Quality child care: what does it mean for individual infants, parents and caregivers?

It is argued that previous research on child care quality fits a “black box” model where individual characteristics and the experiences of children, parents and caregivers are largely ignored as factors influencing outcome. An individual model of quality child care is presented in which infant-caregiver, parent-caregiver and peer relationships are the central features of a model which considers the influence of pre-care differences and the effect of program characteristics and standards on the well-being of children, parents and caregivers.     

When, How and Why Child Caregivers Respond to Children's Behaviors

In a qualitative study, 42 child caregivers participated in one of six focus groups. They were asked to address three questions in open-ended discussion. “What child behaviors are of concern to you?”, “How do you respond to these behaviors?”, and “How do you make the decision about your response?” Responses were analyzed and categorized to examine when, how, and why caregivers discipline young children. Results showed that aggression, not listening, and sexually-related behaviors were most often mentioned by caregivers as behaviors of concern to them. The most frequently mentioned disciplinary strategies were time-out, explanation, and redirection. The question related to how caregivers make decisions about responding to misbehaviors was analyzed in terms of attributions made by caregivers about misbehaviors. The majority of caregivers indicated that their response was dependent of the circumstances. Most frequently mentioned attributions were about the children themselves, for instance, their age, gender, or state. Also mentioned were home and family, society, caregiver emotion, and the child care setting. Results also showed that caregivers with higher levels of early childhood education and more experience, and those working with smaller group sizes and smaller adult-to-chiid ratios provided more thoughtful answers that were more congruent with developmental appropriateness.     

A qualitative study of caregivers' attitudes about child care

Thirty‐one caregivers and directors involved in various types of day care for young children were interviewed. Qualitative methods were used to assess their role identity constructs and attitudes toward parents and the child care profession. Caregivers thought of themselves as “mothers,” “grandmothers,” or “teachers.” These social role identities clustered with attitudes about parents and professional role (e.g., “mothers” tended to see parents as neglectful, while “teachers” felt parents failed to reinforce progress made in day care). The authors concluded that conflict over attachment issues contributed to problems between parents and caregivers.     

What is the Best Mode of Day Care For Young Children: A French Study

Different ways of helping parents care for babies are reviewed. The evaluations of those existing now in France are reported. Research results are presented to evaluate effects of different child care arrangements. “The Baby's Day,” which evaluates the temperament, the development of the relations, and the attitudes of the caregivers was created based on questions and observations. A study using this test was conducted with 262 children cared for in three ways: at home, at a day-care center, and at a family day-care home. The children were aged nine months, two years, or three and one half years (the oldest were all at the nursery school, but were previously cared for in one of these ways). The test was carried out in homes and in child-care places. The results show differences between children cared for in different ways, as well as between the same children when they go from one environment to the other. These differences, however, do not persist when the children are at the nursery school. Social class and birth order differences were found. Improvements for each mode of child care are proposed, in order to help all children develop better and all mothers to take pleasure in parenting their babies.     

Child observation in the context of assessment

“Throughout the three years of social work with the Beckfords, Ms Walstrom totally misconceived her role as the fieldworker enforcing care orders in respect of two very young children at risk. Her gaze focused on Beverly Lorrington and Morris Beckford; she averted her eyes from the children to be aware of them only as and when they were with their parents, hardly even to observe their development and never to communicate with Jasmine on her own.”     

Change in women's perceptions of parental child rearing attitudes in Turkey: a three generation comparison

The change in women's perceptions of parental child rearing practices, attitudes, and beliefs across three consecutive generations within the context of social change in the Turkish society was investigated. The total sample consisted of 48 subjects; 16 representing each consecutive generation of “daughters”, their “mothers”, and “grandmothers” from the same family. Each generation represented the time periods that signify the relatively different periods of social change in the Turkish society. Each subject sorted 87 socialization relevant items on a seven point scale for both parents. Mean difference and correlational analysis across generations was made. Perceived child rearing practices, attitudes, and beliefs show significant differences across generations. The direction of change indicates a trend towards decreasing emphasis on authoritarian control and an increasing emphasis on encouraging independence, open expression, and expression of affect.     

Consumer characteristics, food related attitudes and consumption of meat and meat products

Consumer respondents (203) in the metro-Atlanta statistical area answered a detailed questionnaire pertaining to their attitudes and perceptions of different food groups and food uses. Factor analyses resulted in five food attitude, two food item and three food-use appropriateness factors. The food attitude factors were “Like to Cook”, “Organizational”, “Adventurous”, “Convenience driven” and “Nutrition conscious but casual meal planner”. Food item factors were “Main dish” and “Snack”, Food-use appropriateness factors were “Social”, “Satiety” and “Casual”. A significant correlation between nutrition knowledge and nutrition concern, but not food attitude scores, was found. The “Organizational” factor correlated with the most numbers of variables and “Like to Cook” the least. Results of the respondents in this study indicate that consumers in this sample are leading mobile, dynamic and service oriented lifestyles.     

