Supported Playgroup Participation During Infancy and Later Developmental Health at School Entry.

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Topic - Prevention and Interventions

Abstract

Supported playgroups provide parents and children opportunities to play and learn, together with other parents, children and professional staff (Armstrong et al., 2019. These community-based public health prevention programs aim to build parenting capacity, promote secure attachment and improve child health and development(Lakhani & Macfarlane, 2015. Formal early childhood interventions can reduce health equity gaps experienced by children living in at-risk environments (Patel, Corter, Pelletier, & Bertrand, 2016; however less is known about the role of supported playgroups in improving well-being and development in children. The Healthy Baby Community Support Program (HBCSP) is a universally accessible supported playgroup that operates across the province of Manitoba, Canada to support mothers and babies up to 1 year postpartum. Typical sessions include song and rhymes, group discussions, a shared meal, and free play facilitated by paraprofessionals that work in tandem with public health professionals
This study used HBCSP attendance records linked to de-identified whole-population health, education, and social services data housed at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy to measure the relationship between maternal HBCSP participation and the later developmental health of children. Developmental health was measured using the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a kindergarten teacher-completed questionnaire that measures school readiness across five developmental domains: physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, and communication skills and general knowledge(Janus & Duku, 2007).
The study sample included mother-child dyads born in Manitoba between January 1, 2004 and March 31, 2011 with valid EDI records who resided in or near communities with a HBCSP (n=19,940). The cohort was stratified by the frequency of local programming available, at least weekly (n=13,790) or less frequent (n=6,150). Logistic regression models calculated the odds of being vulnerable in individual domains of the EDI after adjusting for child characteristics and applying inverse probability treatment weights (IPTW) to balance for measured maternal characteristics.
HBCSP participants had significantly higher odds of having an at-risk profile (e.g., use of alcohol/drugs in pregnancy, low income, single mother) compared with non-participants. After applying IPTW and adjusting for child characteristics, HBCSP participation was associated with decreased odds of developmental vulnerability in three areas of child development at school entry: physical health and well-bring (aOR=0.87, 99% CI 0.78, 0.97); language and cognitive development (aOR=0.76, 99% CI 0.67, 0.86), and communication skills and general knowledge (OR=0.65, 99% CI 0.57, 0.74) and increased odds of vulnerability in emotional maturity (aOR=1.23, 99% CI 1.10, 1.37) among children with access to weekly programming. No significant relationships were found among children with access to less frequent programs.
Supported playgroup attendance in infancy is associated with positive developmental health at school entry for children with access to weekly programming. Further research is required to understand the relationship between program participation and emotional maturity. Universally accessible supported playgroups provide gap services to families in need of minimal support. Public health decision makers should consider these findings when allocating resources. These conclusions support increased access to weekly public health programming for all new parents.

Authors

• Shannon Struck, University of Manitoba
  Presenting Author

• Tracie Afifi, University of Manitoba
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nathan C. Nickel, University of Manitoba
  Non-Presenting Author

• Marni Brownell, University of Manitoba
  Non-Presenting Author