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June 2018  


Welcome to the June edition of  CanChild Today! In this issue, we are excited to share some  special news, awards, as well as highlight three recent publications in the area of transitions by some of our  CanChild members ! 

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News & Congratulations!
Congratulations to Dr. Andrea Cross for successfully defending her PhD thesis! 

Research focus:  Partnering with families to mobilize a holistic approach to childhood disability: Lessons learned from an integrated knowledge translation project.

Her doctoral supervisor was  Dr. Peter Rosenbaum, and committee members were  Dr. Jan Willem Gorter and Professor Sue Baptiste. 

CanChild wishes her well in all her future endeavours! #CanChildFWords
CanChild on CBC!
Crisis of care town hall

As children with high needs transition out of the pediatric system, the circle of care is broken in Canadian healthcare. Few supports and services are available to help these youth, putting pressure on parents trying to fill this void.

On June 12, White Coat, Black Art hosted a special town hall at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto to talk about how to fix this broken circle of care. 

Dr. Jan Willem Gorter was one of the guest speakers for this event. Read more about this CBC broadcast here.
Research Awards!
Dr. Peter Rosenbaum  received the "Fondation Paralysie Cérébral/Fondation Motrice Prize" from the Fondation Paralysie Cérébral in Paris during the 30th annual meeting of the European Academy of Childhood Disability (EACD). This meeting was held in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia. 

The 9th Annual Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) Research Plenary Award Reception was held on May 30th, 2018, to celebrate the winners of this year's Plenary. Congratulations to the following recipients! 
  • Dr. Jan Willem Gorter for receiving the HSGSF Excellence in Graduate Student Supervision Award
  • Michelle Phoenix (Graduate Student) for receiving the FHS Graduate Programs Outstanding Thesis Award 
  • Andrea Cross (Graduate Student) for receiving the FHS Graduate Programs Outstanding Excellence Award
  • Patrick McPhee (Graduate Student) for receiving the FHS Graduate Programs Outstanding Excellence Award
Recent Publications by CanChild Members!
Youth with special healthcare needs (YSHCN) need clinical, educational, and other resources to successfully enter adult systems. In 2006, Good 2 Go Transition Program (Good 2 Go) was founded to support the patients and staff of the Hospital for Sick Children on transitions from pediatric to adult healthcare. Easy-to-use resources and tools for patients and healthcare providers, including MyHealth Passport, were developed through this program. In addition, the Good 2 Go's inter-professional team grew in size and capacity to further support transition planning. This chapter of the journal, Health Care Transition, describes the brief history, structure, processes, and outcomes over the past decade of the Good 2 Go Transition Program.  Authors:  Amaria K , Kaufman M. Health Care Transition. 2018 May 4. Doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-72868-1_35

The transition from pediatric to adult medical care can lead to various challenges for those with chronic and development conditions. The Rotterdam Transition Profile (RTP) is a tool that can summarize a transition process to adulthood through the classification of participation and healthcare based on developmental stages. It was originally used for individuals diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP). The aim of this literature review was to describe the utility of RTP since it's initial publication in 2008. A total of eight studies to identify and understand the common themes of the utility and study design of the RTP. Overall, this literature review was able to demonstrate that the RTP is an effective tool for describing and monitoring the transition process in research and clinical settings for adolescents and young adults diagnosed with CP. Authors: Zhang-Jiang S and Gorter JW . J Transition Med. 2018 Mar 31;17(1):46. doi: 10.1515/jtm-2018-0002

Although youth with cerebral palsy (CP) and their families often receive therapeutic support and beneficial information throughout the individual's childhood and adolescence, this support is less apparent during the youth's transition to adulthood. In today's healthcare system, the lack of communication and information given to youth with CP and their families during their transition is seen as a barrier for successful outcomes. This qualitative study explored the information needs for youth with CP by recruiting and interviewing nine adults aged 20-40 living with CP. The interview responses were collected and analysed to create a thematic description of adults' experiences with information. Three main themes emerged from this study. The research study concluded that clinicians should actively foster knowledge and skills to youth with CP during their transition to adulthood. Authors: Freeman M, Stewart D, Cunningham CE, Gorter JW. Child Care Health Dev. 2018 June 11; 1-8. doi: 10.1111/cch.12579
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