Characteristics of successful directors of for-profit child care centers

The need for quality child care is a national concern of increasing interest to parents, child care providers, employers, and policy-makers in the United States. One of the newest entries in child care options available for consumers is for-profit daycare chains. As for-profit chains increase in both number and size, they will receive increased research attention. Few studies have examined for-profit centers in general or the background characteristics of their directors specifically.

The purpose of this research was to develop a profile of directors of for-profit child care centers and to investigate whether certain background variables, such as level of education, differentiated “successful” from “unsuccessful” directors. Data were collected on 362 child care directors employed during a three-year period with a nation-wide daycare chain in the United States.     

Homesickness and Children's Adjustment to Hospitalization: Toward a Preliminary Model

To better understand the role of homesickness in children's adjustment to hospitalization, we culled self-report and observational data from hospital staff, primary caregivers, and children (n = 50) in a variety of inpatient units (psychiatric, burn, rehabilitation). Homesickness was more severe and less predictable than in comparable samples of children in less stressful environments (e.g., summer camp). The best predictors were negative hospitalization attitudes and previous separations from home, such as foster placements. Contrary to our hypotheses, insecure attachment and low perceived control did not predict homesickness. In the context of a “homesick disposition” model, prevention strategies should emphasize information provision, positive modeling, and coping skills training.     

Parent-professional partnership: A review and discussion of issues

This paper looks at issues which affect partnership between parents and professionals in Education. Such issues relate both to the variety of terminology used, which relates to the clarity with which “partnership” is conceived, and to the different professional groups who may see themselves as stakeholders in “partnership.”     

Social skills and attitudes associated with substance use behaviors among young adolescents

Purpose: To examine how adolescents’ attitudes and social skills affect current substance use and intentions to use substances in the future.

Methods: An anonymous questionnaire was administered to 2646 seventh graders in their classrooms. The questionnaire was developed to measure the frequency of tobacco, alcohol, and other substance use, anticipated use, positive attitudes toward drug use, self-efficacy to say “no,” decision-making skills, advertising-viewing skills, anxiety-reducing skills, communication skills, drug-resistance skills, perception of peer substance use, and weapon-carrying behavior. Ethnicity classified respondents as “white” or “students of color” and family structure indicated one vs. two-parent families. Data were analyzed with Spearman’s r, analysis of variance, and multiple linear regression.

Results: Forty-one percent of students were minority, 50.6% female, over 90% were either 12- or 13-year-olds, and 69.9% lived in two-parent families. A multiple linear regression model demonstrated that self-efficacy to say “no, positive attitudes toward drug use, perception of peer substance use, male gender, weapon-carrying, and fighting accounted for 51% of the variation in the current use multiple substance scale. Anticipated substance use during the subsequent year was significantly associated with current substance use, positive attitudes toward drug use, self-efficacy to say ”no, drug-resistance skills, weapon-carrying, and fighting behavior. This model accounted for 73.9% of the variance in anticipated substance use.

Conclusions: In today’s world, where drug use is common, building adolescents’ drug-resistance skills and self-efficacy, while enhancing decision-making capacity, may reduce their use of illegal substances.     

Teachers' Social Capital: giving of oneself

Social Capital enables teachers/caregivers to invest themselves affectively, through their behaviours, in efforts toward children's achievement. Its five dimensions, combined and implemented, allow preschool practitioners to strengthen their care of young children, and thus, increase the chances of teaching effectiveness. This concept embodies the notion that “giving of oneself to childcare insures children's learning”.     

Togetherness — A Manifestation of Day Care Life

This article discusses togetherness in the day care centre. In what way and in which situations is togetherness expressed among children? “What is the impact of adults on the rise and development of togetherness?” Answers to these questions were sought by making use of observations carried out in a cooperative Nordic study of the quality of children's lives in Danish, Finnish and Swedish day care centres. The data were collected by observing five-year-old children during their daily activities in seven day care centres. Attention was paid to relations between the children and adults as well as to the objects — in the sense of contents and objectives of ongoing activities. What do individual children do and why do they do it? “What is the object of the educator and the whole group? In what ways do the children and the educators participate in joint activity?” In this article, only the objects of activities and the relations connected with the theme of togetherness are taken into consideration. The study describes how the general object of togetherness has to do with positive emotional relations. This poses an interesting question: How, do positive emotional relations and togetherness, in turn, contribute to children's development and learning? By means of this study, only some hypotheses can be made: togetherness might be an important factor in building a real community of learners, not only in the day care centre but perhaps also in other educational settings.     

