The Healthy Trajectories team have recently completed a 10-week Family Engagement in Research (FER) course developed and delivered in partnership with parents and researchers. The FER course was delivered by CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research and Kids Brain Health Network in partnership with McMaster Continuing Education.

The course was delivered through online facilitators, and it involved study partnerships between researchers, clinicians, and people with lived experience of disability. The topics covered included:

• How to engage families throughout the research process
• Barriers, facilitators, and ethics surrounding engagement
• Available FER resources both here and in Canada

One aim of the course was to design new tools to expand family engagement in child health research. Many wonderful resources were created, including:

• an infographic on how to engage families in paediatric research, from the start
• a podcast to discuss the opportunity for consumer engagement in lab-based research
• tool kits and protocols for FER partnering and budgeting – including Easy to Read versions
• and tools to bring researchers, clinicians, and families together now and into the future.

The course certainly equipped the group with pathways, networks, and tools in readiness for further family-centred research projects. While most of the resources from our cohort are not yet online, you may wish to check out those created by previous participants by clicking on the icon below.

FER KT Tools