Long-term pediatrician outcomes of a parent led curriculum in developmental disabilities.
Parent-taught residents become doctors who keep listening years later.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Bassett-Gunter et al. (2017) asked pediatricians who took a parent-led course during residency if they still use family-centered care years later.
The course, Project DOCC, lets parents teach doctors what daily life with a child with disabilities feels like.
A survey went out to doctors who had finished the training. They reported how they talk with families today.
What they found
Doctors said the parent lessons stuck with them. They still listen first, explain clearly, and plan care together.
The study found positive results: family-centered habits lasted long after the course ended.
How this fits with other research
Harrington et al. (2006) showed that long diagnostic waits and silent doctors erode parent trust. L et al. show one fix: let parents train residents.
Lancioni et al. (2009) asked doctors how they handle vitamins and other alternative treatments. L et al. move past attitudes to real long-term practice change.
McCarron et al. (2022) proved people with ID can stay in studies for eleven years when methods fit their needs. L et al. mirror that idea: doctors also stay "in the study" of family-centered care when training fits parent needs.
Why it matters
You can bring Project DOCC to your local teaching hospital. Offer to let parents speak to residents about daily routines, wait times, and jargon that hurts. One parent panel can shape how future pediatricians treat every family they meet.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
UNLABELLED: Previous research has demonstrated high satisfaction and perceived relevance of Project DOCC (Delivery of Chronic Care), a parent led curriculum in developmental disabilities, across a sample of medical residents. AIMS: The influence of such a training program on the clinical practices and professional activities of these residents once they are established in their careers as physicians, however, has not been studied; this was the aim of the present study. METHODS: An anonymous follow-up survey was designed and disseminated to physicians who participated in Project DOCC during their one-month developmental disabilities rotation as part of their pediatrics or medicine/pediatric residency between 2002 and 2010. Fifty-eight physicians completed the survey. RESULTS: The findings suggest that participation in a parent led curriculum during medical residency had a lasting impact on physicians' relationships with families. Specifically, a majority of the physicians espoused a family-centered approach to care, a sensitivity to the interactional effect that caring for a Child with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) has on family members, the need for physicians to have a prominent role in community resource coordination, and the importance of an integrated approach to health care provision. CONCLUSIONS: Use of a parent led curriculum as a means to increase the provision of family-centered care by physicians is supported.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2017 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2016.11.004