Conditions of Caregiving, Provider Nurturance and Quality Care

Participants included 36 licensed family day care providers from six rural counties who had been providing care for a mean of 8.3 years (SO = 6.8 years). Fourteen of the providers had earned high school diplomas; twenty-two had some post high school education. At least one child from an economically strained home (as measured by AFDC receipt) was present in 44.4% of the FDC homes.

Dependent measures included: The Caregiver Interaction Scale (Arnett, 1989); Elaboration Scale from The Family Day Care Rating Scale (FDCRS, Harms and Clifford, 1989); FDCRS Total Score; and FDC program structure (e.g. frequency of enrichment activities, Kontos and Riessen, 1993). Professional self-perceptions and perceptions of job significance were assessed by self-report (adapted from Whitebook, Howes and Phillips, 1990).

Provider nurturance was influenced by the presence of children from economically strained homes and by provider education levels. Positive provider self-perceptions negatively influenced program structure. When provider self-perceptions were high, but when day care clients were experiencing economic strain, program structure involved fewer enrichment activities such as field trips, painting, singing, etc.