quality of life for all family members
(Raina et al, 2006)
Better psychological well- being
(Ireys et al, 2001, in: Law et al, 2003)

Advantages on the child level

Developmental gains and/ or skill development
(Lammi & Law, 2003)
Better psychological adjustment
(Pless et al, 1994 in: King et al, 2004)

Advantages on the system level

Satisfaction with care (Cohen, 1999)
Tsad Kadima
Tsad Kadima (A step forward) is an Israeli organization
which works for the advancement and education of
children and adults with motor disabilities, according to
the Conductive Education approach.
Tsad Kadima was established by parents and is an
organization with an FCS orientation. The family
centrality is a guiding principle in the philosophy of Tsad
Kadima. The family is perceived as an essential
component in the educational- rehabilitative environment
in which the child functions.

Schenker, 2005
Aims of the study
1. To measure parent’s perceptions of the
care they and their children receive at
Tsad Kadima
2. To identify strengths and weaknesses of
Tsad Kadima in delivering FCS
3. To measure the correlation between
parents’ perception of the care they and
their child receive and variables such as
type of cp, GMFCS level, socio-
economic status etc.
Research methods
Subjects: 29 families to children ages 1-8
who receive formal services in the
educational- rehabilitative frameworks of
Tsad Kadima
 Methodology: Anonymous questionnaires
were sent to all parents (74) during May-
June 2006. 31 questionnaires were handed
in, but 2 of them were not filled in properly
so the research population included 29
children which make up only 39% of Tsad
Kadima population
Research instrument
Instrument: The Measure of Processes of Care
(MPOC- 56), who was developed by King, S.,
Rosenbaum, P., King, G.(1995).
The MPOC is a 7 point scale reliable and valid
measure of parents’ perceptions of the family-
centered behavior of service providers
The measure consists of five scales:
Enabling & partnership, providing general
information, providing specific information,
coordinated & comprehensive care, respectful
& supportive care.
Results

MPOC scales averages

7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
MPOC averages according
to age groups
7
Nursery
6
Kindergarten
5
school
4
3
2
1
rsh ip
a tion a tion e c are l car e
e m v u
p art n inf orm c inf or eh ensi e sp ect f
& l i r &r
a bl ing g e nera sp ec if c omp ti ng
g & r
En
o viding o v idin in a ted S u ppo
Pr P r rd
Coo
Conclusions
 Tsad Kadima provides an FCS to a great extent
in 4 out of 5 scales according to parents’
perceptions
 In providing general information scale parents
needs are not perfectly met
 No correlation was found between parents’
perception and variables of type of cp, GMFCS
level, socio- economic status etc.
 MPOC analyze according to age group indicates
that in the kindergarten groups parents perceived
the service as less satisfactory than do parents of
children in nursery and school groups
Study's limitations &
future directions
 Small sample
 Convenience sample
 Conducted only in the Hebrew language

Future directions
 Measuring service providers’ perception of the
care they provide at Tsad Kadima
 Identifying the special needs of parents to
children in kindergarten age
 Comparing the results with other treatment
centers