Grant: Project Grant

The early years of life are critical to establishing healthy behaviours. Sadly, the majority of preschool age children are not meeting both Canadian physical activity and screen time guidelines and have poor motor skills. Childcare centres are important settings as more than half of children attend childcare and spend a large proportion of their days and weeks there. Yet there are no Canadian guidelines and few provincial guidelines that govern the physical activity environment of childcare settings. In recognition of this gap, and the importance of the preschool years, the BC government and partners have developed Active Play Standards and communication and capacity-building interventions to support implementation of the Standards. Our research group is ready to take advantage of this opportunity to increase our understanding about the effect of supporting these Standards with communication and capacity-building strategies on the policies and practices of childcare providers and the health behaviours of children while in their care. In addition, we will explore the hierarchy of factors (individual, childcare settings and regional) that facilitate or hinder full implementation of the Standards. To meet these research goals, we will conduct province-wide surveys assessing the policies, practices and environments of licensed childcare providers before and after implementation of the province-wide communication and capacity-building interventions are initiated. We will also interview childcare providers in all regions of BC to gain more in-depth understanding of the factors that influence implementation of the AP Standards. In a sub-set of centres, we will also measure children's physical activity, sedentary behaviour and motor skill competencies. The findings will inform future policies and enhance our understanding of how policy action supported by communication and capacity-building strategies influences the environment of childcare centres.