Abstract
BACKGROUND: Providing integrated care is essential in pediatric rehabilitation, as children with disabilities often navigate complex, long-term pathways involving multiple professionals across health, education, and community services. Strengthening communication and partnership among children, families, and professionals is key to supporting meaningful participation in daily life. Shared digital health portals offer a promising solution to support integrated care, yet their potential remains underexplored in this context. OBJECTIVE: This study explores the perspectives of multidisciplinary professionals involved in pediatric rehabilitation on shared patient portals designed to support integrated care for children with disabilities. METHODS: An interpretive descriptive qualitative study grounded in a constructivist epistemological position was conducted. Data were collected through semistructured online interviews with professionals purposively recruited using maximum variation sampling. All were involved in the rehabilitation pathways of children with motor, cognitive, or mental disabilities in France. Interview verbatim transcripts were analyzed using NVivo (version 14, Lumivero) by an interdisciplinary team of researchers, including parents and clinicians, using a thematic analysis approach. Theoretical saturation was reached. RESULTS: A total of 32 professionals, including clinicians, educators, social workers, and coaches working in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, outpatient clinics, or private practices, integrated health and social services, schools, nurseries, leisure associations, and social services, participated in this study. Four themes captured professionals' ambivalent perspectives on portals, addressing their perceived contributions to integrated care, anticipated barriers, practical strategies for implementation, and expectations regarding features: (1) ensuring continuity across health, education, and recreation services: navigating transparency, confidentiality, and inclusion; (2) enhancing family partnership while preserving professional autonomy and navigating engagement diversity; (3) involving children in patient portals: from children's empowerment to professionals' ethical responsibility; and (4) the contrast between concerns about additional workload and beliefs regarding efficiency. Participants suggested features such as shared calendars, secure messaging, and tools to share videos, rehabilitation goals, and track progress, alongside practical strategies to support real-world adoption. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the perceived potential of shared patient portals to strengthen partnerships and fruitful collaboration among children, families, and professionals involved in the pediatric rehabilitation pathways, including education and recreation providers. Professionals proposed concrete features to support integrated care, informing the development of tools likely to improve the quality of rehabilitation services. Future studies should explore the perspectives of children, families, and decision makers to support effective implementation and evaluate the real-world impact. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06570148; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06570148.