Convergent or divergent? Teacher questions to three-year-old children in day care

Open-ended, divergent questions have been found to be important for children's cognitive and language development. However, there is a paucity of research concerning the types of questions that teachers ask in day care centers that serve primarily children from low-income families. In this study, the types of teachers' questions to 50 three-year-olds [25 boys and 25 girls] from low-income families were analyzed. The total sample of 36-42 month-old children was observed in 10 day care centers. Each child was observed for 80 minutes across five typical day care settings. All of the “true” questions were coded as convergent or divergent, and the children's responses to these questions were analyzed. There were a total of 667 “true” questions asked during approximately 70 hours of observation. For both boys and girls, 88#pc of the questions were convergent and 12#pc divergent. The children were equally compliant to convergent and divergent questions. These day care children were overwhelmingly asked convergent questions [p #lt.001] by teachers. Three-year-olds are equally capable of answering divergent and convergent questions. These results indicate that teachers need training in how to ask more divergent questions to young children in order to enhance language and cognitive development.     

Walking the Line: Navigating Market and Gift Economies of Care in a Consumer‐Directed Home‐Based Care Program for Older Adults

Context

Paid caregivers of low-income older adults navigate their role at what Hochschild calls the “market frontier”: the fuzzy line between the “world of the market,” in which services are exchanged for monetary compensation, and the “world of the gift,” in which caregiving is uncompensated and motivated by emotional attachment. We examine how political and economic forces, including the reduction of long-term services and supports, shape the practice of “walking the line” among caregivers of older adults.

Methods

We used data from a longitudinal qualitative study with related and nonrelated caregivers (n = 33) paid through California’s In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program and consumers of IHSS care (n = 49). We analyzed the semistructured interviews (n = 330), completed between 2010 and 2014, using a constructivist grounded theory approach.

Findings

Related and nonrelated caregivers are often expected to “gift” hours of care above and beyond what is compensated by formal services. Cuts in formal services and lapses in pay push caregivers to further “walk the line” between market and gift economies of care. Both related and nonrelated caregivers who choose to stay on and provide more care without pay often face adverse economic and health consequences. Some, including related caregivers, opt out of caregiving altogether. While some consumers expect that caregivers would be willing to “walk the line” in order to meet their needs, most expressed sympathy for them and tried to alter their schedules or go without care in order to limit the caregivers’ burden.

Conclusions

Given economic and health constraints, caregivers cannot always compensate for cuts in formal supports by providing uncompensated time and resources. Similarly, low-income older adults are not competitive in the caregiving marketplace and, given the inadequacy of compensated hours, often depend on unpaid care. Policies that restrict formal long-term services and supports thus leave the needs of both caregivers and consumers unmet.     

Feinstein and study design

Dr. Alvan Feinstein saw himself as the father of “clinical epidemiology” in the modern meaning of this term, of this “new intellectual domain of modern medical science.” In this role, he saw himself as drawing from his “clinical sophistication” and from “the rigorous scientific demands” to which “clinicians are accustomed,” while “public health” epidemiologists “often use a more arbitrary set of standards.” His conception of the scope of clinical epidemiology was remarkably Catholic and the same was the case in respect to cause-effect research in it. In the latter, he was firmly committed to the randomized-trial paradigm, including in his teachings on study design in etiologic research. Characteristically original, many of Dr. Feinstein's study-design ideas remain controversial.     

Developmental awareness and moral stage development in child Abuse

In an attempt to better understand why children who have been sexually assaulted commonly fail to reveal their victimization to parents or other adults, a study was undertaken in which the “engagement strategies” of 41 perpetrators were examined, exploring common rationalizations, threats, etc. aimed at insuring continued silence on the part of the victim. The “appeal” for silence offered by the perpetrator to the child was analyzed according to Kohlberg's stages of moral development.

Results indicate that perpetrators appear to alter their engagement strategies to coincide with the developmental level of the child, thus further insuring silence by appealing to criteria for assessing “appropriate” or “inappropriate” behaviors (eg. sexual contact) which are developmentally consistent with the child's level of cognition and moral reasoning.     

Education and young people in care

The Oxford Dictionary defines Education as the, “systematic instruction, development of character and mental powers”. To “Educate” is referred to as, “to train or to instruct intellectually”. Teachers and Tutors use education to pass on their own acquired knowledge, knowledge which will either be interesting or useful for those entering into the workplace. This article will look at the issues surrounding a young person in care and their education, it will also examine why other sections of society also tend to neglect their schooling. “Good practice” will also be highlighted and recommendations put forward for both discussion and implementation in the workplace.