EMPOWERING PARENTS #1: Strategies for empowering the mother or the parent in consultations
Consultations which empower the mother or parent
Neuroprotective Developmental Care offers a range of specific 'verbal scripts' across the various domains of infant care which aim to locate empowerment in the woman or parents consulting with you. These are dealt with elsewhere in the NDC Masterclasses. Here, we consider more general strategies within consultations which empower patients.
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Commence the consultation with a small act of service e.g. offer to carry the patient's nappy bag into the consulting room as she pushes the pram; offer her cushion back support on the chair or a footstool.
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Request consent prior to questioning or touch
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Check in regularly that patient understands. The phrase "am I making sense ...?" assumes that the onus is on the clinician to explain things in a way that makes sense to the patient, and rather than "do you understand ...?" which suggests that it's the patient's fault if they don't understand!
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Regularly check in to make sure that the clinician is meeting the parents' needs and agenda, inviting interruption. (e.g. "am I on track? just interrupt or let me know if I'm not addressing the things that are important today ....")
Patient-centred decision-making
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Uses "we" and "together" language - without overusing this in a disingenuous or inauthentic way, and without being patronising
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Offers options (including "not today")
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Constantly reinforces that parents are the experts on their own infant
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Normalises patient disagreement and questions: "If something doesn't feel right, please jump in and let me know"
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Attends to nonverbal power cues, for example:
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Sits at eye level after initial note-taking into the computer, unhurried posture, open body language
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Never moralises about parent or health professional behaviours
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Apologises without defensiveness when clinician misunderstands patients' communications
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Recommended resources
NDC neurobiological model: parent empowerment
Woman-centred language and weight-inclusive care of breastfeeding and lactating women
NDC uses descriptive terms for anatomic features (instead of the surnames of famous men!)
Reframing from risk protection to engage families: words matter in safe sleep messaging. Professor Jeanine Young 29 April 2025 [Resource hub if you're NDC Accredited or in pathway]