More and more children and youth have experienced mental health challenges in recent years. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, about one in five children and youth in Ontario has one. Accessing and coordinating support can be difficult for parents and caregivers. They often need to navigate multiple services and advocate for their child’s needs. It can be particularly hard for low-income and other equity-seeking families, who might face more barriers to accessing care and support.
To better understand how to support these parents and caregivers, Professor Lysanne Lessard has received a University of Ottawa Community-Based Research Grant. It will fund her project, “Reducing the information management burden of low-income and other equity-seeking families experiencing child and youth mental health issues.”
Working with Parents’ Lifelines of Eastern Ontario, the Ottawa Coalition of Community Houses and the Ottawa Child & Youth Initiative, she’ll study how digital technologies and services can better support low-income parents and caregivers of children and youth with mental health problems. Specifically, the project will focus on developing the EMPOWER (Evidence for Child and Youth Mental Health Promotion, Advocacy, Well-being, System Change and Improved Care) platform. This digital tool is designed to help parents and caregivers manage information and advocate for their child.
Using front-line expertise to guide platform development
This project will recruit front-line workers, with priority given to workers whose lived experiences reflect those of equity-seeking parents and caregivers. Their insights will guide the development of EMPOWER and identify barriers that could keep equity-seeking families from participating in the research. Because these families are often under-represented in research, it’s essential to identify ways to make future studies more inclusive.
As trusted community supports, front-line workers often have a deep understanding of the realities families face. They’re also key in helping parents and caregivers manage important information during crises. Their expertise will help ensure the platform reflects the needs and experiences of these families, and it will inform strategies to engage equity-seeking parents and caregivers in future research.
Reaching families through trusted community partners
For over 25 years, Parents’ Lifelines of Eastern Ontario has supported caregivers of children and youth experiencing mental health challenges. Through its work, it has developed extensive knowledge of the issues caregivers face when dealing with mental health services and supports. It provides programs and resources to help caregivers manage their child’s mental health needs and navigate available supports.
The organization also has collaborations with the Ottawa Coalition of Community Houses and the Ottawa Child & Youth Initiative. The research team will use this to engage with front-line workers who have direct experience supporting parents and caregivers.
We asked Professor Lessard about her personal interest in the topic and the potential benefits of the partnership. This is what she had to say:
“Developing digital solutions without engaging equity-seeking groups often means increasing the inequities that they experience. In the case of the EMPOWER platform, we want to ensure that we develop a useful solution for all parents and caregivers of children and youth experiencing mental health problems, not just relatively privileged ones. Through our partnerships with community organizations, we can work with front-line workers that have a deep understanding of the perspectives of parents and caregivers from equity-seeking groups, which is an important first step towards this objective.”
Shaping the future of family support
Results from this study could shape how Parents’ Lifelines of Eastern Ontario, and similar organizations, use digital technologies to better support parents and caregivers in navigating services and coordinating care.
By engaging front-line workers who support equity-seeking parents and caregivers, the project will promote a more representative understanding of these families’ needs and experiences. The results could also provide insights into how future research can better include groups dealing with barriers to participation.
The study will shed light on the unique challenges equity-seeking caregivers face when navigating services, coordinating information and advocating for appropriate support. It could also identify gaps, barriers and opportunities related to existing digital tools and resources. These findings will help ensure EMPOWER addresses the needs and experiences of the families it’s intended to support.
More broadly, the project will strengthen partnerships among the research team and the participating organizations, creating opportunities for future research. And by showing how to better support caregivers, the project can improve outcomes for children and youth experiencing mental health challenges.
