Dear CanChild,

Welcome to the May 11th edition of the CanChild Today! Check out some exciting events, research studies, and publications from our members.

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Our past issues are archived on the CanChild website and can be accessed here.

Promoting Children's Health in Hamilton

Researchers at McMaster University, including Dr. Olaf Kraus de Camargo (CanChild co-Director), were recently awarded $1.175 million from the Juravinski Research Institute. Funding will unite Hamilton's child health researchers to improve health outcomes for children in Hamilton and surrounding areas.

“This new project is helping to shine a light on Margaret and Charles’s key vision for the Juravinski Research Institute: Uniting researchers and care providers from across the city to collaborate on groundbreaking research that will improve the health of Canadians.”

Computer Based Instrument for Low Motor LanguageTesting (C-BiLLT)

We are interested in your perceptions about the barriers and facilitators to using the C-BiLLT in Canadian clinics and with Canadian children who have CP. Focus groups will be virtual and will be approximately 2 hours.

Please contact Sarah Hopman: hopmansn@mcmaster.ca

COVID Time Capsule

Inviting families with children between 8-21 who have a disability: We want to hear about your experiences during COVID and your ideas about what services and supports families need moving forward.

Please contact

Anna Swain: minchena@mcmaster.ca

Formative evaluation of an entrepreneurial funding mechanism for training knowledge brokers in occupational therapy relevant research spaces

We examined how the CPERL-CanChild sponsored contract model (1) produced products of scholarly impact in childhood disability; (2) built scholarly capacity of rising practitioners/scholars in health-related professions; and (3) can be optimized to maximize impact. Data from select lab records and interviews were content analyzed and fitted to existing frameworks centered around building research capacity. Traditional outcomes included KT products (53%), followed by publications (16%), presentations (10%), grant submissions (10%), and community research partnerships (10%). Trainees emphasized four professional outcomes in their interviews including: 1) growing a research network, 2) acquiring research skills, 3) transferring research skills, and 4) assuming leadership roles. Findings suggest sponsored contract models benefit trainees across multiple professional trajectories.  

Authors: Dianna L. Bosak, Daniel Fulford, Mary A. Khetani 

Manuscript DOI: 10.1080/14473828.2023.2195602 

School Participation Among Young People with Craniofacial Microsomia and Other Childhood-Onset Disabilities 

The study aimed to understand how school environmental support, young people’s physical functioning, behavioral problems and caregiver strategies affect school participation (attendance and involvement) for young people with craniofacial microsomia (CFM) and other childhood-onset disabilities. The researchers used data from a previous study and analyzed it using a statistical

model. The participants were caregivers of young people with CFM (n=120) and other childhood-onset disabilities (n=140). The results showed that school environmental support facilitated young people’s school participation and that physical functioning problems hindered young people’s school involvement. In addition, this study showed that the number of disclosed caregiver strategies

intensified the positive impact of school environmental support on school attendance for children and youth with CFM and other childhood onset disabilities. However, there was no effect of the number of disclosed caregiver strategies on their level of school involvement. 

Authors: Vera Kaelin, Dana Anaby, Martha Werler, and Mary Khetani 

Manuscript DOI: 10.1111/dmcn.15628

Medical home primary care components and current educational service use in children and youth on the autism spectrum 

We examined the components of medical home care associated with current educational service use (i.e., early intervention and special education) in children and youth on the autism spectrum. Cross-sectional data from the 2016 to 2019 National Survey of Children's Health were used to estimate the odds of currently using educational services among children and youth on the autism spectrum (n=1,922). In medical home care, referral difficulty and a lack of shared decision-making were both associated with greater odds of currently using educational services. Older children and youth on the autism spectrum had lesser odds of current educational service use, whereas children and youth with moderate/severe autism had greater odds of currently using educational services. There is a need to ease referral pathways and develop shared decision-making processes in medical home care, as well as identify caregiver strategies for accessing educational services. 

Authors: Sabrin Rizk, Teal W. Benevides, Chengshi Shiu, Kristin Berg, Mary A. Khetani 

doi: 10.3389/feduc.2023.1125929