Perspectives Parents initiative

Perspectives parents: an overview of the experiences and needs of parents with children aged 0 to 5

How do parents with young children perceive their situation? What difficulties do they experience, and what needs do they have?  These are the questions that the Perspectives parents initiative seeks to answer. Nearly 15 000 parents from 16 Québec regions voiced their parenting experiences. Their answers constitute reliable and occasionally surprising data in relation to fathers’ and mothers’ experiences. This broad overview provides an opportunity for early childhood development actors to focus their efforts on improving the situation of parents and thereby make a significant contribution to the development of children and the communities they live in.

This initiative was launched in 2013 by Avenir d’enfants in collaboration with the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ) and the Centre d’études interdisciplinaires sur le développement de l’enfant et la famille (CEIDEF) at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR).

An initiative composed of 2 components

The quantitative component was carried out under the expert hand of the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ). This component, known as the Enquête québécoise sur l’expérience des parents d’enfants de 0 à 5 ans (Québec survey of the experiences of parents with children aged 0 to 5, or EQEPE), collected data from nearly 15 000 fathers and mothers in 16 Québec regions. The report  Mieux connaître la parentalité au Québec (Towards a better understanding of parenting in Québec), which is based on the survey’s findings, offers a Québec-wide overview of several aspects in the lives of parents with young children. The report is unique not only in terms of its scale but also because fathers accounted for 47% of the survey respondents.

The qualitative component was directed by the Centre d’études interdisciplinaires sur le développement de l’enfant et la famille (CEIDEF) at the UQTR. A number of research activities were conducted, including focus groups composed of one hundred parents. The research, entitled La perspective des parents sur leur expérience avec de jeunes enfants (The parent perspective on the experience of having young children), focuses on parents’ interactions with the various services and resources available to them.

Useful information for all early childhood development actors

The Perspective parents initiative aims to supply early childhood development actors at the local, regional and provincial levels with information resources that enable a better understanding of parents’ needs and stimulate reflections on the types of interventions best able to support parents in their role.

The same data may also find application in the further evolution of guidance practices and services for parents, especially for those with low incomes and scarce resources. As a matter of fact, parents living in underprivileged circumstances are well-represented in both components.

Moreover, the survey’s regional data are included in the fact book published by the ISQ, constituting a useful resource for the relevant agencies and actors in Québec’s 16 administrative regions.

 

Publications and reports

Several publications and reports have been made available in relation to the Perspectives parents initiative. They may all be accessed (available in French only) on the following page Publications et rapports. The regional data, also in French, are available on the page Data by region.

Two summaries are available in English.

• Québec parents with children aged 0 to 5: their experiences and needs – an overview, Avenir d'enfants (2017)
• This document presents the key findings that emerged from the Enquête québécoise sur l’expérience des parents d’enfants de 0 à 5 ans (Québec survey of the experiences of parents with children aged 0 to 5, or EQEPE). Conducted by the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ) in 2015, EQEPE surveyed 14 900 parents with children aged 0 to 5 throughout Québec in an effort to document the experiences of parents with children aged 0 to 5.

• Parenting in underprivileged families with children aged 0 to 5, Avenir d'enfants (2017)
• This document summarizes the key findings that emerged from the Enquête québécoise sur l’expérience des parents d’enfants de 0 à 5 ans (Québec survey of the experiences of parents with children aged 0 to 5, or EQEPE) with a specific focus on parents living in underprivileged circumstances.