The efforts of a multidisciplinary approach in a rehabilitation institute for deaf children: a psychosocial intervention aimed at breaking the pattern of stalled productivity

Introduction The multidisciplinary approach for the treatment of hearing impaired children exposes the work group to several tasks: the group needs to integrate different competencies and techniques, to share common treatment goals, to manage the relational dynamics with the children and with their parents, to explore the families’ expectancies. These efforts can put the work group in stressful conditions and, consequently, can negatively affect the quality of the intervention to be carried out. Aim Our aim was to illustrate a psychosocial analysis performed in a religious Institute for hearing impaired children, aimed at breaking the stalled productivity of the Institute, at avoiding inefficient and fragmented treatments, at preventing unelaborated relational dynamics within the staff and between the staff and the children’s families. Methodology Through the Content Analysis of semi-structured interviews administered to staff-members and families we analyzed the quality of the teamwork, the relational arrangements towards the families and local services (25 interview with 5 staff members); the family-Institute relationship and the family’s representation and satisfaction of the Institute (7 interview with 13 hearing and hearing impaired parents). Results The institute action seems to be more characterized by the maintenance of the relationship with the families per se, than oriented to productive goals.The hearing parents seem to be more satisfied than the hearing-impaired parents, possibly because the first are more prepared to receive the Institute's help. Conclusions The stalled productivity can be overcome only with the elaboration of those relational/emotional dynamics which prevent staff members and children’s parents from focusing on productive goals. The staff-members’ training should be improved in order to develop specific competencies to perform an integrated, multidisciplinary approach in treatments, to negotiate with the families, and share with them, work program and objectives of the treatment.