Using a health promotion approach to frame parent experiences of family routines and their significance for health and well-being

Occupational therapy providers working with young children and their families in early intervention settings frequently provide interventions to support family routines related to social participation, health management, and related occupations at home and in the community. Family routines are inextricably tied to individual and family health and well-being, yet contextual influences can impact satisfaction with and performance of routines resulting in disparities in health and occupational outcomes. A health promotion approach to intervention is intended to address contextual aspects of occupational performance in natural settings, and therefore, may be a useful approach for providing family-centered, routines-based intervention in early intervention settings. This basic qualitative study used interview methods to collect perspectives about family routines from two parent participants. The participants were from a broader pilot project on family mental health intervention that was implemented with eight families and were the only two parents who volunteered to complete additional interviews. The life course health development framework was used to guide study design and data analysis. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded using conventional qualitative content analysis. Themes were validated through expert and member checks. Participant data from the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure was also available from the broader project and was used to triangulate findings. Resulting themes illustrated the complexity of family routines, influence of values and often hidden parental decision making on routines, connectedness of routines with family health and well-being, and impact of contextual influences on routines. Findings inform the importance of considering contextual factors when providing family-centered, routines-based intervention and suggest the fit for a health promotion approach to intervention given the inter-relatedness of family routines with outcomes such as health and well-being