Strongest Families(TM) Neurodevelopmental Program (Strongest Families ND)
A BRIGHT Supports project
WE HAVE DEVELOPED TWO PROGRAMS TO HELP PARENTS OF NEURODIVERSE CHILDREN MANAGE CHALLENGING BEHAVIOURS AND PARENTAL POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS.
Principal Investigators: Patrick McGrath (IWK Health Centre and Dalhousie University) and Lucyna Lach (McGill University Health Centre)
Looking back:
our work in Phase 1
This family took part in the Strongest Families Neurodevelopmental study. Mom Danielle completed the self-managed version of the Parents Empowering Neurodiverse Kids online parenting program and was one of several parents who took part in a video describing the impact the program has had on their family. From left to right: Lily, Kevin, and Danielle.
We’ve come a long way with our two research projects, the Strongest Families Neurodevelopmental Program and Life Beyond Trauma. These e-health programs are designed to support parents of neurodiverse children; one is aimed at enhancing parenting skills and the other at understanding posttraumatic stress and offering one-on-one intervention for parents experiencing posttraumatic stress. Both projects achieved major milestones this year, reaching their combined enrollment target of almost 500 Canadian families. These families have completed the programs, and our team continues to collect follow-up data to assess the impacts of the programs on parents and families over time.
This year, we focused on sharing our discoveries with a broad range of audiences. In addition to several papers published in scientific journals, our researchers, parent-partners, and trainees hosted webinars, created an infographic, filmed an educational video, and gave several conference presentations. By diversifying the resources and the methods we use to share research findings, we are advancing understanding of how to help neurodiverse children and their parents thrive.
As this phase winds down, we are working together to analyze, interpret, and report results from both studies. We will continue to conduct further research on the effects of the Life Beyond Trauma Program, to improve outcomes for families impacted by trauma. We will also continue other research on posttraumatic stress, such as studying the impact of racial trauma.
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An eye to the future: what Phase 2 has in store for us
In Phase 2, we aim to implement the results from the Strongest Families Neurodevelopmental Program into real life practice and make the intervention available across Canada.
Parents are at the heart of our research; it remains critical that they be included as partners at every stage. This next phase has the potential to be an even stronger demonstration of the power of parent partnership in research as we are building on relationships that have evolved and been sustained since the beginning of the network. Parents’ involvement and contributions can create meaningful action to make changes in the lives of Canadian families.
“This project has been thrilling and unprecedented in my experience as a parent-partner. We started by investigating an intervention to help families parent children who are neurodiverse and have behaviour challenges. That inquiry naturally evolved into testing an intervention to treat posttraumatic stress disorder in parents of children with complex needs. The next phase of our activities will see parents in Canada being able to access support that is proven to be helpful. This work is possible because the researchers listened closely to parents like me at every stage of the project.” – Donna Thomson, Parent-Partner
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