About the Project
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Towards a Brighter Path for Every Child in Hamilton
This project unites Hamilton’s child health researchers, doctors, patients, families and community organizations around a common goal – improving health outcomes for children across the city and surrounding region through access to better care and services.
Connect with us at brtrpath@mcmaster.ca for more information about the Brighter Path and how we can work together.
The Brighter Path project is funded by the Juravinski Research Institute.
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Why it matters
How do we enable healthy pathways for all children in Hamilton? This question drives world-class researchers, doctors, and organizations across our city. Major differences in health exist depending where in the city of Hamilton one lives. Social disadvantage and health inequities can have major impacts on children’s physical and mental health, but the underlying factors are not well understood. Harnessing the city’s collective expertise and working together with families and community partners, we will begin to understand and collaboratively address these factors to improve the well-being of children in Hamilton.
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How it works
The project envisions a Brighter path for every child in Hamilton through 2 aims.
First, researchers, doctors, patients, families and community organizations are partnering on a research project taking place within Hamilton communities and at McMaster Children’s Hospital. Together, we will design and test new ways to ensure children and families in Hamilton get connected to the care, services, and resources they need to thrive. Through this work, we will better understand factors at the child, family, and community levels that are related to overall health and wellbeing.
Second, we are building a strong foundation that will enable collaborative child health research in Hamilton for years to come. We are investing in support for successful partnership of people (families, researchers, doctors, health care workers and community organizations) and systems to create and use new knowledge to improve care and services. Three pillars will support the Brighter Path project and future child health research in Hamilton:
- Meaningful patient and family engagement in research through training and support
- Sustainable academic and community partnerships
- Dynamic informatics platforms for collection and use of data
Project News
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Hiring: Clinical Research Coordinator Apply Now
If you are a networker and critical-thinker, with excellent knowledge of the academic, clinical, and community child health environments
and are energized by leading projects from start to finish – we want you on our team!
The Family Engagement in Research (FER) Course Learn More
Get involved! Applications are now being accepted from child health researchers, healthcare providers, families, and youth for the Fall 2023 Family Engagement in Research Course offered by the Brighter Path collaboration.
Hamilton researchers chart a healthier future for children April 27, 2023
Five McMaster University researchers are joining forces with local health-care partners to promote children’s health in Hamilton, with $1.175 million in funding from the Juravinski Research Institute (JRI).
The Family Engagement in Research (FER) Course
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The Family Engagement in Research (FER) course is being offered in Fall 2023 as part of the Towards a Brighter Path for Every Child in Hamilton (Brighter Path) collaboration funded by the Juravinski Research Institute.
The course is free for eligible researchers, healthcare providers, families and youth (see Eligibility below) and participants will be invited to connect back with the work of the Brighter Path. Families and youth will also be compensated for their time.
The FER course aims to inform and empower patients, families, researchers and healthcare providers about how to engage together at all stages of the research process to produce meaningful results.
The 10-week (~30 hours) online course, developed and instructed by the FER Training Program at CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research at McMaster University, covers principles and frameworks of family engagement in research alongside discussions of the practicalities and challenges of research partnership. Participants develop competency and confidence in both the theory and practice of family engagement in research. The course offers a safe space to explore ideas and approaches to research partnership. A unique component of the FER course is that individuals with lived experience (themselves or as a family member) and researchers/clinicians are placed in groups and co-create a Knowledge Translation (KT) tool.
By the end of the course, FER graduates are:
- Are knowledgeable about family engagement in research
- Are capable and confident to partner on research projects
- Earn a McMaster University certified micro-credential.
Expandable List
The course is free for eligible researchers, healthcare providers, families and youth (criteria below) and participants will be invited to connect back with the work of the Brighter Path. Families and youth will also be compensated for their time.
- Researchers – child health researchers of any career stage affiliated with McMaster University, Hamilton Health Sciences, and/or St Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton
- Healthcare Providers – pediatric healthcare professionals (e.g. registered nurse, occupational therapist, child life specialist, physician, etc) providing care in the Greater Hamilton Area
- Family Caregivers – parents, siblings, grandparents, or anyone with a caregiving role for a child with a developmental disability or chronic health condition(s) in the Greater Hamilton Area
- Youth – anyone 16-29 years of age currently receiving, or who has previously received, pediatric health care/services in the Greater Hamilton Area (including McMaster Children’s Hospital, Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre, St Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton) for a developmental disability or chronic health condition(s)
- 10 weeks | 30 hours total
- Weekly group work & activities
- Four 2-hour online classes during weeks 1, 4, 6, 10 – choose Tuesdays 12-2 pm OR Wednesdays 7-9 pm EST
- Earn a McMaster University microcredential
Upon completion, learners will be able to:
- Define and describe the benefits of family engagement in research.
- Identify family/research partners and understand how to engage individuals with lived/living experience throughout each step of the research process.
