Parenting children with complex needs

Parenting a typically developing child comes with many challenges, but parenting a child with complex needs brings additional tasks, concerns and needs for children, parents, families and communities.

A child with complex needs may have a developmental disability, a chronic health condition or be in a setting which confers additional risks for their development. The challenges for parents include mastering a number of different skills, and integrating them with their child’s developmental needs.

This stream of research focuses on better understanding parents’ needs, and developing and testing strategies and interventions that support children and families with complex needs.

Current projects:

• Prem Baby Triple P: a randomised controlled trial of enhanced parenting capacity to improve developmental outcomes in preterm infants
• Behaviour support training for parents and carers of Aboriginal children with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD)
• Efficacy of Triple P with parents of young children with type 1 diabetes: randomised controlled trial
• Parents of children with type 1 diabetes: Relationships between parental shame, autonomy support, and diabetes management
• A randomized controlled trial of a telehealth parenting intervention: A mixed-disability trial
• Protective functions of parent-adolescent relationships in youth mental health outcomes
• Indigenous Triple P: Community engagement and collaboration towards positive change
• Understanding the role of parents in the prevention of Islamic radicalisation in Indonesia
• Supporting families involved in the Queensland community corrections system: The role of parenting interventions in improving adolescent and parent outcomes
• Mental health of young people with developmental disabilities: The stepping stones Triple P project