No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
Widening the Circle of Security: A quasi-experimental evaluation of attachment-based professional development for family child care providers
Abstract
This pilot program evaluation was undertaken to examine the effectiveness of an attachment-based, group professional-development experience, Circle of Security-Parenting, on family childcare (FCC) providers' psychological resources and self-efficacy in managing children's challenging behaviors and supporting children's socioemotional development. Licensed FCC providers with children actively in their care (n = 34) self-selected into the program, offered in English and Spanish through a regional support network for FCC providers; a comparison group of providers was recruited from the state database of licensed providers (n = 17). A significant Time × Group interaction was observed for self-efficacy in managing challenging behaviors, F(1, 46) = 30.59, p = .000, partial η(2) = .40, with participating providers' mean self-efficacy scores increasing, p = .000, d = .78, while comparison providers' decreased, p = .003, d = 1.40. Mean depressive symptoms decreased over time for both groups whereas job stress-related resources were stable over time in both groups. Patterns of association were found between providers' self-report of difficulties considering children's mental states and depressive symptoms, job stress resources, and self-efficacy. Limitations and implications for future research are reviewed, including the impact of conducting this work within an organized support network for FCC providers.
© 2015 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.
... We argue that teachers' social-emotional needs should be considered and supported within MTSS to prevent burnout and promote the fidelity of SEL programs. Teacher focused interventions such as mindfulness (Chin et al., 2019) and the Circle of Security (Cooper et al., 2017;Gray, 2015) may increase teacher's feelings of well-being, reduce teacher stress and burnout, increase positive teacher-child interactions, and, therefore increase the effectiveness of the MTSS process. Ultimately, by supporting the social-emotional growth of early childhood educators, we are building their capacity to effectively support the SEL of young children. ...
... In addition, training in child development and the importance of attachment has increased teachers' self-efficacy and positive relationships in the classroom. Thus, we believe that implementing a digital mindfulness-based intervention and training in the Circle of Security curriculum (Gray, 2015;Cooper et al., 2017) may address teachers stress, burnout, and increase educators' self-efficacy surrounding the implementation of MTSS. Ultimately, this can increase the fidelity of MTSS and promote the mental health and well-being of preschool children. ...
... Teacher-focused interventions such as teaching and supporting mindfulness (Chin et al., 2019) and Circle of Security (Gray, 2015;Cooper et al., 2017) may benefit teachers' own social and emotional needs. These interventions can increase teacher self-efficacy, increase positive teacher-student interactions, and decrease stress and burnout levels. ...
... While evidence from parent-child studies suggests that the COS approach can positivly improve caregiver sensitivity, caregiver-child attachment security, and caregiver self-efficacy, [25,53] research on the COS approach in in the childcare setting is still very limited, though promising. Gray [54] conducted a quasi-experimental pilot study investigating the impact of the COSP intervention with licenced childcare providers (N = 34). Findings indicated an increase in the childcare providers' self-efficicacy corncerning the management of challenging child behaviors compared to a control group not receiving the intervention (N = 17). ...
... Overall, it is hypothesized that the intervention will enhance caregivers' sensitive responsiveness and mindmindedness as well as other dimensions of caregiver interactive skills. Although a previous quasi-experimental study has shown promising results in terms of supporting childcare providers' self-efficacy and empathy using the Circle of Security approach [54], it has not been examined whether these effects translate into professional caregivers' sensitive behavior and mind-mindedness towards the children in their care. ...
... The most important strength of the study is the randomized controlled design. While previous quasi-experimental studies have shown promising results in terms of using the Circle of Security-approach for professional development [54], no previous studies have examined this in a randomized controlled trial. Furthermore, in a meta-analysis on the effects of interventions in childcare, the authors concluded that although interventions targeting caregiver-child interactions are moderately effective, we need more studies with sufficient power and highquality measures [24]. ...
Background
In countries where the majority of young children are enrolled in professional childcare, the childcare setting constitutes an important part of children’s caregiving environment. Research consistently shows that particularly the quality of the daily interactions and relationship between young children and their professional caregivers have long-term effects on a range of developmental child outcomes. Therefore, professional caregivers’ capacity for establishing high quality interactions with the children in their care is an important target of intervention.
Methods
A prospective, parallel, cluster-randomized wait-list controlled trial is used to test the efficacy of the attachment- and mentalization theory informed Circle of Security (COS) approach adapted to the childcare setting (COS-Classroom) on caregiver interactive skills and mind-mindedness. Participants are professional caregivers of children aged 0–2.9 years working in center-based childcare in Denmark. Approximately 31 childcare centers, corresponding to an estimated 113 caregivers, are expected to participate. The primary outcome is caregiver Sensitive responsiveness measured with the Caregiver Interactive Profile Scales (CIP-scales). Secondary outcomes include caregiver Mind-mindedness, the five remaining CIP-scales (Respect for autonomy, Structure and limit setting, Verbal communication, Developmental stimulation, and Fostering positive peer interactions), and caregivers’ resources to cope with work-related stress. Data on structural factors (e.g., staff stability, caregiver-child ratio, and level of pre-service education), caregiver attachment style, acceptability and feasibility of the COS-C together with qualitative data on how the participants experience the COS-C is additionally collected to investigate moderating and confounding effects.
