Envisage Families

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

    IF YOU ARE IN AUSTRALIA

    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

    Download Participant Information Letter for Canada here.

    Download Participant Information Letter for Australia here.


    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).