Families, Physicians, and Children with Special Health Needs: Collaborative Medical Education Models

Families of children with special health needs frequently cite difficulties in their communications with physicians and other medical professionals. Indeed, parents of high-risk, chronically ill, and disabled infants often regard interactions with health care providers as one of the most stressful parts of their early experiences with their children. This volume was designed to present a variety of medical education approaches used to overcome this problem. After providing an overview of some of the difficulties faced by physicians and families of children with special health needs in their interactions with one another, the volume examines a number of useful medical education models. The models and viewpoints presented include those of physicians, early intervention professionals, professionals with backgrounds in education, psychology, and sociology, and parents. This volume should be very useful to those involved in designing and evaluating medical education approaches, and those developing public policy for children and the family.