Discussion
Examining the effectiveness of the COS-C in center-based childcare contributes to the knowledge of evidence-based intervention programs and can potentially improve the caregiver quality early childcare.
Trial registration : ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04654533. Prospectively registered December 4, 2020, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04654533 .
... Across these studies, sample sizes ranged from 8-9 (Coleman, 2014;Rose et al., 2018) to 256 caregivers (with more than 170 included in analyses; Maxwell et al., 2021). Of these studies, there were two randomized controlled trials (Cassidy et al., 2017b -COS-P vs. waitlist control;Risholm Mothander et al., 2018 -COS-P + treatment-as-usual vs. treatment-as-usual) and another three that included a comparison condition (Gray, 2015;Horton & Murray, 2015;Maxwell et al., 2021). In general, there is mixed evidence for parent and child benefits of COS-P across these studies. ...
... For example, COS-P has been found to improve caregiver-report of child inhibitory control (Cassidy et al., 2017b), and reflective functioning (Kohlhoff et al., 2016;Maxwell et al., 2021). Yet, in contrast, no significant improvements were found for similar child and parent outcomes in other studies (child behavior problems: Cassidy et al., 2017b andMaxwell et al., 2021; caregiver reflective functioning: Gray, 2015;Kohlhoff et al. 2016;Maupin et al., 2017;Risholm Mothander et al., 2018). Nevertheless, positive COS-P program effects have been found for other measured outcomes, including parent stress and depression (Coleman, 2014;Krishnamoorthy et al., 2020;Maxwell et al., 2021), caregiver-reported self-efficacy (Gray, 2015;Maxwell et al., 2021;Rose et al., 2018), and self-reported maternal unsupportive responses and empathy COS-P Randomized Controlled Trial Results 8 (Cassidy et al., 2017b;Kohlhoff et al., 2016;Maxwell et al., 2021). ...
... Yet, in contrast, no significant improvements were found for similar child and parent outcomes in other studies (child behavior problems: Cassidy et al., 2017b andMaxwell et al., 2021; caregiver reflective functioning: Gray, 2015;Kohlhoff et al. 2016;Maupin et al., 2017;Risholm Mothander et al., 2018). Nevertheless, positive COS-P program effects have been found for other measured outcomes, including parent stress and depression (Coleman, 2014;Krishnamoorthy et al., 2020;Maxwell et al., 2021), caregiver-reported self-efficacy (Gray, 2015;Maxwell et al., 2021;Rose et al., 2018), and self-reported maternal unsupportive responses and empathy COS-P Randomized Controlled Trial Results 8 (Cassidy et al., 2017b;Kohlhoff et al., 2016;Maxwell et al., 2021). In six of these past evaluations of COS-P, the participants were caregivers with some degree of vulnerability or risk, such as parenting skill deficits (Maxwell et al., 2021;Risholm Mothander et al., 2018), financial stress (Cassidy et al., 2017b;Maupin et al., 2017), or substance misuse (Coleman, 2014;Horton & Murray, 2015). ...
The Circle of Security–Parenting Intervention (COS-P; Cooper et al., 2009) is a psychoeducational program for caregivers of young children that has been widely disseminated. The program is founded in attachment theory and relies on computer-delivered content and parent reflection and discussion to teach concepts of safety and security to promote better caregiver-child relationships and child wellbeing. The present study is a randomized controlled trial of COS-P, individually delivered to 85 Australian caregivers (51 COS-P, 34 waitlist control) who reported parenting distress and child disruptive behaviors. Caregivers completed a baseline assessment and repeated the assessment after completion of COS-P or 8 weeks on the waitlist. Caregivers completed surveys to report child symptoms, and parenting stress, anxious and avoidant attachment, reflective functioning, parenting practices, and depressive symptoms. No differences in COS-P vs. waitlist participants were found at baseline. Analyses of complete data (35 COS-P, 25-26 waitlist) revealed a greater decline in caregivers’ attachment anxiety and negative parenting relative to waitlist, but only attachment anxiety in intent-to-treat analyses. Other improvements were found, but these extended to both the COS-P and waitlist conditions and did not differ between conditions. Overall, effects of COS-P were small and rarely significant, suggesting the need to consider alternative programs that have evidence of effectiveness when providing services to at-risk families.
... There is even less evidence regarding the professional development benefits of any of the COS trainings for practitioners, and whether these might vary in relation to professional background and/or duration and content of the workshop. Two published studies have examined, albeit using different approaches, whether the exposure to a form of Circle of Security intervention itself (Gray, 2015) or a form of Circle of Security practitioner training (Avery et al., 2008) can build attachmenttheory informed professional skills. Gray (2015) used a pre-post quasi-experimental design to examine the professional development benefits of childcare workers attending a Circle of Security-Parenting program (COS-P) that included reflective discussions regarding their caregiving relationships with the children in their care. ...
... Two published studies have examined, albeit using different approaches, whether the exposure to a form of Circle of Security intervention itself (Gray, 2015) or a form of Circle of Security practitioner training (Avery et al., 2008) can build attachmenttheory informed professional skills. Gray (2015) used a pre-post quasi-experimental design to examine the professional development benefits of childcare workers attending a Circle of Security-Parenting program (COS-P) that included reflective discussions regarding their caregiving relationships with the children in their care. ...
... Taking a reflective stance is a key objective of all infant mental health approaches, considered to be a hall mark of best practice (Weatherston & Osofsky, 2009) and one of the explicit COS training targets. Future studies could therefore also examine changes in practitioners' reflective functioning, evaluate changes in practitioners' self-efficacy, shown to improve in Gray's (2015) study with child care workers, and examine the extent to which the approach is actually implemented in field work with families, perhaps by incorporating observational and practice log book methodologies. COS-P trainees are encouraged to use a reflective journal (Quinlan, 2016) once they begin using the intervention in their work, and encouraged to undertake reflective consultations. ...
This article evaluated whether attendance at Circle of Security training workshops resulted in attendees showing greater empathy and attachment-related knowledge and understanding, and fewer judgmental responses to viewing a stressful parent–child interaction. Participants were 202 practitioners who attended and completed a 2-day (n = 70), 4-day (n = 105), or 10-day (n = 27) COS training workshop in Australia or New Zealand in 2015. In a pre/post design, participant reactions to a video clip of a challenging parent–child interaction were coded for empathic, judgmental, or attachment-focused language. Attachment understanding was coded in response to questions about the greatest challenge that the dyad faced. In all training conditions, participants provided significantly more attachment-focused descriptors and showed significantly greater attachment understanding after training, but significantly fewer empathic descriptors. While participants at the longer workshops provided significantly fewer judgmental/critical descriptors, there was no change for those attending the 2-day workshop. Irrespective of workshop duration or professional background, participants took a more relational perspective on the vignette after the training workshops. More detailed research is required to establish the extent to which this increased knowledge and understanding is retained and integrated into infant mental health practice with parents and young children.
... Furthermore, whether the shorter COS-P intervention would replicate changes in RF is less clear, but warrants further attention as other short-term attachment-based interventions have demonstrated positive effects on parents' RF (Sleed et al. 2013;Suchman et al. 2010). In one quasi-experimental study that evaluated the impact of COS-P on reflective functioning in 34 family childcare providers, an area that is less well understood and underexplored, no significant changes in reflective capacities, measured via the administration of the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (Luyton et al. 2017), as a result of the intervention were found (Gray 2015). However, it is difficult to interpret these COS-P findings given the differences in populations studied, the delivery of COS-P to childcare providers, as well as the limited understanding of the measurement of RF in childcare contexts. ...
... Only two prior studies have shown maternal depressive symptoms to improve following COS (Huber et al. 2016) and COS-PP (Cassidy et al. 2010) and these studies did not include a control group and delivered lengthier, more intensive COS interventions, making it difficult to isolate the effects of COS on maternal depressive symptoms. In regards to COS-P, when it was delivered to Family Child Care providers, reductions in depressive symptoms were observed for both intervention and control groups (Gray 2015). No other studies, to our knowledge, have examined the impact of COS-P on depressive symptoms in a maternal sample. ...
... The null findings in the current study are likely due to low levels of prementalizing with high levels of interest and curiosity at baseline, indicating high levels of reflective functioning in our maternal sample prior to participating in the intervention, with little room for improvement over time. High RF scores were also seen at baseline in a sample of FCC providers, showing similar null findings in RF following COS-P (Gray 2015). Notably, levels of RF did not decrease following the intervention, evidencing stability over time in this maternal sample. ...
Circle of Security-Parenting (COS-P) is a widely used parenting intervention that is gaining popularity globally as it is currently being delivered across several continents. Despite the global uptake of COS-P, there is limited research on its effectiveness with considerable variability in its delivery. Here we present a multi-site evaluation of the group delivery of COS-P to under-resourced mothers (n = 131 enrolled) in an urban community as facilitated by community-based providers (n = 12) from community sites (n = 6) that provide maternal and child services. The feasibility and acceptability of delivering COS-P in the community are highlighted as well as characteristics of sites and providers as they relate to implementation efforts, and pre and post-intervention data examining COS-P and maternal caregiving functioning (i.e., depressive symptoms, reflective functioning) are also included. Several service delivery barriers were encountered at agency, provider and participant levels that created obstacles for program dissemination, participant retention and evaluation. Nonetheless, COS-P was successfully delivered in the community when sites embedded the program within their existing infrastructure and had the internal capacity for delivery, participant recruitment, supervision, and community presence. Mothers who participated in COS-P also reported fewer depressive symptoms following the intervention (n = 25). This multi-site implementation and evaluation study has important implications for the delivery of parenting services to under-resourced communities globally. Implications for future research and service delivery are discussed.
... More recently, COS-P was found to improve parental mentalizing and self-efficacy and reduce caregiving helplessness and hostility in a multisite non-randomized waitlist control study (Maxwell et al., 2021). In contrast, three studies investigating whether COS-P can improve parental RF found no effect (Gray, 2015;Maupin et al., 2017;Zimmer-Glembeck et al., 2022). ...
... It is important to note that the present findings regarding COS-P effects on RF do stand in contrast with some previous research (e.g. Gray, 2015;Maupin et al., 2017;Zimmer-Gembeck et al., 2022). One possible explanation for this is the sensitivity of the RF measure we used Journal of Child and Family Studies given our population of study compared to self-report RF measures used in many other studies. ...
Sensitive and responsive parenting is known to promote secure attachment. Caregiver reflective functioning (RF), one’s capacity to mentalize, is a critical mechanism for caregiver behaviors supportive of secure attachment. Interventions targeting RF can improve caregiving quality, and in turn, attachment security. One such promising intervention is Circle of Security-Parenting (COS-P), a brief eight-week parenting program designed to improve caregiver behaviors known to promote attachment security. Using a randomized wait-list control design, we examined the efficacy of the COS-P program in improving caregiver RF, and in turn, positive caregiver behaviors. The present sample of forty-six primary caregivers (3 fathers, 40 mothers, 1 grandfather, 2 grandmothers) were predominately low-income and people of color. Caregivers were randomly assigned to the COS-P intervention group or wait-list control group. Pre/post data collection included demographic information, interview to assess RF (PDI-R2-S), and a caregiver-child semi-structured play interaction (Crowell). As a result of the brief intervention, intervention caregivers, compared to control group caregivers, demonstrated significant growth in RF, behavioral responsiveness, and emotional responsiveness. Caregiver RF at posttest explained a significant amount of variance in both posttest behavioral and emotional responsiveness above and beyond pretest RF, pretest parenting behavior, and intervention condition. Using a randomized waitlist control trial, and a gold-standard measure of RF, these findings extend previous literature by not only demonstrating a significant intervention effect on key outcomes known to promote attachment security, but also by highlighting the important role that caregiver RF plays in this process.
... Findings, while preliminary, are noteworthy. First, an 8-week version of the group-based Circle of Security-Parenting (COS-P) program was evaluated in a small quasi-experimental study of family child care providers (N = 51; Gray, 2015). The COS approach involves a trained group leader teaching parents or caregivers basic attachment theory and research, and helping them to reflect on their own histories and caregiving behaviors. ...
... In Gray's (2015) inquiry, the child care providers who received the intervention showed an increase over time in self-reported efficacy in managing children's challenging behaviors, whereas those in the comparison group showed a decrease. Intervention participants also experienced the COS-P program as extremely positive and reported an increase in their competence in supporting children's socioemotional development. ...
Edward Zigler pioneered and insisted upon the integration of science, practice, and policy development to support vulnerable children and families, reduce poverty, and improve US wellbeing, writ large. His far-reaching scholarship in turn critically shaped developmental science and US policy in multiple areas. This review reflects upon Zigler's influence on US child care, Head Start, Early Head Start, and prekindergarten programs. It describes the integration of one major area of developmental science, the field of attachment theory, research, and intervention, with US child care and early childhood education programs and policy. The integration of attachment into these systems not only epitomizes Zigler's overarching canon but also has improved services and advanced attachment theory and research. Throughout the review, I suggest next steps for leveraging attachment theory, research, and intervention to improve US child care and early childhood education systems in ways that both reflect and carry forward the legacy of Edward Zigler.
... The specific effects of the study ruled by the PRISMA protocol are not part of this article. First, from a theoretical approach, we find that the research included child development from an intersubjective perspective (Gray, 2015) and was based on the definition of Ainsworth et al. (1978) about maternal sensitivity, which has shown a causal relationship with child attachment (Bakermans- Kranenburg et al., 2003;De Wolff & van Ijzendoorn, 1997;Werner et al., 2016). ...
Attachment theory-based interventions (Bowlby, J. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 130(3), 201–210, 1977) that promote maternal sensitivity have shown promising results in improving nurturing environments and increasing attachment in children. However, there are no program validations with participants in socio-economic conditions of psychosocial risk. We present the design and validation of a maternal sensitivity program to promote attachment in children in Colombia’s psychosocial risk context. We follow the guidelines of the Medical Research Council (MRC) (2000) and apply the phases of theoretical review, preliminary modeling of the intervention, validation by expert judges, and pilot test. Kendall’s W test showed adequate asymptotic significance on the judges’ criteria, and their comments allowed us to improve the initial design. We applied the program adjusted to six mother–child dyads, demonstrating the increase generated in the sensitivity and children’s secure base behavior variables. We discuss the applications of the program and its benefits in countries with vulnerable populations.
... During the last decades, a number of international and national prevention programs has been developed for the ECEC setting (Egert et al., 2018;Werner et al., 2016) with a small number of programs addressing sensitive teacher-child-interactions (e.g., Fukkink & Tavecchio, 2010;Gray, 2015;Groeneveld et al., 2011;Helmerhorst et al., 2017). However, there is a lack of theory-driven and evidence-based programs and approaches in German-speaking countries. ...
Due to an increasing number of children under the age of three attending early childhood education and care (ECEC), there is an increasing need for high-quality care settings. In addition to primary caregivers, ECEC teachers are important socializers of children’s emotional development and may become children’s attachment figures. Early preventive interventions bear the potential to reduce the risk for later maladaptive development in the social-emotional domain. The first objective of the present article is to introduce the Papilio-U3 program, a universal preventive intervention program to foster positive and sensitive teacher-child interactions, to foster children’s early social-emotional competence and secure child-teacher attachment relationships in ECEC, and to prevent children’s emotional and behavioral problems. Furthermore, we report the design and first results of the formative evaluation derived from the pilot evaluation study. The program was developed according to the Intervention Mapping Approach, and the present article describes the planning process comprising a needs assessment and description of the intervention context, the derivation of the logic model of change, a detailed account of the program design, production, implementation, and an overview of the program evaluation study (multi-centric, randomized-controlled trial). The total sample of the evaluation study comprised 125 teachers (age M= 34.0, SD = 10.1, 98.4 % female) from 55 ECEC centers. For the formative evaluation, teachers of the intervention group (n = 61) reported on training content, methods, material, organizational conditions, and potential challenges in the course of program implementation. Finally,we provide directions to revise the program and to guide future implementation of preventive intervention programs in the ECEC context.
... COS-P includes many components of the original COS-I intervention but focuses more on education, using pre-recorded videos of caregiver-child interactions instead of videos of group participants. Other adaptations of the original COS-I protocol include COS Perinatal Protocol, developed for delivery to parents during pregnancy up to 12 months of postpartum (Cassidy et al., 2010); COS-Home-Visiting-4 (COS-HV4), a home-based protocol that includes video review of infant-child interactions as well as live feedback to caregivers during home-based parent-infant interactions (Cassidy et al., 2011); COS hybrid model, which comprises both the Circle of Security Parenting material and individualized video reviews (Huber et al., 2020); and Circle of Security in the Classroom, developed for childcare and preschool teachers (Cooper et al., 2017;Gray, 2015). ...
There is strong evidence to show links between attachment security in young children and a range of positive outcomes in social, emotional, and psychological domains. The aims of this review were to provide a narrative summary of (1) the attachment-based interventions currently available for caregivers of toddlers aged 12–24 months and for which research about the impact of the program on child attachment patterns has been reported, and (2) the empirical effectiveness of these interventions at improving attachment security. A number of interventions were shown to be associated with shifts to secure and/or organized attachment, with Child-Parent Psychotherapy and Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up emerging as the interventions with the strongest evidence bases. For most interventions, evidence came from just a single research study, and in some cases from studies that were not randomized controlled trials. In order for clinicians to make informed decisions about the interventions they use with parents and toddlers, it is vital that further research be conducted to test the efficacy of all available attachment-based parenting programs using randomized controlled trial designs, in a range of settings and clinical and cultural groups, and with longitudinal follow-ups.
... Three studies have a cross-sectional research design. Two of them found improvements in teachers skills/behaviors after the intervention [23,28], while one study did not find any improvement in teachers skills/behaviors but only in the teachers' perceived self-efficacy and competence in managing children challenging behaviors and supporting their socioemotional development [29]. ...
Sensitive caregiver–child interactions appear fundamental throughout childhood, supporting infants’ wellbeing and development not only in a familial context but in professional caregiving as well. The main aim of this review was to examine the existing literature about Early Childhood Education Context (ECEC) intervention studies dedicated to caregiver–child interaction, fostering children’s socioemotional developmental pathways. Studies published between January 2007 and July 2021 were identified in four electronic databases following PRIMSA guidelines. The initial search yielded a total of 342 records. Among them, 48 studies were fully reviewed. Finally, 18 of them met all inclusion criteria and formed the basis for this review. Main factors characterizing implemented programs were recorded (e.g., intervention and sample characteristics, dimensions of the teacher–child interaction targeted by the intervention, outcome variables, main results) in order to frame key elements of ECE intervention programs. Our review points to a range of fundamental issues that should consider to enhance ECEC interventions’ efficacy, supporting children’s socioemotional development and caregiver–child interaction. Reflections and considerations for future research are provided.
... However, specific analysis was not conducted to test whether the group was effective for this particular sample. More generally, attachment-based parenting interventions have been found to improve caregivers' efficacy in managing challenging behaviour (Gray, 2015), which is particularly pertinent as there are higher rates of challenging behaviour in children with learning disability (Pilling et al., 2015). To the authors' knowledge, no study has explored the impact of the COS-P group on parents of children with learning disabilities. ...
The Circle of Security Parenting (COS-P) programme can be helpful for some parents of children with learning disabilities to think about their relationship with their child. • Parenting a child with learning disabilities is different, and COS-P can highlight this difference. • This can feel painful for parents and may stop them engaging with the programme Abstract The promotion of secure attachment relationships in childhood leads to better outcomes in later life (British Psychological Society 2017, Incorporating Attachment Theory into Practice: Clinical Practice Guideline for Clinical Psychologists Working with People who have Intellectual Disabilities). The Circle of Security Parenting Programme (COS-P) provides a clear framework for reflecting on attachment relationships (Cooper et al 2009, Zero to Three, 37, 27). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents of children with learning disabilities who attended a COS-P programme to find out about their experiences of the course and how applicable it was to them. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Four key themes were identified: these related to (1) COS-P concepts are relevant to all children but (2) parenting a child with a learning disability is different and (3) COS-P can create a focus on their child as different, which can be painful, and (4) changes recommended to make COS-P suitable for parents of children with learning disabilities. This paper outlines the benefits and challenges of COS-P in sharing concepts related to attachment, whilst highlighting differences for parents of children and young people with learning disabilities, which can be painful.
... However, specific analysis was not conducted to test whether the group was effective for this particular sample. More generally, attachment-based parenting interventions have been found to improve caregivers' efficacy in managing challenging behaviour (Gray, 2015), which is particularly pertinent as there are higher rates of challenging behaviour in children with learning disability (Pilling et al., 2015). To the authors' knowledge, no study has explored the impact of the COS-P group on parents of children with learning disabilities. ...
Accessible Summary
• The Circle of Security Parenting (COS‐P) programme can be helpful for some parents of children with learning disabilities to think about their relationship with their child.
• Parenting a child with learning disabilities is different, and COS‐P can highlight this difference.
• This can feel painful for parents and may stop them engaging with the programme.
Abstract
1.1 Background
Background: The promotion of secure attachment relationships in childhood leads to better outcomes in later life (British Psychological Society 2017, Incorporating Attachment Theory into Practice: Clinical Practice Guideline for Clinical Psychologists Working with People who have Intellectual Disabilities). The Circle of Security Parenting Programme (COS‐P) provides a clear framework for reflecting on attachment relationships (Cooper et al 2009, Zero to Three, 37, 27).
1.2 Methods
Methods: Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with parents of children with learning disabilities who attended a COS‐P programme to find out about their experiences of the course and how applicable it was to them. The data were analysed using thematic analysis.
1.3 Findings
Findings: Four key themes were identified: these related to (1) COS‐P concepts are relevant to all children but (2) parenting a child with a learning disability is different and (3) COS‐P can create a focus on their child as different, which can be painful, and (4) changes recommended to make COS‐P suitable for parents of children with learning disabilities.
1.4 Conclusions
Conclusions: This paper outlines the benefits and challenges of COS‐P in sharing concepts related to attachment, whilst highlighting differences for parents of children and young people with learning disabilities, which can be painful.
... Norris (2001) studied 70 listed HBCC providers and found that those who continuously participate in workshops offer higher quality care. HBCC providers who attend PD sessions also report increased knowledge of child development, more linguistic input, greater self-efficacy, and better health and safety practices (Gray, 2015). ...
The past decade has seen a dramatic growth of non-standard work schedules in the workforce, leading to increasing demand for non-standard hour child care during evenings, nights, and weekends. Low-income families, less-educated parents, and single parents with young children report greater demand for non-standard hour care. Given the prevalence of non-standard hour care and the importance of quality child care, a better understanding of who provides non-standard hour care and how to support this sector is necessary. Home-based child care (HBCC) providers are the largest caregiving group serving children under age 6 during non-standard hours. Through secondary data analysis of the 2012 National Survey of Early Care and Education on listed home-based child care providers (n = 3476), decision tree analysis was used to predict whether listed HBCC providers offer non-standard hour care. Results indicated those providers who offered non-standard hour care are more likely to receive government subsidies, have lower educational levels, and serve fewer children. The overall accuracy of the decision tree model was 63%. The present study also examined the relationship between providers' professional engagement and the total number of non-standard working hours (n = 880). The entire model presented a medium effect size. Providers who received home visitors and/or coaching tend to provide more hours of non-standard hour care. To better support HBCC providers in offering non-standard hour care, policy recommendations are presented.
... Although the EPDS was developed to screen for depression in antenatal and postnatal women, it has been validated for the assessment of mothers of preschool-aged children (66), fathers (67), and adults in the general population (68). While depression symptoms are not an explicit primary or secondary target of COS-P, there is some evidence from the limited COS-P research to date that depression symptoms are improved following COS-P (24,69), and maternal depression is commonly examined as a moderator of the effectiveness of attachment-based interventions (26). ...
Background: Parenting interventions informed by attachment theory are an increasingly popular choice for clinical services that work with parents of babies and young children. Circle of Security Parenting (COS-P) is one such intervention, which has had extraordinary uptake internationally. Evidence for COS-P is very limited, however; there are few published studies, most with very small samples, and findings are mixed. This paper describes a multi-site evaluation of COS-P, designed to help address this evidence gap. Methods/Design: This is a non-randomized controlled effectiveness study of COS-P in four community child and family health settings. Participants are caregivers of children aged 6 years and under, who present to study sites with parenting challenges in the early parenting period. Participants are recruited through these sites, and allocated to either treatment or waitlist control condition based on their capacity to attend the next available COS-P group. Outcomes (changes in caregiving attitudes and capacities linked to child social and emotional development, and caregiver depression symptoms) are assessed at baseline and post-treatment/waitlist using self-report questionnaires (all participants), and a narrative interview and 5-min parent-child interaction (a sub-sample of participants). Additionally, potential moderators of the intervention (demographic, symptom severity) will be tested. Discussion: This is one of the first controlled evaluations of COS-P, and the first in Australia where COS-P dissemination has been particularly widespread. Results from this study will provide valuable information about the effectiveness of COS-P for caregivers with early parenting challenges, and will increase understanding of what works for whom.
... Much of the work on the effects of professional development on selfefficacy, however, has focused on educators working with older children (e.g., Kosko & Wilkins, 2009;Voss & Bufkin, 2011;Wilcox-Herzog & Ward, 2004) or children with disabilities (e.g., Baker-Ericzén et al., 2009), leaving questions about the self-efficacy of educators working with typically developing infants and toddlers. Furthermore, these studies have primarily examined self-efficacy related to general classroom practices (Wilcox-Herzog & Ward, 2004), behavior management (e.g., Gray, 2015), or classroom inclusion of children with disabilities (e.g., Baker-Ericzén et al., 2009;Voss & Bufkin, 2011). As self-efficacy can differ depending on domain, it is important to understand how professional development may be associated with self-efficacy in supporting the language and communication development of infants and toddlers. ...
Developing strong language and communication skills in the first years of life provides young children with a foundation for a number of positive outcomes, including school readiness, early literacy skills, and self-regulation. High quality language supports in early childhood education programs are key to this development. Part of providing these high-quality language supports involves educators perceiving themselves as efficacious in their capability to support young children’s language development. Using mixed methods, this study examines the extent to which there are changes in educators’ language-focused self-efficacy after participating in professional development program focused on promoting infant/toddler language development. We examine the changes across two groups: (1) educators who participated in a workshop focused on infant/toddler language development and (2) educators who participated in the same workshop plus one-on-one practice-based coaching. Results suggest that participation in the workshop plus coaching compared to the workshop alone was related to greater growth in self-efficacy in language modeling and instructional practices. In follow-up interviews, coached educators reported on their perceptions of impact of the program on their practices and interactions with children. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
... A randomized controlled trial of the COS-HV4 model suggested that while there was no main effect of treatment, intervention effects were detected for infants who were more irritable (Cassidy et al. 2011). The COS-P DVD program, which is the most widely disseminated version of COS, is associated with improvements in self-efficacy and depressive symptoms, but not reflective functioning (Gray 2015). A recent randomized controlled trial of COS-P found that relative to waitlisted mothers, COS-P mothers provided fewer self-reported unsupportive responses to their children's distress, and their children had better observed inhibitory control (Cassidy et al. 2017). ...
In the first months and years of life, a young child’s relationship with his mother and other caregivers is critical and serves as the foundation for rest of the development. The postpartum period is a time of increased vulnerability to psychopathology for mothers, especially in the context of prior trauma. Trauma exposure, depression, and substance abuse can impede a mother’s ability to provide a kind of sensitive, responsive, attuned care that is necessary for her child’s optimal development. In this chapter, we discuss parenting processes among mothers with trauma exposure, depression, and substance abuse along with mother-infant therapeutic interventions that aim to improve mother-infant relationships in these at-risk populations to mitigate the intergenerational transmission of risk.
... For example, the Circle of Security-Parenting program was modified from a parenting intervention to a group-based professional development program for FCC providers. Participating providers reported greater self-efficacy in dealing with challenging behaviors (Gray, 2015). By closely examining existing supports that are available to center-based teachers and parents and consulting the literature about effective professional development supports for HBCC providers (Bromer & Korfmacher, 2017;Hatfield & Hoke, 2016), it may be possible to tailor existing programs to meet the specific needs of HBCC providers and support them in effectively working with children with challenging behaviors. ...
