Current Projects
Here is a list of new and continuing FDRC projects
Disability-inclusive services for victims-survivors of intimate partner violence
D McConnell (PI), with L Pacheco, M Aunos & S Phelan. From Stories to praxis: Transforming community-based support services for women with disabilities who have survived intimate partner violence. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Partnership Development Grant.
Over 50% of women with disabilities, including 1,500,000+ women in Canada, have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime. Moreover, disabled women confront barriers to access and system failures that heighten the risk of repeated victimization and lasting trauma. The overarching GOAL of this project is the co-creation, with disabled women and community organizations, of a framework for developing local supports and services for victims-survivors of IPV that are inclusive, trauma-informed and attentive to intersectionality. Outcomes will include a deeper understanding of the lived experience, practical realities and support needs, priorities and preferences of women with disabilities who have survived IPV, and identification of policies and practices that provide them with better opportunities to navigate a path to safety and well-being.
Inclusive early learning and childcare for disabled children
S Phelan (PI), with D McConnell, S Moore, J L MacIsaac & C Mah. Equitable access to inclusive early learning and childcare for disabled children: The family experience. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council , Insight Development Grant.
Families of children experiencing disability in Canada have experienced a long history of inequitable access to inclusive early learning and childcare due to financial, institutional, political, and discriminatory barriers. The problem that frames this study is two-fold: 1) There are systemic barriers that limit families’ abilities to access and secure inclusive early learning and childcare for their children experiencing disability, and 2) There are systemic barriers that limit opportunities for full inclusion in early learning and childcare settings for children experiencing disability and their families. The objectives of this research are to: 1) Explore barriers and facilitators to accessing inclusive early learning and childcare for families of children experiencing disability, 2) Explore families of children experiencing disability’s experiences of inclusion in early learning and childcare, and 3) Explore how sociocultural factors shape opportunities for inclusion in early learning and childcare for families of children experiencing disability in Nova Scotia.
Culture created by and for children
S Phelan (PI), with M Aston, S Egilson, J Sheriko, N Spencer & D McConnell. Promoting Health and Well-being of Children experiencing Disability through Inclusion in Child Culture. New Health Investigator Grant, Research Nova Scotia.
Ecocultural theorists contend that the most important influence on children’s development and well-being is cultural context; the combination of environment, ecology, activity settings and their meanings, beliefs, values, practices, and routines. For children, cultural context includes child culture that is adult-driven, child-driven, and a combination of the two. Inclusion in child-driven culture, for example, play, is fundamental to all children's health and well-being. The three primary objectives of this research are: 1) to investigate children experiencing disability’s experiences of inclusion/exclusion in child-driven culture, 2) to understand the socio-cultural factors that shape opportunities for inclusion in child-driven culture, and 3) to understand the ecological factors that foster inclusion in child-driven culture.
Parents and Parenting with Intellectual Disability
D McConnell (PI), with M Aunos, L Pacheco, M Feldman, A Hughson & L Laliberte. Support needs and service pathways of parents with intellectual disability. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Partnership Development Grant.
This study aims to determine a solution to two inter-related problems for human service systems. One problem is that we currently lack the requisite knowledge to make good on our commitment under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to "eliminate discrimination against..." and "render appropriate assistance to..." parents with intellectual disability or learning difficulties "in the performance of their child-rearing responsibilities" (Article 23). The second problem is that there is no provincial or national strategy at present to translate extant knowledge about parents and parenting with intellectual disability into the planning and delivery of more effective and appropriate parenting and family supports. As a result of these two problems, children of parents with intellectual disability are at increased risk of poorer developmental health, and they are many times more likely than their peers to be apprehended by child and youth protection authorities and permanently placed out-of-home.
Chronic loneliness, parenting and child mental health
D McConnell (PI), with S Phelan, C Rinaldi & R Breitkreuz. The loneliness crisis and the decline of free play: Pathways and effects. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Insight Grant.
Over the past few decades, Canada, like other post-industrial societies, has undergone a number of sweeping social, demographic and economic changes which have transformed the conditions of contemporary family life. Many parents are now struggling to meet the demands of a workplace that can reach out to them 24/7, care for children and ageing parents, and maintain satisfying social relationships. Consequently, chronic loneliness is widespread. The implications of chronic loneliness for parents and children, including parents of children with disabilities who are particularly vulnerable to loneliness, may be far-reaching. This study will investigate the possibility that a rise in the prevalence of loneliness among parents of children with and without disabilities may have contributed to the decline of free and 'risky' (i.e., physically & socially challenging) outdoor play, and portend a rise in the prevalence of social-emotional problems among children and youth.
Inclusion and belonging
Reaves (PhD candidate), with S Phelan & D McConnell. Inclusion and belonging: The experience of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Doctoral Award.