ParticipACTION - Lost & Found: Pandemic-Related Challenges and Opportunities for Physical Activity.
ParticipACTION has recently released the 2022 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth, Lost & Found: Pandemic-Related Challenges and Opportunities for Physical Activity.
The report shows that, whilst the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic severely restricted access to community opportunities for sport and outdoor recreation for children, “throughout this turbulent time, many families and community leaders sought and found ways to get kids active. A wave of resourcefulness swept the country. We rallied to inspire kids to move with sparse resources, often saddled by financial and health stressors.”
The grade for screen time decreased from an already concerning D+ in the 2020 report to an F in in the current report. The pivot to virtual learning and calls to stay at home during the peak of the pandemic created increased reliance on screen time to educate/entertain children. “But with time, many families decided to reset their boundaries. They proactively unplugged and found healthy habits that supported their well-being and that of their children.”
“As the pandemic gripped the country, nearly all options for structured movement and play stopped, seemingly overnight.” This led to a drop to C+ for organized sport, a decrease from the past four report cards. “Yet, no matter how dejected they felt, many parents and guardians stepped up…. This perseverance and role modelling meant that this year’s grade for household support for physical activity remained a C, a commendable feat considering the strain many families experienced during the peak of the pandemic.”
Communal play spaces like recreation centres and playgrounds became off-limits due to community restrictions enacted to attempt to curb the spread of the virus, which “took a toll on children’s movement behaviours, contributing to this year’s D- grade for active play.” To compensate, families took advantage of newly created car-free urban spaces, open air markets, expanded bike paths and trails.
Children’s moods and mental health suffered as measures to control the spread of the pandemic restricted options for physical activity. Many parents and caregivers responded by taking children outdoors to explore nature. “Trail maps and park reservations became hot ticket items” as parents took their children outdoors to experience camping, water sports, neighbourhood explorations on foot or by bike, and hiking.
However, the report shows how “pandemic cancellations and lockdowns gave families who never previously struggled to access physical activity a glimpse into the reality that many in Canada have faced since long before we had ever heard of COVID-19”, stressing:
It is important to highlight that for some people, positive changes to the landscape of physical activity opportunities were apparent. Aligning with the WHO’s recommendation of ‘whenever feasible, consider riding a bicycle or walking’ for maintaining physical distancing and promoting physical activity during transport, some cities in Canada… expanded or allocated street space for active transportation. Additionally, some children and youth demonstrated increases in outdoor physical activities. However, the benefits of these opportunities seemed one-sided, as the allocated street spaces were generally in areas with fewer visible minority populations and fewer households with children; moreover, increases in outdoor time were more likely for children in higher-income families, living in a house (not apartment) and living in lower-density neighbourhoods.
The current report therefore chooses “to emphasize the importance of physical activity for equity-deserving groups, echoing the message from Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, that ‘no one is protected until everyone is protected.’” The report stresses in particular the importance for of physical activity for children and youth with disabilities, children in the early years, Indigenous children and youth, 2SLGBTQ+ children and youth, newcomer children and youth, racialized children and youth, and for girls, recommending improved data collection and structural changes to encourage and support increased participation in physical activity for these groups.
On the topic of supporting enhanced understanding of the value of physical activity in the early years, the report talks about the ongoing work of The Applied Research Group for Kids (TARGet Kids!), “an ongoing open longitudinal cohort study enrolling healthy children (from birth to five years of age) and following them into adolescence. The primary objective of the TARGet Kids! Cohort study is to examine associations between early life exposures to health problems including obesity, micronutrient deficiencies and developmental problems…. TARGet Kids! Is the only child health research network embedded in primary care practices in Canada that leverages this relationship between children, families, and their primary care practitioners. At each well-child visit – twice a year until age two and then every year until age 18 – that is conducted by participating health professionals, the child and/or their parents/caregivers are invited to participate in the TARGet Kids! Study.”
The study offers a number of recommendations for improving access for newcomer families to sport and physical activity opportunities in Canada, recommending the document produced by Sport for Life with the support of Jumpstart, Sport for Life for All Newcomers to Canada “that provides recommendations on how to take into consideration the unique barriers in programming that are faced by newcomers.” Sport for Life also offers an online course Welcome to Canada: Engaging Newcomers in Sport and Physical Activity on its eLearning platform, Sport for Life Campus. The Sport for Life site also offers a number of resources specific to parents, women and girls, Indigenous peoples, and athletes with disabilities.