Participation and Environment Project

The Participation and Environment Project is a collaboration between researchers in the United States and Canada. The project started off with the development of a new measure of participation and environment for children and youth with and without disabilities, which included 3 phases:

  • The first phase was to develop content for questions and domains or groupings of questions that best capture participation and environment. This was achieved by combining research on existing measures with information that was obtained from conducting semi-structured interviews and focus groups with parents of children with and without disabilities. Interviews focused on children's participation in activities across environments such as at home, in school and in the community.
  • In the second phase, item pools that were developed based on the data collected in Phase 1, were also reviewed by experts, cognitively tested and then field tested with caregivers and children with disabilities.
  • In the third phase, the Participation and Environment Measure - Children and Youth version (PEM-CY) was further refined and then field tested with nearly 600 parents of children and youth across Canada and the United States using a web-based survey.

The Participation and Environment Project Team is currently in the process of developing the "Participation Knowledge Hub" - an evidence-based resource for translating knowledge about participation of children and youth with disabilities. The Participation Knowledge Hub will be hosted on the CanChild website, and will include tip sheets, success stories and other information about child and youth participation. The materials are being developed for a diverse group of users, including parents, service providers and researchers.

Research Team

For more information, please contact Rachel Teplicky, project coordinator

Outcome (Measures)

Participation (PEM-CY)

Project Updates 

Webinars

Coster, W., Law, M., Bedell, G., Khetani, M., & Anaby, D. (April 2012). The Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth (PEM-CY) - An innovative measure for home, school, and community. CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research Webinar Series, Hamilton, ON.


  • The research team introduced a newly developed reliable and valid tool - the Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth (PEM-CY) - which has been designed to examine participation and environment across home, school and community settings among children and youth with and without disabilities. The team also addressed the development, validation, recent applications, implications and future directions of PEM-CY in this webinar.
  • To access the PowerPoint slides, please click here.



Presentations

Bedell, G., Coster, W., Law, M., Liljenquist, K., Kao, Y.C., Teplicky, R., Anaby, D., & Khetani, M.A. (2012): Community participation, supports, and barriers of school-age children with and without disabilities. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2012.09.024.

Law, M., Coster, W., Bedell, G., Anaby, D., Khetani, M., Teplicky, R., & Liljenquist, K. (September 2012). Participation profiles at home, school and in the community: A comparison of children and youth with and without disabilities. Research paper presented at the 66th Annual Meeting of the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine, Toronto, ON.

Bedell, G. (September 2012). Measuring and promoting participation of children and youth with acquired brain injuries. Invited keynote address presented at the Pediatric Rehabilitation Conference sponsored by Alyn Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel.

Bedell, G. (September 2012). How to assess and facilitate participation of children in social, family and educational environments. Invited roundtable discussion presented at the Pediatric Rehabilitation Conference sponsored by Alyn Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel.

Law, M., Coster, W., Bedell, G., Anaby, D., Teplicky, R., & Khetani, M. (June 2012). Participation in occupations: Profiles for children with and without disabilities. Research paper presented at the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists Conference, Quebec City, QC.

Anaby, D., Law, M., Coster, W., Bedell, G., Khetani, M. Teplicky, R., Liljenquist, K., Gleason, K., & Kao, Y.-C. (June 2012). Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth: Psychometric Findings. Poster presented at the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists Conference, Quebec City, QC.

Bresnahan, J., Hamilton, A., Hollebone, S., Lakatos, H., Memole, L., & Bedell, G. (April 2012). Parent Needs & Strategies for Promoting Child Participation. Poster presented at the American Occupational Therapy Association Conference, Indianapolis, IN.

Chen, W.-C., Drew, N., & Bedell, G. (April 2012). Environmental Factors Affecting Participation of Children with and without Disability. Poster presented at the American Occupational Therapy Association Conference, Indianapolis, IN.

Khetani, M.A., Bedell, G., Coster, W., Law, M., Teplicky, R., Liljenquist, K., Gleason, K., Kao, Y., Anaby, D., & Cousins, M. (October 2011). Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth (PEM-CY): Descriptive and Psychometric Findings. Research paper presented at the Occupational Therapy Association of Colorado Annual Conference, Denver, CO.

Bedell, G. M., Coster, W. J., Law, M., Teplicky, R., Khetani, M. A., Liljenquist, K., Gleason, K., Kao, Y.-C., Anaby, D., & Cousins, M. (April 2011). Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth (PEM-CY): Descriptive and Psychometric Findings. Poster presented at the American Occupational Therapy Association Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

Bedell, G. M., Khetani, M. A., Coster, W. J., & Law, M. (April 2009). Developing Measures of Participation and Environment for Children with Disabilities: Parent Perspectives. Research panel presented at the American Occupational Therapy Association Conference, Houston, TX.

Khetani, M. A., Bedell, G. M., Coster, W. J., & Law, M. (March 2009). Environmental Influences on the Social Participation of Children with Developmental Disabilities: Parent and Child Perspectives Informing Measurement Development. Poster presented at the 42nd Annual Gatlinburg Conference, New Orleans, LA.

Articles

Bedell, G., Coster, W., Law, M., Liljenquist, K., Kao, Y.-C., Teplicky, R., Anaby, D., & Khetani, M. (2013)Community participation and environmental supports and barriers of school age children with and without disabilities. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 94(2), 315-323. Abstract

Law, M., Anaby, D., Teplicky, R., Khetani, M., Coster, W., & Bedell, G. Participation in the home environment among children and youth with and without disabilities. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 76(2), 58-66. Abstract

Coster, W., Law, M., Bedell, G., Khetani, M.A., Cousins, M., & Teplicky, R. (2012). Development of the Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth: Conceptual basis. Disability and Rehabilitation, 34(3), 238-46. Abstract

Coster, W. J., Bedell, G., Law, M., Khetani, M. A., Teplicky, R., Liljenquist, K., Gleason, K., & Kao, Y. (2011). Psychometric evaluation of the Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth (PEM-CY). Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 53(11), 1030-7. Abstract

Bedell, G. M., Khetani, M. A., Cousins, M., Coster, W. J., & Law, M. (2011). Parent perspectives to inform development of measures of children's participation and environment. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 92, 765-773. Abstract

Resources


Funders

Knowledge Translation Supplement, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (2011-2012)

US Department of Education, National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research (2007-2010)