More than just a Tick Box: Building Back Better through Family Engagement

Children and their family members have unmatched, dyadic impacts on each other’s health. This is especially prominent in children and families that, due to unfortunate circumstances, are frequently connected with hospitals, researchers, and health systems. As such, it is imperative that we engage families in healthcare processes, and recognize their stories, experiences, and input as the valuable forms of knowledge that they are. We recently had the opportunity to sit down and discuss family partnership with Rachel Martens. Rachel provides a unique perspective on this topic as she has seen child healthcare from the lenses of both a parent and a professional. On this episode of SPARK: Conversations, Rachel helps us dig into best practices in family engagement and the importance of the human aspect in child healthcare. She also offers advice to practitioners on the balancing act between involving family partners, while avoiding causation of potential burnout and discomfort.