Physical Literacy Proof of Concept in Child Care Study Parent/Guardian Information

The childcare centre your child(ren) attends has chosen to be part of a study that will explore the benefits for young children of quality physical literacy programming in childcare centres.

What are physical activity and physical literacy?
Physical activity is movement that increases heart rate, breathing, and causes a light sweat. Physical literacy is the motivation, confidence, and competence to move for a lifetime. In general, children who develop physical literacy and are physically active in early years have a healthier lifestyle.

What does the study involve?
A good study uses two different groups: a study group, which receives an intervention and a control group, which receives usual programming and is used for comparison. This means that your child(ren)’s educators will continue to offer their usual excellent standard of care.

What does it mean if my child(ren) are part of the intervention group?
When it comes to the intervention group, our research team will visit the centre once in the fall and again in the spring to collect data. We will be observing and playing games with the children to better understand their physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development over a period of six months.

How will my child(ren) and I be involved?

• Should you agree that you and your child(ren) will participate in this study:
• You will be asked to complete the parent questionnaire included in your envelope about physical activity in your home.
• Your child(ren) will receive their regular quality programming each day.
• Your child(ren) will be observed once in the fall and again in the spring
• One educator from your centre will be provided with workshops on early brain development and quality physical literacy programming at the end of the study so that your child(ren) will have more opportunities to be physically active

What sort of personal information will be collected?

• If you were born in Canada and, if not, what year you came to Canada.
• Your child(ren)’s gender and birthdate.
• Only members of the Early Years Physical Literacy Research Team will have access to your responses.
• Your information will be confidential, meaning that we will not include your name, your child(ren)’s name or any other identifying information in any of the research reports or documents.
• We will separate the questionnaire from the consent form after coding them with an ID number.
• All data will be aggregated and no identifying information will be used in any written documents.
• All data will be stored on a password protected Google account.
• Five years after the study has been completed and all data have been analyzed and reports written, all electronic records will be double deleted.

What are the risks or benefits involved in my child(ren)’s participation?
If your child(ren)’s child care center is part of the intervention group that will receive physical literacy programming, there are no foreseeable risks associated with this study.

What if my child(ren)’s childcare center is part of the control group?
Your child(ren) will receive the normal care delivered by you childcare center.

Participating in a control group is a crucial part of a good study. Comparing data from the study and control groups allows us to determine that the intervention (in this case, physical literacy programming) is making a difference in children’s development.

As a thank you to centres and families participating in the control group, we will be offering the same workshops and supports to an educator from your centre at the end of the study. Your children will have the opportunity for quality physical literacy programming next year!

If you choose to withdraw from the study at any point, your withdrawal will not impact your child(ren)’s quality care at your childcare centre.

What will happen to the results of this research project?
We will share the results of the study with policy makers, educators, and families (those who will be involved in making and implementing change) through avenues that are accessed by these groups such as conferences, and short articles and info graphics in newsletters and through websites such as Active for Life and Early Years Physical Literacy.