Grant: Project Grant

One in three Canadian children are living with overweight or obesity and have factors that put them at risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, such as obesity and unhealthy lifestyle behaviours. Research has shown that enriched environments early in life have profound effects on childhood obesity, child development and mental health. Across Canada, childcare settings differ by regulations, oversight, and care provider training, which may influence the quality of the environment as well as child health and developmental outcomes. The Canadian government recently announced the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) policy to support quality, affordable, available, and inclusive licensed childcare. While there is much excitement about this policy, it is unclear if the CWELCC will change licensed childcare access and how this may affect children's health and development. This study will involve families participating in the TARGet Kids! primary care research network in the Greater Toronto Area and Kingston, which has been collecting data on childcare use and the physical, mental, and developmental health of 12,000 children since 2008. Over the next 5 years, we will involve 932 children aged 1 - 4 years in the study and collect data on childcare use, growth, development, mental health, lifestyle behaviours, and socioeconomic status. We will evaluate how the CWELCC changed access to licensed childcare and how these changes are associated with child health and development compared to before the CWELCC. We will also examine how socioeconomic status may modify these associations. ENRICHED is well positioned to evaluate the impacts of the CWELCC policy in a large, multicultural, urban population on the physical, developmental, and mental health of children. Evaluating the CWELCC is important to ensure that it is delivering optimal outcomes for Canadian children and their families.