Systematic Assessment of Family Service Barriers to Support Youth Engagement with Health and Social Care

Family characteristics and service barriers influence children’s access to health and social care. Systematic assessment of family service barriers may help practitioners in their efforts to support family engagement with needed services. To address this need, this study utilized data from a 12-week service navigation intervention to examine associations between family characteristics, service barriers, service need, and service access. Twenty-nine caregivers of youth under age 18 participated. Pre-test measures included a family demographic questionnaire, service barriers checklist, and family service plan. Post-test outcome measures were the type and number of services accessed in the family service plan. At baseline, participants reported an average of 10 barriers to care. The family characteristics, caregiver age, child age, and community group involvement, were associated with a greater number of service barriers. Over the course of the intervention, the service barrier “provider waitlists” was associated with an increased service access, while having a male child was associated with a decrease in service access. Results indicate families experience multiple service barriers and specific family characteristics influence service access. Systematic assessment of service barriers and consideration of family characteristics can assist practitioner efforts to support youth and family engagement with health and social care.