Making Mothers Matter: Understanding the Role of Child Care on the Health and Wellbeing of Low-Income Lone Mothers in British Columbia is a three year participatory action research (PAR) project being conducted through a partnership between the Single Mothers’ Alliance BC and the University of British Columbia. The study will look at the impact of BC’s new child care policies on the health and well-being of low-income lone-mothers with young children under six, focusing on the $10 a Day Prototype Sites. Data collection will take place in Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Port Alberni, Revelstoke and Prince George. We are grateful to the Vancouver Foundation for their role as a key project funder.
Project Genesis
Lack of child care access and affordability poses a major barrier in BC to lone-mothers’ economic sustainability and emotional and social wellbeing. The Province of BC launched Childcare BC in 2018 with new child care policies aimed at reducing the cost of child care, including the testing of universal child care at prototype test sites. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of these new child care policies on the health and well-being of low-income, lone-mothers with children under the age of six. There is currently no other research being conducted in BC on the impact of the Childcare BC plan specifically from the perspective of low-income lone-mothers living below the poverty line.
About Participatory Action Research
Participatory Action Research means that low-income, lone-mothers will take the lead on developing and carrying out the research rather than remaining 'subjects' of the research. In 2021, SMA secured seven lone-mothers to take the lead as Peer Researchers to determine research design and methods and carry out data collection. Data collection will take place in early 2022.
Timeline
The project will soon move into data collection phase followed by knowledge translation and mobilization activities. Years two and three of Making Mothers Matter span 2022 and 2023.
For more information please contact Zeynya S. Alemayehu, SMA Research & Policy Lead: [email protected].