Measuring family‐centred practices of professionals in early intervention services in Taiwan

Background Family‐centred practices emphasize professional supports for forming partnerships with families in early intervention. The Measure of Processes of Care for Service Providers (MPOC‐SP) measures the perceptions of paediatric service providers in supporting children and families. This study aimed to establish reliability of the Chinese version of the MPOC‐SP (C‐MPOC‐SP) and to examine professional perceptions of family‐centred practices in relation to professional discipline and years of experience. Methods A convenience sample of 94 physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech‐language pathologists, social workers and early childhood educators completed the C‐MPOC‐SP. Thirty‐seven professionals completed the measure a second time within 2–4 weeks for test–retest reliability. Internal consistency and test–retest reliability were examined by Cronbach's α and intra‐class correlation coefficient. Comparisons were made across professional disciplines by multivariate analyses of variance followed by analyses of variance. Relationships between years of experience and ratings of family‐centred practices were examined by Pearson's correlation coefficients (r). Results Cronbach's α for items on each of the four scales of the C‐MPOC‐SP ranged from 0.80 to 0.92, indicating adequate internal consistency. Intra‐class correlation coefficient between the initial and repeat completion of the C‐MPOC‐SP for each scale ranged from 0.56 to 0.77, indicating adequate to excellent test–retest reliability. Mean ratings for the Communicating Specific Information were significantly higher for physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech‐language pathologists than for social workers (P = 0.001). The C‐MPOC‐SP scores were positively correlated with years of experience for all four scales (r = 0.23–0.38; P < 0.05). Conclusions This study established adequate internal consistency and adequate to excellent test–retest reliability of the C‐MPOC‐SP in measuring perceptions of family centeredness of early intervention service providers. Cross‐discipline differences were found in communicating specific information about the child. Higher perceptions of family centeredness were associated with more years of experience. The results support the utility of the C‐MPOC‐SP in professional education and programme evaluation of early intervention services in Taiwan.