Learn about the Family Engagement in Research (FER) Course, a 10-week micro-credentialed online course delivered by CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research in partnership with Kids Brain Health Network (KBHN) and McMaster Continuing Education. Since its inception in 2018, the FER Course has been bringing families and researchers together to learn from each other about how to meaningfully partner in research.

Medical professionals have the best of intentions, and they have a lot of applicable knowledge, but they often don’t know what it’s actually like in the trenches. To be able to share what’s going on in our world with them is very important.”

~ Elizabeth Chambers, Parent Partner

Family Engagement in Research Certificate of Completion

Delivered by Kids Brain Health Network and CanChild in partnership with McMaster Continuing Education

The Family Engagement in Research (FER) Certificate of Completion is a 10-week course, delivered online.

Course work involves live online group discussions, individual review of course materials, and a group project. The course has been developed in partnership with parents and researchers from its inception, and will be delivered by experienced parents and researchers.

This course is designed for researchers (graduate students, research coordinators, investigators) and family members (parents, siblings, grandparents, caregivers) who have an interest in child health research and family-researcher partnerships.

What’s Involved?

Course Goals

The FER Course creates a cohort of family members and caregivers who are:

  • Interested in contributing to, and ready to engage in child health research
  • Knowledgeable about the research process, and can make informed decisions about partnering on a research project
  • Capable and confident to engage with researchers at various levels of the research process, and recognize the impact they can have on the research community

The FER Course creates a cohort of researchers who are:

  • Invested in contributing to child health research
  • Knowledgeable about family engagement in research
  • Capable and confident in engaging with families and other stakeholders at various stages of the research process

Course Themes

  • Week 1 – Family Engagement in Research: What do we really mean?
  • Week 2 – Family Engagement in Research: Why is it important?
  • Week 3 – Building an integrated research team: How can we find each other?
  • Week 4 – Building an integrated research team: How can we work together?
  • Week 5 – Roles and responsibilities of families and researchers
  • Week 6 – Ethics of family engagement in research
  • Week 7 – Barriers and facilitators to family engagement
  • Week 8 – Family engagement tools & resources
  • Week 9 – Evaluation of family engagement activities
  • Week 10 – Next Steps: Building a community for family-researcher partnerships

Course Completion

By completing the course, you will earn a CanChild / Kids Brain Health Network/ McMaster University Certificate of Completion.

Upon completion of this course, learners will gain a better understanding of:

  1. Family partnership in research (why is it important)
  2. How to partner with families throughout the research process
  3. Barriers/facilitators to partnership
  4. Tools and resources to support and evaluate partnership activities

Graduate Testimonials

This course has been fulfilling in so many ways. I have learned a lot, but it was the conversations and connections that ring true.”

~ Parent
The course was exceptionally interesting and helpful. I really liked working with my small team throughout the course. I think the readings and resources were also helpful, and I look forward to sharing them with colleagues on my research teams.”

~ Researcher
I think it definitely gave me more confidence in how to engage families… Or how to be engaged as a family, because it also identified and highlighted some ways to do it…. I learned some actual steps in what it takes to do that, so knowing how to do it gives you the confidence on how to ask for it.”

~ Parent
I think the course was really structured to give you a lot of tools and confidence to be able to do family engagement.”

~ Researcher
I highly recommend this course! With this course I was able to learn a lot about the research phases and how I could be engaged in research as a caregiver. The instructors and participants were fully engaged, the discussions were always respectful and the readings were right on target. An enlightening experience about Family Engagement in Research!”

~ Parent
Oh, my overall experience I enjoyed it, I loved it. It was really a fulfilling opportunity to be able to focus in on research that I am passionate about but to expand it to a different perspective that I can still relate to, because my research is mainly qualitative.”

~ Researcher

Apply for the FER Course

If you are interested in taking the course, please visit the CanChild website, or contact us by email to find out when applications will be open for the next cohort: fer@mcmaster.ca

Contact Us

We invite you to join the Family Engagement in Research (FER) community. To learn more about the FER Course, please visit the CanChild website, or contact fer@mcmaster.ca.

If you have any questions about the Kids Brain Health Network National Training Program, or if you want to learn more, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact training@kidsbrainhealth.ca.