2018 Janson Piloting a novel capacity building tool with early
intervention practitioners ADVANCE PRE PROOF
Abstract
Abstract
Background: Despite the increasing uptake of family
capacity-building theory in past decades, there is a dearth of practical
tools to support its implementation in Early Intervention, alongside
traditional discussion or assessment-based goal setting. We therefore
expanded on earlier co-design with parents raising a child with
disability or developmental delay, and tested a practitioner
experiential training.
Method: Thirty practitioners trained with a new tool, designed
to engage participants to create an inspiring vision from which they
develop authentic goals for their child, their family and/or themselves,
and visualise their active part in achieving their goals.
Results: Practitioners rated this experience favourably and
registered significant training impact and post-training increases in
empowerment.
Conclusions: Training to facilitate such novel visioning and
planning experiences offers practitioners a unique opportunity to build
family capacity, disrupting a recognised power imbalance by empowering
families with agency and setting the foundations for more effective
family-driven relationships with practitioners.