- Discuss the roles and responsibilities of researchers and individuals with lived/living experience on integrated teams.
- Understand the ethics surrounding family engagement in research as well as the rights and responsibilities of research ‘participants’ versus research ‘partners’.
- Recognize the barriers and facilitators to family engagement and identify strategies to support family engagement in research (at the individual and team levels).
- Understand and utilize tools and resources available for the implementation and evaluation of family engagement activities.
- Communicate ideas related to family engagement verbally and in writing.
| Week 1* | Week of September 25 | What do we mean by family engagement in research? |
| Week 2 | Week of October 2 | Why is family engagement in research important? |
| Week 3 | Week of October 9 | Building an integrated research team: How can we find each other? |
| Week 4* | Week of October 16 | Building an integrated research team: How can we work together? |
| Week 5 | Week of October 23 | Roles and responsiblities of families and researchers |
| Week 6* | Week of October 30 | Ethics of family engagement in research |
| Week 7 | Week of November 6 | Barriers and facilitators to family engagement |
| Week 8 | Week of November 13 | Evaluation of family engagement activities |
| Week 9 | Week of November 20 | Family Engagement tools & resources |
| Week 10* | Week of November 27 | Building a community for partnership |
*Online session this week. Choice of attending Tues. 12-2pm OR Wed. 7-9pm EST.
Complete the online application form here before Monday, September 11, 2023 (5:00 pm EST) to be considered for the 2023 cohort.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions at fer@mcmaster.ca
Co-Principal Investigators
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The Brighter Path leadership team includes physicians and researchers spanning 3 academic Departments (Pediatrics; Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences; Obstetrics & Gynecology) and 4 research centres (Centre for Metabolism, Obesity, & Diabetes Research; CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research; Offord Centre for Child Studies; Chanchlani Research Centre) in the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University.
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Project Partners
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Research Roundtable | Finding your way in youth and family engagement in research: Focusing on the how
This is a special open session of McMaster University’s Department of Pediatrics’ monthly Research Roundtable seminar series for learners, staff, and faculty across the Faculty of Health Sciences who have a focus on child-health research.
Presenters:
Karen Beattie, Elizabeth Chambers, Samantha Micsinszki, Andrea Cross
Date:
Friday, March 22, 2024 from 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Registration is now closed.
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Research Roundtable
The culture and practice of child health research can be transformed through meaningful engagement with youth and families as equal partners. Yet questions remain on how to support meaningful and authentic engagement in research.
In this session, best practices will be described for how researchers, youth, and family caregivers can partner together throughout the entire research process.
Presenters will share some of their personal experiences and lessons learned as researchers and family partners, as well as multiple tools and resources that can be used to support meaningful engagement.
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Learning Objectives
To increase knowledge and awareness of foundational patient and family engagement in research principles and best practices include:
- Why youth and family engagement in research is important in research
- How to engage youth and families throughout the entire research process including how to find each other, work together, and evaluate the engagement process and impact.
Presenters
Karen Beattie
Karen Beattie is mom to a son born at McMaster Children’s Hospital at 29 weeks weighing 830 grams and a passionate advocate for the role of families in child health research and clinical care.
Professionally, Karen is a research manager in the Department of Pediatrics at McMaster University in the areas of pediatric rheumatology and pediatric gastroenterology and serves as the Department lead for patient and family engagement in research.
At McMaster Children’s Hospital, she Co-Chairs the Family Advisory Council.
Research Program Manager, Pediatrics
Elizabeth Chambers
Elizabeth Chambers is an experienced certified teacher and the epitome of the “Club” sandwich generation as the primary caregiver for her elderly Mother living with Alzheimer’s disease, her former little foster brother who is now her eldest son (a MacKid who survived a brain tumour as an infant), her resilient pre-teen daughter and her medically fragile/medically complex youngest son who is a frequent flyer at McMaster.
Elizabeth is a passionate advocate for others and is dedicated to bridging the gap between service providers, patients/caregivers, and researchers.
Elizabeth is a family partner on multiple research projects at CanChild and is the coordinator of the Patient and Family Engagement in Research Community of Practice at McMaster University.
Family Partner, CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research
Samantha Micsinszki
Samantha Micsinszki is a registered nurse and a postdoctoral researcher at CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research and the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University.
A proud graduate of the Family Engagement in Research (FER) Course, she has since supported the FER team in co-developing the FER Leadership Academy and currently serves as the Training Director for the FER Program.
Diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2021, Samantha is keen to use her experiences to create awareness of and advocate for equitable patient and family-centered research and care.
Postdoctoral Researcher, CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research
Andrea Cross
Andrea Cross is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at McMaster University.
Her research aims to use implementation science to support the dissemination and implementation of family-centred and family-engaged best practices in the field of child health.
Andrea is a co-founder of the Family Engagement in Research (FER) Program and currently holds a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Patient-Oriented Research Transition to Leadership Award (2020-2027).
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics