Caregiver and clinician perceptions of barriers to cerebral palsy healthcare—mixed methods findings and systems change recommendations

TL;DR

The paper explores how caregivers and clinicians in Georgia see barriers to cerebral palsy care and suggests system changes to improve outcomes.

Contribution

The study identifies shared priorities and proposes actionable system changes based on mixed methods analysis of caregiver and clinician perspectives.

Findings

Caregivers and clinicians agree that empowering caregivers is essential for better care.

Improving provider capacity and confidence is critical for high-quality CP care.

Stakeholder input converges on the need for system-level changes to improve access and outcomes.

Abstract

The present paper is the second in a series of exploration phase efforts toward building and sustaining patient-centered agendas for research and clinical care in CP.

Focus group and surveys were used to assess perspectives of caregivers of young children with CP (N = 19) and clinicians (N = 102) regarding CP-specific medical care priorities and barriers and facilitators to high quality CP-focused care in Georgia, US.

Qualitative and quantitative analysis reveal areas of areas of synergy and discrepancy between the two stakeholder groups.

Together stakeholder responses converge on the notion that (1) empowering caregivers to better utilize the resources that do exist and (2) building provider capacity and confidence in efficient delivery of high-quality CP care is critical to drive system changes for improving access and outcomes across the lifespan. Proposed action items for systems change arise from the convergence of caregiver and clinician responses.

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