Grant: POR Awards - Transition to Leadership Stream - Phase 2

Phase 1 of the award funded two years of my doctoral studies and one year of my postdoctoral fellowship (2020-2023), which contributed to building a solid patient-oriented research career. During this time, I created and continue to partner with the Sibling Youth Advisory Council (SibYAC) that includes eight young adult siblings (ages 17 to 30 years old). Our research studies identified that siblings have different roles in relation to their sibling with a disability, and they need to be prepared for these roles. My research also looked at understanding the training needs of youth with disabilities who partner in research. I co-supervised a study where youth with disabilities said that they want more materials to be trained on how to partner in research. I have also been a teacher in the Family Engagement in Research Program, which is a 10-week course to train researchers and family partners on how to work together in research. However, this course was not created for youth with disabilities. To build my program of research as an Assistant Professor in Phase 2, I propose projectst that will: 1. Create a program to support young adult siblings: I will build from existing work and programs, such as the Acceptance and Commitment Training Program delivered to adult family caregivers and adult siblings, and create specific supports for young adult siblings. 2. Create a Youth Engagement in Research Training Program: I will expand the Family Engagement in Research Program to include information for youth with disabilities and mental health conditions. I will continue to work with a team of youth partners and sibling partners to co-create these programs. I will use plans (known as frameworks from the literature) to look at what changes were made and see if these programs were helpful. The team will work together to create knowledge mobilization plans to share information from these studies with different public audiences in the most appropriate and efficient ways.