BRIGHT Coaching Program for Families

Summary

Children with, or at elevated risk for, brain-based developmental disabilities can experience lifelong consequences and challenges throughout their development. In particular, preschool years (3-6 years of age) can be stressful as families wait to get services and care for their child. Nationally and internationally, service delivery models during this critical period are not standardized, and differ within and across provinces and across patient conditions, leading to long wait times, service gaps and duplications.

This study has two main hypotheses:

1. A standardized approach to "coaching" (i.e. coach + online education tools + peer support network) is feasible in the real-life context, and acceptable to caregivers and can be delivered across multiple sites in urban/suburban/rural settings.
2. A standardized approach to "coaching" enhances parental health (parents' empowerment and sense of competence, quality of life, and minimizes parenting stress), family health care experience (care coordination experience and process of care) at similar health care cost (economic analysis), when compared to usual and locally available care.

Conditions

• Mental Health Wellness 1
• Parent-Child Relations
• Child Developmental Delay
• Parenting
• Parent-child Problem
• Child Development Disorder
• Autism Spectrum Disorder

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Coaching

Parents will interact and communicate regularly with a coach in person or by telephone. Coaches will be responsible for: identifying developmental concerns, proactive health promotion, guidance and training for developmental stimulation, parent support and education about child development, navigation of the health care system and self-management techniques. The frequency of coaching will be: once a month (minimum), for 18 months, at an average of 2.5 hours per month.

BEHAVIORAL

Online parent education

Parents will be provided access to an online platform which will provide educational resources and access to parent-parent support. Online resources on child development are curated by researchers and representative of parent groups, and linked to this online platform. The themes covered in the online tool include resources on child development, accessing health care services and managing emotions and family dynamics. These topics range from: practical tips for managing day-to-day challenges, strategies to cope and support the child's transitions from one stage to another, practical tips when looking for developmental services for the child: knowing where and how to access services.

BEHAVIORAL

Online peer support

Parents will have access to a secure online social media tool to connect to other parents going through a similar experience. Through this tool, parents can help support each other, and share their experiences and knowledge. This will put each family at the centre of each network (family, friends, health providers), allowing family networks to link with one another. Families will be able to find resources, create connections with the coach, health providers and other families, thus creating a network to support one another.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• University of Alberta

  collaborator OTHER

• McGill University Health Centre/Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Annette Majnemer, PhD · Research Institute of McGill University Health Centre

• Maureen O'Donnell, MD · Provincial Health Services Authority

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Months

Max Age

54 Months

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-08-23

Primary Completion

2022-09-30

Completion

2023-03-31

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations