Ethnic Differences in Family Childcare Providers’ Nutrition- and Activity-Related Attitudes and Barriers

Objective. The aim of the study is to examine family childcare providers’ (FCCPs) attitudes and perceived barriers related to nutrition, physical activity (PA), and screen time (ST) behaviors of preschool children, exploring differences by provider ethnicity. Design. Baseline survey data from a cluster-randomized trial. Participants. Around 168 FCCPs completed a telephone survey, and 126 completed both telephone and in-person surveys. Main Outcome Measures. Phone and in-person surveys include 44 questions to assess FCCPs attitudes and perceived barriers regarding nutrition, PA, and ST in the family childcare home. Analysis. Associations by ethnicity (Latinx vs. non-Latinx) were assessed by ANOVA, adjusting for provider education and Bonferroni correction. Results. Some FCCP attitudes were consistent with national obesity prevention guidelines; for example, most FCCPs agreed that they have an important role in shaping children’s eating and PA habits. However, many FCCPs agreed with allowing children to watch educational TV and did not agree that children should serve themselves at meals. Adjusting for education, there were statistically significant differences in attitude and perceived barrier scores by provider ethnicity. For example, Latinx FCCPs were more likely to agree that they should eat the same foods as children p < .001 but less likely to agree that serving the food at meal and snack time is the adult’s responsibility p < .001 . Latinx FCCPs were more like to perceive barriers related to children’s safety playing outside p < .001 . Conclusions and Implications. While FCCPs hold some nutrition-, PA-, and ST-related attitudes consistent with national guidelines, training opportunities are needed for FCCPs to improve knowledge and skills and overcome perceived barriers related to nutrition and PA. Latinx FCCPs, in particular, may need culturally tailored training and support to overcome misperceptions and barriers.

What Do Childcare Providers Know about Environmental Influences on Children’s Health? Implications for Environmental Health Literacy Efforts

Children are uniquely vulnerable to toxicant exposures in their environment, which can have long-lasting impacts on their health. Childcare providers are an important population to target for environmental health literacy, as most children in the United States under five years of age spend a significant number of waking hours in non-parental care. There is an increasing body of evidence that children are exposed to toxicants in the childcare environment, and yet little is known about what childcare providers know about environmental influences on the health of children in their care. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 36 home- and center-based Illinois childcare providers to better understand their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors as they relate to environmental influences on children’s health. We found that the majority of providers had a low level of understanding of potential sources of exposure in the childcare environment, and they did not feel that environmental exposures posed a significant risk to children. Future efforts to increase environmental health literacy should focus on raising awareness and knowledge of environmental health issues for childcare providers before addressing ways that providers can reduce or prevent toxicant exposures to children in their care.

Who actually cares for children in slums? Why we need to think, and do, more about paid childcare in urbanizing sub-Saharan Africa

The early years are critical and inform the developmental trajectory of children. This is justifiably attracting growing policy attention. Much of this attention is focused on interventions and policies directed at parents, especially mothers. Yet emerging evidence suggests that increasing numbers of children in rapidly urbanizing low- and middle-income countries are now spending much of their day with other formal and informal childcare providers, including largely unregulated paid childcare providers. This paper summarizes the limited literature about the use of such paid childcare in low- and middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa, before considering possible reasons behind the lack of research evidence. Finally, key research gaps and their implications for public health practice are explored, with reference to the ongoing British Academy funded Nairobi Early Childcare in Slums research programme in Nairobi, Kenya. We argue that improving childcare may be an under-explored strategy to help some of the world's most disadvantaged children in the most important period of their lives, and that interventions in this largely informal market should be built on a rigorous research base. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Multidisciplinary perspectives on social support and maternal–child health’.

Korean Childcare Providers’ Knowledge, Attitudes, Concerns, and Practices of Febrile Convulsions

With the increase in the number of childcare facilities, childcare providers’ coping skills to take quick action in emergencies have become crucial. This study was to examine Korean childcare providers’ knowledge, attitudes, concerns, and practices regarding febrile convulsions (FCs), and to identify factors influencing their management of FCs. A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire of 216 Korean childcare providers. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the sample characteristics and FC questionnaires. The differences in the FC practice by demographic variables were assessed using t-test and one-way analysis of variance. The relationships between FC practice and other variables were investigated using Pearson correlations and regression analysis. The childcare providers showed unfavorable levels of outcomes regarding FCs with a low percentage of correct answers on FC knowledge and recommended practices as well as negative attitudes and concerns toward FCs. Additionally, results indicated that the knowledge, education, attitudes toward, and actual experiences of FCs were related to FC practices. The current findings provide important evidence to develop interventions targeting childcare providers.

Grandparental partnership status and its effects on caring for grandchildren in Europe

Grandparents are important childcare providers, but grandparental relationship status matters. According to several studies, caregiving is reduced after grandparental divorce, but differential responses by grandmothers versus grandfathers have often been glossed over. To explore the effects of relationship status on grandparental care, we analysed data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) comparing four grandparental relationship statuses (original couple, widowed, divorced, and repartnered) with respect to grandmothers’ and grandfathers’ provision of care to their birth children’s children. When proximity, kinship laterality, and grandparents’ age, health, employment, and financial status were controlled, divorced grandmothers without current partners provided significantly more childcare than grandmothers who were still residing with the grandfather, those who had new partners unrelated to the grandchildren, and widows without current partners. Grandfathers exhibited a very different pattern, providing substantially less grandchild care after divorce. Grandfathers in their original partnerships provided the most grandchild care, followed by widowers, those with new partners and finally those who were divorced. Seemingly contradictory findings in prior research, including studies using SHARE data, can be explained partly by failures to distinguish divorce’s effects on grandmothers versus grandfathers, and partly by insufficient controls for the grandmother’s financial and employment statuses.