Team Approaches to Treating Children with Disabilities: A Comparison

Objective: To investigate differences in team functioning between the multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary models when treating children with disabilities.
Design: A crossover trial.
Setting: An outpatient educational and rehabilitation program in a rehabilitation institute based at a university medical center.
Participants: A population-based sample of 19 rehabilitation specialists and educators.
Intervention: Participants attended four team meetings using the multidisciplinary approach and then attended four team meetings using the transdisciplinary approach.
Outcome Measures: Behavioral ratings of team participation (Transdisciplinary Team Rating Scale) and self-report instruments of team development (Team Assessment Questionnaire) and treatment planning and goal development (Staff Perception Questionnaire).
Results: Results of t tests confirmed the hypothesis that there was more team member participation during transdisciplinary meetings than during multidisciplinary meetings (p = .027), There were no differences in levels of team development (p = .329); however, staff members favored the transdisciplinary model for treatment planning and goal development (p < .001).
Conclusion: This study provides evidence of the effectiveness of the transdisciplinary model. Further research is now needed to investigate outcome variables such as rate of success in attaining treatment goals when using this model.