Informing parents of their child's disability: a survey of health care professionals' preparedness for informing practice

Informing parents of their child's disability is an important task of health care professionals because it can affect the future parent-professional relationship and parents' adaptation to their child's disability. The current study investigated health care professionals' preparedness for informing practice among different professional groups through a questionnaire survey. The literature suggested factors that possibly affect professionals' practice. These were professionals' attitudes toward having a child with a disability, knowledge to give sufficient information to parents, and skills necessary in informing parents of their child's disability. There were no research instruments available to investigate professionals' preparedness for informing practice in these areas, except for an attitude questionnaire. A questiormaire was consequently developed with knowledge fi-om the literature. Based on the subjects' responses to the questiormaire, comparisons were made to determine whether differences in preparedness for informing practice in these areas exists among different professional groups, including doctors, nurses, and social workers.