CRITICAL THINKING - A METHOD TO GUIDE STAFF IN SERVING FAMILIES WITH MULTIPLE CHALLENGES

Services for families with multiple challenges may take the form of in tensive services coordination to provide comprehensive supports to add ress the range of issues facing the family. However, few guidelines ar e available to help staff make rapid decisions about appropriate actio ns to take in given circumstances. This report describes an explorator y effort with staff in two programs serving families with multiple cha llenges to develop a training system called Critical Thinking in order to meet that need. The authors convened the staff as a focus group to provide examples illustrating specific issues or questions they had a bout their work. The facilitator used techniques of qualitative data a nalysis to code and develop categories of characteristics of the famil ies being served and strategies intended to address those characterist ics. The authors discuss some of the characteristics of families with multiple challenges and related program strategies the staff identifie d. Implications of the critical thinking process, as well as of the in sights about families with multiple challenges, are discussed.