Article

Wellness approaches are not routine in childhood disability services,
despite theoretical and empirical support and an increasing demand for them from
health consumers and disability activists. We aimed to investigate how health
professionals define or understand wellness and its practice in the context of
childhood disability. METHOD: A qualitative, interpretive approach was taken.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 health professionals (allied
health therapists and managers) providing early intervention and ongoing therapy
within four Australian childhood health and disability services. Years of
experience providing services to children with disabilities and their families
ranged from 6 months to 30 years (M=9.41, SD=9.04). RESULTS: The data revealed a
noteworthy impediment to incorporating wellness into practice - the difficulties
in the allied health professionals reaching consensus in defining wellness. There
appeared to be distinct differences between the four services, while there
appeared to be no appreciable difference based on the individual professional's
years of experience or allied health discipline. CONCLUSIONS: The effect of
organisational culture should be considered in efforts to embed wellness in
childhood health and disability services in order to address client well-being,
empowerment, choice, independence and rights to meaningful and productive lives.
CI - (c) 2011 Informa UK, Ltd.

Langue : ANGLAIS