The Multi-Family Approach to facilitate a family support network for Palestinian parents of children with a disability: a descriptive study

Trudy Mooren; Yoke Rabaia; Suzan Mitwalli; Relinde Reiffers; Rosemarijn Koenen; Marguerithe de Man

doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30415-X

The Multi-Family Approach to facilitate a family support network for Palestinian parents of children with a disability: a descriptive study

Lancet. 2018 Feb 21:391 Suppl 2:S49. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30415-X. Epub 2018 Feb 21.

Authors

Trudy Mooren¹, Yoke Rabaia², Suzan Mitwalli², Relinde Reiffers³, Rosemarijn Koenen⁴, Marguerithe de Man⁴

Affiliations

¹ Foundation Centrum'45, Diemen, Netherlands; Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands. Electronic address: t.mooren@centrum45.nl.
² Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University, Ramallah, occupied Palestinian territory.
³ War Trauma Foundation, Diemen, Netherlands; University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.
⁴ Sioo, Inter-university Organization for Change and Organizational Processes, Utrecht, Netherlands.

PMID: 29553449
DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30415-X

Abstract

Background: Families with a child who has a disability have extra difficulties, particularly when services are hard to reach or less available. In a collaborative project, the Institute of Community and Public Health, the Palestinian community-based rehabilitation programme, and international non-governmental organisations cooperated to share and develop expertise and knowledge on increasing families' resilience through establishing family groups. This contribution focuses on the use of the Multi-Family Approach (MFA) in a Palestinian context. MFA is a family-oriented method provided in a group setting. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of implementing the intervention and the experiences gained by introducing the MFA in the West Bank.

Methods: Parents taking the MFA approach learn from other parents by sharing experiences. Allowing parents to examine communalities and contrasts increases social support and parenting skills and decrease stress reactions. A high turnover of exercises and activities facilitate pleasant interactions. The basic principles of MFA are derived from both group and family interventions. Adjusting MFA entailed training of community-based rehabilitation teams (supervisors, field workers, and volunteers) through a learning-by-doing principle and employed a comparable strategy and structure to MFA. MFA was introduced and practiced, and early experiences were used to rehearse and elaborate. Training experiences were monitored and reflected upon within the team. A manual was written as a collaborative activity. No additional ethical approval was necessary. This project did not encompass the involvement, assessment, or monitoring of families or family members. The trainees participated on a voluntary base.

Findings: Qualitative analyses of the monitoring reports from the training sessions show that MFA is feasible for families with a child with a disability in the West Bank but that organisational, translational, and cultural adjustments are needed for MFA to be suitable within a Palestinian context.

Interpretation: MFA proved appropriate for the Palestinian setting. Most of the workers in the community-based rehabilitation programme and group participants were comfortable with the approach and adopted it within communities.

Funding: Stichting Boo and Gieskes Strijbis Fonds.