Orienting child- and family-centered care toward equity

Abstract

Child- and family-centered care (CFCC) is being increasingly adopted internationally as a fundamental philosophical approach to the design, delivery, and evaluation of children's services in diverse primary and acute health care contexts. CFCC has yet to be explored in the context of families and children whose health and health care is likely to be compromised by multifaceted social and structural factors, including racialization, material deprivation, and historically entrenched power imbalances. To date, an equity orientation for CFCC has not been examined or developed. This is a critical area of inquiry, given the increasing evidence that children in families who face such inequities have poor health outcomes. This article examines dominant discourses on CFCC in the context of families and children who are at greater risk of health inequities in wealthy countries, drawing on Canada as a useful example. It outlines an evidence-based approach to equity-oriented care that the authors contend has the potential to orient CFCC toward equity and provide greater clarity in the conceptualization, implementation, measurement, and evaluation of CFCC in ways that can benefit all families and children including those who have typically been excluded from research.

Keywords: Child health; children’s participation; family-centered care; inequalities in health.