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Research

Our programs are evidence-based, that is they are rooted in positive psychology - the science of wellbeing.

Our Theory of Change: Building Capacity through Participation

 

Now & Next was founded and run by parents raising children with special needs.
It aims to build family capacity through participation. It accomplishes this by running evidence-based programs to increase families' empowerment, hope, agency and wellbeing. In peer groups (face to face or via zoom), parents and carers learn to:

  • Formulate and achieve inspiring goals for their children
  • Build novel positive partnerships with professionals 
  • Optimise their informal networksWe are passionate about innovation and transforming lives.

Developed in-house and launched in a group setting during 2016, Now & Next builds skills and enables parents to achieve positive outcomes for the entire family.

It established a peer network connecting families to learn from and inspire each other. Alumni have been trained to become peer workers in roles such as running courses, research, and planning with families at Plumtree.

Now & Next shows that peer networks and peer workers are a new resource for the future. Plumtree Research Analyst and Peer Workers have been tracking the program’s achievements.

A growing international program

Beginning with three groups in 2016 at our partner's Sydney centre, Plumtree Children Services, a total of 85 group programs have been hosted in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Finland. We are approaching the 1000 graduate milestone. To date. 42% of attendees were from Culturally and Linguistically diverse background, and fathers were well represented at 23%.

Enabling greater accessibility, 48% of the groups were held online while 52% were held face-to-face. Now & Next successfully transitioned to a fully online program during the COVID pandemic.

Setting a vision and goals

Using Pictability, an innovative visioning tool developed in-house, participants learned to develop short and long-term goals in three categories: for the child, the family, and themselves.

Examples included having a child become more independent in daily routines, or begin to communicate. Common family goals involved creating more quality time together. Better well-being and fitness were popular personal goals.

Now & Next impact

The results are encouraging. Across the three categories, close to 90% of participants’ goals were achieved in the face-to-face sessions and over 80% in the online sessions. Answers to questionnaires were also positive and included:

  • Increased empowerment, skills and knowledge, agency and hope at the program’s end;
  • Increasing participant satisfaction across the eight sessions. A uniform dip during the sixth sessions were due to some personal topics that were a part of the content;
  • A better sense of wellbeing.

For more detailed information, download the full Now & Next Program 2016-2022 Global Benchmark Analysis.

Collaboration for the future

An earlier version of the analysis was presented at a symposium attended by Australian and international academics, parents of children with a disability, and professionals from early intervention and disability support services.

Now & Next was well received, and we are working with them to further develop the program and other family capacity-building strategies in the future.

Now & Next symposium for professionals fosters collaboration for the future

Our Now & Next Program and the Pictability visioning tool have empowered families of children with disability in Australia and overseas to take charge of their journey. Our innovations are also attracting interest from universities and organisations.

Held in Melbourne, the Building Family Capability Through Participation: Now & Next Research Symposium brought together Australian and international academics, researchers, parents of children with a disability, and professionals from early intervention and disability support services. The symposium aimed to foster connections, ideas and collaboration that informs future developments of Now & Next and building family capacity. 

We’ve come a long way since the program’s establishment in 2015. A summary of findings and outcomes was presented by Plumtree Research Analyst and Peer Worker Mogi Bayasgalan. Over the day, the passionate attendees discussed future actions and strategies. 

“Now & Next is a promising program,” said Dr Tim Moore, Senior Research Fellow at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute that conducted an external evaluation in 2018. While the NDIS is largely based around support for the child, Now & Next involves achieving positive outcomes for the entire family and building authentic partnerships with professionals. 

With all parties interested in further research to make the program even more effective, Dr Moore believes Now & Next can have big ramifications for how families work with the NDIS. “Where the NDIS should end up is the notion of empowered persons with disability who know what they want, know how to get it, and know when they are not getting it.”

Dr Anoo Bhopti from La Trobe University’s School of Allied Health will review the program’s ethics application process that enables the submission of research to universities for publication in peer-reviewed journals. This will build more evidence on Now & Next’s positive outcomes and impact on families. 

Representing the Melbourne Disability Institute Project, Associate Professor Peggy Kern from the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Positive Psychology will examine Now & Next’s research and evaluation methods used to date. The results will help build a foundation for long-term research into the future. It could involve follow-up contact with Now & Next alumni on the program’s benefits, or a trial spanning several years that tracks outcomes compared to standard care methods. She believes that Now & Next’s vision of family empowerment and goals could inform changes in future NDIS legislation.

The symposium was a wonderful opportunity to meet professionals with a shared vision, develop ideas and create pathways for working together. 

View a webinar about Now & Next at NCAPPS