If you are a father who has a child who has been receiving developmental, medical or behavioural services (for example occupational, physical, speech or behavioural therapy) for at least 6 months in the past 5 years…

 

Researchers at CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research, McMaster University is inviting fathers to participate in a research study about your experiences with health providers. Join us for a conversation with other fathers to hear about your experiences and your ideas about how they can be improved.

For more information, email Sarah Earl at: wellman@mcmaster.ca

Presenters: Dr. Sarah Morton (Matter of Focus), Back2Play Concussion Research Team, F-words for Child Development, CanChild KT & Social Media, TIPS Study (Training Intervention and Program of Support – a family-centred intervention delivered online).

Register now for the Ontario Brain Institute Public Talk happening on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, from 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM EST. Amanda St. Dennis, Andrew Kcomt, and Larry Linton will share their stories and experiences living with a brain disorder.

Amanda St. Dennis is a member of the CP-NET Stakeholder Advisory Committee and the Health Hub in Transition.

Andrew Kcomt is a Knowledge Translation & Research Manager at Hope and Me - the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario.

Larry Linton is the Chair of Parkinson Canada's Patient Advisory Council and a member of the ONDRI Patient & Community Advisory Committee.

The TRANSITION-Q is a new psychometrically sound and clinically meaningful scale that can be used in transition programmes with adolescents starting at 12 years of age to measure and track the development of skills they need to acquire to manage their health and healthcare.

The content of the scale was designed to include a range of skills that vary from those that even young adolescents should be able to do (e.g., answer a doctor’s or nurse’s questions) to skills that may require instruction or training (e.g., book a clinical appointment).

For children with chronic disease, the transition from pediatric-centered to adult-focused care is an inevitable part of growing up. In pediatric rheumatology, up to half of the patients experience unsuccessful transition. There has been limited work to date focusing on improving the process and experience for parents and empowering them to support their children through this time. Our multidisciplinary team, including a CanChild Scientist, pediatric and adult rheumatologists, patients, and their parents, created a toolkit that could support parents through the transition from pediatric- to adult-centered care. This paper outlines the iterative process of toolkit development, how our team identified Domains of Transition, and our research plans moving forward. Authors: Dushnicky M, Scott J, McCauley D, Gorter JW, Beattie K, Batthish M. J. Transl. Med. 2021;3(1): 20210008. doi: 10.1515/jtm-2021-0008.

The Focus on the Outcomes of Communication Under Six (FOCUS ©) is a clinical tool designed to evaluate change in preschool children's ability to communicate and participate in real-world situations. To understand the barriers and facilitators of implementing the FOCUS in clinical practice, a total of 37 speech-language pathologists (SLPs) participated in semi-structured interviews. The SLPs encountered barriers within three domains: Environmental Context and Resources, Beliefs about Consequences, and Social Influences. On the other hand, facilitators include clinicians’ ability to modify behaviour and access to technology & staff. Authors: Kwok EY, Moodie ST, Cunningham BJ, Oram Cardy J. J Commun Disord. 2022 Jan-Feb;95:106166. doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2021.106166.

This review aims to synthesize the evidence about the characteristics and effects of physical rehabilitation interventions in children and young people with acquired brain injury during the subacute rehabilitation phase. Data from nine studies included in this review shows that intervention characteristics vary: frequency is between 1 and 7 days per week, and intervention time is between 25 minutes and 6 hours a day. Seven studies specified intervention types, while none reported details of intensity intervention. Inconsistency in results shows the need for more high-quality research in children and young people with acquired brain injury. Authors: Gmelig Meyling C, Verschuren O, Rentinck IR, Engelbert RHH, Gorter JW. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2022 Jan;64(1):40-48. doi: 10.1111/dmcn.14997.