Examining the impact and implementation of the ENabling VISions And Growing Expectations (ENVISAGE) program in Croatia: a discourse analysis pilot study

Abstract

Purpose

To explore the impact of the online ENVISAGE program for parents of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDD) on parents’ perception of themself, their child with a disability, and their family, as well as to explore experiences of participating in the program in Croatia.

Methods

In this before-after discourse analysis study, participants took part in the five-week ENVISAGE program. There were two semi-structured interviews for each participant: within one month before and after participating in the program. The proportions of positive, neutral, and negative sentences about themself, their child, and their family from two interviews were compared on an individual and group level. The perceived changes and experiences with the program were also analyzed qualitatively.

Results

Data from thirteen participants were included. From the three pre-determined discourse categories (self, child, and family), most changes were observed in parents’ perception of self (average increase in positive views of 8.8% and decrease in negative of 5.3%). Qualitative results showed multiple positive self-perceived impacts on parents’ lives. Participants’ experiences with ENVISAGE were consistently positive; all believed they benefited from the program.

Conclusions

The results support our assumption that participation in ENVISAGE positively affects multiple areas of life, particularly parents’ views of themself.

IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION

• ENVISAGE is an online, 5-week empowerment program for parents of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities that was tested for the first time in Croatia in this study.

• Results show that ENVISAGE mostly led to the improvements in the perception of self and their child with a disability.

• For all parents, ENVISAGE was a positive experience and a program they would recommend to other parents.

Keywords:

• Childhood disability
• early intervention for parents
• online program
• parents of children with disabilities
• parent support
• program evaluation

Author contributions

Study conception and design: Monika Novak-Pavlic, Peter Rosenbaum, Briano Di Rezze, and Luciana Macedo. Material preparation and study coordination: Monika Novak-Pavlic. Data collection: Dina Dežmar, Ana Maria Ilicic, and Monika Novak-Pavlic. Intervention preparation and delivery: Monika Novak-Pavlic, Vedrana Grgić, and Katarina Vlašić. Data transcription and cross-checking: Monika Novak-Pavlic, Ana Maria Ilicic, Katarina Vlašić, Ivona Hećimović, Dina Dežmar, and Vedrana Grgić. Analysis: Monika Novak-Pavlic, Ana Maria Ilicic, Katarina Vlašić, Vedrana Grgić, Dina Dežmar, and Ivona Hećimović. Report writing: Monika Novak-Pavlic. Editing and reviewing: All authors. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The participants of this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly. Due to the sensitive nature of the research, supporting data is not available.

Additional information

Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.