Family day care: Factors influencing the quality of caregiving practices
Fischer, Jan Lockwood
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Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/19862
Description
Title
Family day care: Factors influencing the quality of caregiving practices
Author(s)
Fischer, Jan Lockwood
Issue Date
1989
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Rubin, Louis J.
Department of Study
Education
Education, Teacher Training
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Education, Early Childhood
Education, Teacher Training
Sociology, General
Language
eng
Abstract
The increasing use of nonmaternal child care in America today has generated concerns about the quality and stability of services available. Although family day care is a commonly used form of child care, little research is available to guide policy and practice in this area. This study examines the effects of family day care providers' background characteristics, training, business practices and affiliation with support networks relative to the stability and quality of care provided. A conceptual model of the interactive effects of these variables was proposed and and tested using multiple regression procedures. The study also provides new information about the amount, types and effects of training which family day care providers bring to their jobs.
The sample includes 177 family day care providers offering full time care in Kern County, California, including 59 unlicensed, 115 licensed and 3 providers with licenses pending. Recruitment data suggest that, as a group, licensed providers may offer a source of care which is more readily accessible and stable. Telephone interviews with all participants were followed by home observations of 36 providers whose caregiving practices were evaluated using the Family Day Care Rating Scale.
The major findings are based on an examination of hypothesized relationships among family day care providers' characteristics, training, support networks, business practices, stability of services and caregiving practices. Although the overall quality of care in the homes observed was found to be generally low, considerable variance was found among providers' scores. A substantial proportion of this variance was accounted for by providers' education, training in child care and affiliation with support networks. Among the variables studied, training in child care was the single most important predictor of the quality of caregiving practices. While variables included in the proposed model account for 73.1% of the variance in quality of care based on Family Day Care Rating Scale scores, the variance found in providers' stability of services remains largely unexplained by the variables included in this study.
This study is an early step in the process of developing a theoretical basis to guide family day care policy and practice.
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