ENabling VISion And Growing Expectations
Enrollment for ENVISAGE SP is COMING SOON!
We wish to engage with service providers (SPs) who work with children with developmental challenges, delays or disabilities and their families. Our aim is to evaluate a series of five online workshops for service providers.
See more here.
If you want to join, please contact
Debbie Hughes (Canada): envisage@mcmaster.ca
Miriam Yates (Australia): sp.envisage@mcri.edu.au
Check out envisagenetwork.net
Enrollment for ENVISAGE Families is now closed
We are looking for a parent or caregiver of a child under six years old to participate in our study that aims to assess the impact of ENVISAGE workshops on parents’ well-being and their sense of confidence, family functioning, and empowerment.
For more information, please contact
Debbie Hughes (Canada): envisage@mcmaster.ca
Miriam Yates (Australia): sp.envisage@mcri.edu.au
What is ENVISAGE?
Parenting typically-developing children is a tough task; parenting children with developmental disabilities takes an additional toll on parents’ physical and mental health and wellbeing. Contemporary 21st century ideas about health and disability are changing the way we think, act, and talk about childhood disability. These ideas have been ‘packaged’ into a program of 5 interactive workshops for parents whose children have recently been diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental condition.
This program, called ENVISAGE: ENabling VISions And Growing Expectations, is a series of online workshops developed in partnership by parents, clinicians and researchers across Canada and Australia. ENVISAGE aims to improve parents’ well-being and help them feel more competent, confident and empowered.
Study Progress
The ENVISAGE study has been built over five phases, and is currently in its fourth phase. In phases one to three, researchers and parents worked together to develop and beta-test the content of the ENVISAGE workshops. Now, the Envisage program is ready to be studied and we are entering the pilot trial. The pilot study is being conducted in Canada and Australia with parents who have children under six years of age. We will assess the program’s impact on parents’ well-being and their sense of confidence, family functioning, and empowerment.
“It was a breath of fresh air for me… The best part was how it focused on what your child can do, instead of what they can’t" - Parent
How can I get involved?
The ENVISAGE research program is ready to be studied! At present, we are recruiting parents raising children under age 6 with neurodevelopmental disabilities to take part in the five workshops and tells us what they think.
To learn more about this study, please see our recruitment poster below and contact the research coordinator.
If you are in Canada, contact: Debbie Hughes: envisage@mcmaster.ca
If you are in Australia, contact:
Jacky Lipson: Envisage@acu.edu.au
Participant Information Letter
Project Team
Principal Investigator Dr. Peter Rosenbaum, CanChild
Co-Principal Investigator Dr. Laura Miller, Australian Catholic University
Associate Investigator Prof Christine Imms, Australian Catholic University
Associate Investigator Prof Jenny Ziviani, University of Queensland
Associate Investigator Dr. Andrea Cross, CanChild
Associate Investigator Ms. Vicki Cavalieros, Australian Catholic University
Associate Investigator Ms. Rachel Martens, CanChild
Investigator/Researcher Ms. Abha Balram, Australian Catholic University
Investigator/Researcher Dr. Kinga Pozniak, CanChild
Investigator/Researcher Ms. Monika Novak Pavlic, CanChild
Research Assistant Ms. Debbie Hughes
Funding
This research is being funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research ($379 000) and the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine ($25,000).
Disability: Perception of Professionals and Parents
In this video podcast, Dr. Peter Rosenbaum talks about his editorial, 'You have textbooks; we have story books'. Disability as perceived by professionals and parents . The idea of this editorial came from Elizabeth Chambers, a parent who believes in the value of knowing a child or youth with disabilities beyond labels and diagnoses. "He's not found in one textbook, he is a story book. And you have to let him tell you the story and the family around you," says Elizabeth.