ABSTRACT

The ability of parents to read children’s cues and respond sensitively underpins the effectiveness of early interventions. Allied health practitioners, however, typically spend little time focussing on parent–child interactions in early childhood intervention. A 1-day training event: ‘PlayConnections’ was developed to support practitioners to adopt a relationship focus. Allied health practitioners (N = 137) from a range of intervention settings across Queensland, Australia, attended one of five 1-day training events. A concurrent mixed-methods research design was used. Using a purpose-designed knowledge and participant perception survey, data was collected at three time points: pre-, post-, and 3–6 months after training. Significant changes (p < .001) were found pre-post training in participant knowledge of a relationship-focussed approach. These improvements were maintained at follow-up (p < .001). Exploratory factor analysis revealed three participant perception subscales: perceptions of their therapy skills, comfort with emotions, and understanding of a relationship-focussed approach. All revealed significant improvements (p < .001) across the three time periods. Qualitative analysis of free-text data from the follow-up stage revealed three main themes: 1) changes in practice; 2) enhanced observations; and 3) practice challenges. While participants reported many benefits of applying training principles, they also perceived some barriers to effective implementation of a relationship-based approach.

摘要

父母阅读孩子的暗示并做出敏感反应的能力是早期干预的有效性的基础。然而，专职医疗从业者通常很少花时间关注儿童早期干预中的亲子互动。为期 1 天的培训活动：“PlayConnections”旨在支持从业者采用关系焦点。来自澳大利亚昆士兰州一系列干预环境的专职医疗从业人员 (N = 137) 参加了五个为期一天的培训活动之一。使用了并行的混合方法研究设计。使用专门设计的知识和参与者感知调查，在三个时间点收集数据：培训前、培训后和培训后 3-6 个月。显着变化 (p < .001) 发现在以关系为中心的方法的参与者知识的事前培训。这些改善在随访中得以维持（p < .001）。探索性因素分析揭示了三个参与者感知分量表：对其治疗技能的感知、对情绪的舒适度以及对以关系为中心的方法的理解。所有这些都显示出三个时间段的显着改善（p < .001）。后续阶段对自由文本数据的定性分析揭示了三个主要主题：1）实践的变化；2) 加强观察；3) 实践挑战。虽然参与者报告了应用培训原则的许多好处，但他们也认为有效实施基于关系的方法存在一些障碍。对情绪感到安慰，并理解以关系为中心的方法。所有这些都显示出三个时间段的显着改善（p < .001）。后续阶段对自由文本数据的定性分析揭示了三个主要主题：1）实践的变化；2) 加强观察；3) 实践挑战。虽然参与者报告了应用培训原则的许多好处，但他们也认为有效实施基于关系的方法存在一些障碍。对情绪感到安慰，并理解以关系为中心的方法。所有这些都显示出三个时间段的显着改善（p < .001）。后续阶段对自由文本数据的定性分析揭示了三个主要主题：1）实践的变化；2) 加强观察；3) 实践挑战。虽然参与者报告了应用培训原则的许多好处，但他们也认为有效实施基于关系的方法存在一些障碍。