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.
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.