Community perspectives on early childhood development in Kenya: A qualitative study.

Background and Hypothesis: Kenyan children are at risk for having delayed early childhood development (ECD). The Care for Child Development (CCD) is a program created by UNICEF for the promotion of ECD by increasing caregiver’s knowledge about attitudes, nutrition, communication, playing, and physical health. The objective of this study was to assess key informants’ and caregivers’ perspectives on ECD and the introduction of this CCD-based intervention within the community, as well as caregivers’ perspectives on ECD after receiving the intervention. We hypothesize that caregivers who implement CCD practices into their daily life will have increased nurturing interactions with their children and positively influence their child’s development. Experimental Design or Project Methods: This study used semi-structured interviews of key informants and focus group discussions of caregivers to elicit perspectives on ECD and a CCD-based intervention in Eldoret, Kenya. The intervention was a curriculum adapted from the CCD program administered within 10 mother-group sessions. Caregivers were interviewed both before and after the intervention, while key informants were interviewed at one time-point. All interviews and focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed and translated. Qualitative analysis was performed using Dedoose software. Results: Collectively, community members and caregivers believed the relationships a child has with their caregiver, family, and community greatly influences their development. In addition, they believed emotional burden and social stigma are challenges caregivers experience and this limits their ability to take their child to necessary medical services. The intervention group appreciated the parental ECD education and further disseminated the information to other caregivers and members in their community. Conclusion and Potential Impact: By understanding the community’s collective views, we can implement the CCD program more effectively in Kenya and empower caregivers with the knowledge on how to create an environment that stimulates ECD.

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Nursing strategies for child health surveillance

Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem ◽

10.1590/1518-8345.2434.3007 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 26 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Marina Sayuri Yakuwa ◽

Sarah Neill ◽

Débora Falleiros de Mello

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Child Health ◽

Early Childhood Development ◽

Health Indicators ◽

Child Growth ◽

Health Surveillance ◽

Childhood Development ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Child Health Surveillance

ABSTRACT Objective: to appreciate the strategies promoted by nurses in the context of child health surveillance relevant to early childhood development. Method: this is a qualitative study with an inductive thematic analysis of the data, based on the conceptual principles of child health surveillance, and developed through semi-structured interviews with Brazilian nurses working with families in primary health care. Results: the nurses’ strategies in favor of child health surveillance focus on actions that anticipate harm with continuous follow-up and monitoring of health indicators. The process of child growth and development is the basis for responses and benefits to health, connection with the daily lives of families, active search, articulations between professionals and services, access to comprehensive care, and intrinsic actions between promotion, prevention and health follow-up. Conclusion: child health surveillance actions developed by nurses with families involve knowledge sharing, favor the resolution of problems, increase child health indicators, and strengthen the relationship between health and children’s rights, which support the promotion of development in early childhood.

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Integrated early childhood development policy in Iran: a qualitative policy process analysis

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/s12889-021-10646-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Omolbanin Atashbahar ◽

Ali Akbari Sari ◽

Amirhossein Takian ◽

Alireza Olyaeemanesh ◽

Efat Mohamadi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Policy Making ◽

Early Childhood Development ◽

Process Analysis ◽

Routine Data ◽

Active Role ◽

Policy Formulation ◽

Childhood Development ◽

Intersectoral Collaboration ◽

Structured Interviews

Abstract Background Integrated early childhood development (IECD) is a comprehensive approach to optimal development of children in different developmental domains from fetal stage to eight years of age. The aim of this study was to identify the factors affecting the process of policy-making for early childhood development and to clarify how these factors affect decision-making and create challenges in this regard. Method In a qualitative study, we used two main data sources including document analyses and interviews. Using purposive sampling, forty semi-structured interviews with policymakers and informants in the fields related to children were conducted in Tehran from October 2017 to June 2018. Also, 62 national and 10 international relevant documents were reviewed. A deductive-inductive approach was used to analyze the data. We used the MAXQDA11 software for data management. Results we identified 13 themes and 29 subthemes related to the stages of policymaking process including: Agenda setting (problem stream, policy stream, politics stream), Policy formulation (formulation and approval process, policy sustainability, mechanisms of stakeholders’ participation in policymaking), Policy implementation (conceptual ambiguity, intersectoral and trans-sectoral issues, structural capacities, mobilization of resources), and Policy evaluation (continuous and routine data registry system, comprehensiveness of indexes). We propose 19 policy recommendations to improve the situation. Conclusion As a multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral field with different domains, early childhood development (ECD) requires a more active role on the part of policymakers in governmental levels in supporting the related policies. Unless policymakers change their approach to decrease nonintegrated and non-comprehensive policymaking for ECD, child development will be compromised, which endangers the eventual sustainability of the society since improved IECD policy-making process improves developmental outcomes in children. In this regard, attention should be paid to the role of reinforcing intersectoral collaboration through incorporating it in the missions and the evaluation items of organizations, creating commitment in high organizational levels, and developing an inter-ministerial policymaking framework that clearly specifies the roles and responsibilities of every single sector and their interactions and collaborations.

