Grant: Project Grant

3,500 Canadian children born each year have heart problems (CHD). We target their most important long term health problems (heart attack, obesity, mental illness) so they not only survive, but thrive! Physical activity reduces these health risks but <10% of children with CHD meet Canadian physical activity recommendations. We have shown that the least active toddlers with CHD remain the least active children at 5 years of age, emphasizing the importance of early & better support. Before evaluating the benefits of physical activity support for young children with CHD, we need to test the feasibility and potential effectiveness of our research idea. We think that providing parents with active play activities for their infant/toddler with CHD for 6 months, starting when the child's CHD is treated, will establish an active lifestyle. Since no one has tried this type of project before, this project will evaluate whether families will agree to participate at the time of their child's treatment, if they are willing to complete 5 physical activity assessments, if children can do the play-based activities immediately after treatment, and if we have the required space and staff time. We will also gather preliminary information on whether the play activities can improve the children's physical activity. For 18 months, we will ask all 100 children treated for CHD to participate in our study. We expect 48 will finish the study; 36 receiving play activities, 12 receiving only standard care (waitlist) for 12 months. Each child's movement skill, daily activity, social skills and quality of life will be tested 5 times (start, week 7, months 6, 12 & 16). We will count how many children start and complete the study, reasons they withdraw, whether they can do all of the tests and how often they do the play activities. The study outcomes will be the feasibility and efficacy data needed to plan a randomized controlled trial to assess our play intervention benefits during CHD-treatment.