The Allegory of "Navigation" as a Concept of Care: The Case of Child Neurodevelopmental Disabilities

Navigation encompasses a defined range of care concepts and practices, services and professions while also alluding to a broader set of care values, needs, and challenges associated with health inequities, social exclusion, and service fragmentation. In this article, we address some of these challenges by exploring navigation as an allegory that conveys the process of making one’s way through a complex web of care. We briefly trace the history of this concept and revisit its emergence and development in the context of health and social care. Drawing on a targeted review of the literature on this topic, we anchor our discussion in the case study of navigation programs for children with neurodisabilities and their families in Canada. In conclusion, we call for a social ecological approach to navigation as a matter of care and concern that has salient relational and political dimensions warranting additional research attention and policy development.