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Integrated early childhood development policy in Iran: a stakeholder analysis

BMC Health Services Research ◽

10.1186/s12913-021-06968-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Omolbanin Atashbahar ◽

Ali Akbari Sari ◽

Amirhossein Takian ◽

Alireza Olyaeemanesh ◽

Efat Mohamadi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Policy Making ◽

Early Childhood Development ◽

Public Awareness ◽

Power Level ◽

Stakeholder Analysis ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Childhood Development ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

High Level

Abstract Background Many stakeholders are involved in the complicated process of policy making in integrated early childhood development (IECD). In other words, there are many challenges for IECD policy making in developing countries, including Iran. The aim of this study was to identify potential stakeholders and their interactions in IECD policy making in Iran. Method A mixed-methods study was conducted in two phases in 2018. First, forty semi-structured interviews and a review of IECD-related documents were conducted to identify potential stakeholders and their roles. Second, using a designed checklist, these stakeholders were assessed for power, interest, and position in IECD policy making. Then, a map of stakeholders and a three-dimensional stakeholder analysis figure were designed. Results The results of this study showed that various stakeholders, including governmental, semi-governmental, social, non-governmental and international organizations, potentially influence IECD policy in Iran. They were found to have diverse levels of power, interest and position in this regard, leading to their different impacts on the process. This diversity is assumed to have affected their levels of participation and support. Also, we found that the stakeholders with a high-power level do not have a high level of interest in, or support for, IECD policy. In general, organizational competition, complicated inter-sectoral nature of this process, insufficient budget, insufficient awareness about the importance of IECD, lack of priority given to IECD in relevant organizations, economical views rather than developmental perspectives, and lack of commitment among top managers are the reasons why this policy enjoys a low degree of support. Conclusions There are weaknesses in effective interactions and relationships among IECD policy stakeholders. This will lead to the lack of equal opportunities for optimal early childhood development. To improve this process, advocacy from high-level authorities of the organizations, negotiation with child-friendly groups, establishing a body to coordinate and oversee children’s affairs, using the capacity of non-governmental organizations, strengthening inter-sectoral collaboration by clarifying the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders and the relationships between them, and increasing public awareness can be helpful.

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Provision of Integrated Early Childhood Development in Namibia: Are We on the Right Track?

Education Sciences ◽

10.3390/educsci8030117 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 117

Author(s):

Elizabeth Ngololo Kamara ◽

Choshi Kasanda ◽

Gert Van Rooy

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Early Childhood Development ◽

Childhood Development ◽

Theory Of Change ◽

Social Emotional ◽

Community Members ◽

The Status ◽

Nutritional Needs ◽

Multiple Case ◽

The Right

The provision of Integrated Early Childhood Development (IECD) positively impacts children’s futures physically, cognitively, emotionally and socially. The assessment sought to inform intervention programs to improve the status of children’s physical, social-emotional, cognitive and educational needs, as well as their health and nutritional needs. A mixed method approach was used to collect data: a survey and multiple case studies through interviews with 32 caregivers were conducted and focus group discussions were held with community members. The findings show that the Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers lacked the essential prerequisites for the provision of quality IECD education as per the requirements stipulated in the Adapted Theory of Change (ATC). The study recommends formation of smart partnerships in providing integrated childhood development services at ECD centers to meet their health, sanitation, nutritional, physical, socio-emotional and cognitive needs.

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Early childhood teachers' and managers' lived experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa

Journal of Education ◽

10.17159/2520-9868/i84a11 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-18

Author(s):

Hasina Banu Ebrahim ◽

Colwyn Martin ◽

Lorayne Excell

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Lived Experiences ◽

Online Survey ◽

Early Childhood Development ◽

Early Childhood Teachers ◽

World Health Organisation ◽

Childhood Development ◽

World Health ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Global Pandemic

The declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation in March 2020 brought many changes to the early childhood sector internationally. The South African response is best understood in the context of an under-developed sector with pre-existing vulnerabilities. In this article, we present a contextual understanding of the lived experiences of early childhood development (ECD) teachers and managers during the lockdown and the opening phases of a risk-adjusted approach. Our use of a phenomenological lens together with systems theory provides a reality check through a focus on lived experiences. Data were produced through an online survey with 28 ECD teachers and managers. We conducted semi-structured interviews with a subset of 8 of these participants. Findings show that disruptions of COVID-19 led to entrenching inequities in service provision and early learning opportunities. These intersecting dimensions have implications for building effective ECD systems.

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