This study explored the prevalence of expulsion in home‐based child care (HBCC) settings using a nationally representative sample of HBCC providers from the National Survey of Early Care and Education. In addition to prevalence, enrollment and provider characteristics that predicted expulsion were examined. Although there is increasing awareness of the prevalence of early childhood suspension and expulsion in early care and education settings and the negative effects it has on children's development, few studies have included or focused on HBCC, where many children receive care. This study highlights that many home‐based providers, especially listed providers, report that they expelled at least one child within the last year. Significant predictors of expulsion emerged, including enrollment characteristics such as caring for children with disabilities, enrolling more children, and caring for children unrelated to the provider. Provider characteristics, including years of experience, provider education, and provider age, also predicted provider report of expulsion. These results provide insight as to possible strategies that may be effective in reducing expulsion rates in this caregiving context.
... A randomized controlled trial of the COS-HV4 model suggested that while there was no main effect of treatment, intervention effects were detected for infants who were more irritable (Cassidy et al. 2011). The COS-P DVD program, which is the most widely disseminated version of COS, is associated with improvements in self-efficacy and depressive symptoms, but not reflective functioning (Gray 2015). A recent randomized controlled trial of COS-P found that relative to waitlisted mothers, COS-P mothers provided fewer self-reported unsupportive responses to their children's distress, and their children had better observed inhibitory control (Cassidy et al. 2017). ...
... Initial purposes of PRF measures were to directly measure maternal representations of their child [24] and the PRF functions that influence the intergenerational transmission of attachment [1,4]. The application of PRF measures has expanded to different contexts such as drug-use disorders [25], mothers with childhood maltreatment [26,27], infant distress [28], and parenting programs [29,30,31,32,12,33]. ...
Background:
Parental reflective functioning (PRF) is the capacity parents have to understand their own mental states and those of their children, as well as the influence of those mental states on behavior. Parents with greater capacity for PRF are more likely to foster secure attachment with their children. The Parental Development Interview is a gold standard measure of PRF but is hampered by cost, training, and length of administration. The 18-item Parent Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ-18) is a simpler option developed to capture 3 types of PRF: (1) prementalizing, (2) parent's certainty, and (3) interest and curiosity surrounding a child's mental state.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to examine the factor structure and select psychometric properties of the PRFQ in a sample of Canadian parents.
Methods:
We examined the factor structure and discriminant and construct validity of the PRFQ-18 among 306 parents (males=120 and females=186) across Canada; the age range of children was 0 to 12 years. Parents also completed Web-based measures of perceived stress, parental coping, parenting competence, and social support.
Results:
A confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the hypothesized 3-factor structure of the PRFQ-18 providing evidence that the PRFQ-18 may be a useful and practical measure of PRF in Canadian adults and showed minor revisions may improve the suitability of the PRFQ-18 for assessing PRF.
Conclusions:
These results add support for the construct validity of the PRFQ-18.
... In short, improving the empathy and self-efficacy of caregivers may reduce stress in the home environment and, as a result, boost the cognitive and emotional functioning of the child. Various interventions have been developed to optimize attachment relationships between children and caregivers [26][27][28][29]. Bakermans-Kranenburg, van IJzendoorn, and Juffer [30] found that short interventions with a clear behavioral focus on enhancing parental sensitivity were the most successful in improving secure attachment in infants. ...
Background:
A secure attachment with one or more caregivers is one of the most important predictors of cognitive development and emotional wellbeing. Persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) have extra need for secure relationships with primary caregivers but can find making connections difficult. This study aims to explore the effect of a non-invasive m-learning intervention on the empathy and self-efficacy of caregivers, in view of improving attachment relationships with persons with ID.
Methods:
A randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted to assess the efficacy of the HiSense APP-ID. The study will include 100 parents/relatives and 100 professional caregivers of adults with mild or moderate ID (18 years and older). Of both groups of participants, half will complete the m-learning intervention. Data will be collected before the intervention starts, immediately after completion of the m-learning, and 1 month after the intervention. Participants will complete questionnaires concerning knowledge about attachment theory, empathy and self-efficacy (primary outcome measures) and social validity (secondary measures).
Discussion:
The intervention aims to increase caregiver understanding of attachment theory and to improve empathy and self-efficacy, which may lead to better care and less stress in social interactions. The HiSense APP-ID is an m-learning intervention that can be done independently on any digital device. The course is therefore easily accessible for caregivers of persons with ID. The current study will provide insight into the effectiveness of the intervention for parents/family members and professional caregivers of persons with mild or moderate ID.
Trial registration:
Nederlands Trial Register, NTR 6944 . Registered on 16 December 2017.
... Initial purposes of PRF measures were to directly measure maternal representations of their child [24] and the PRF functions that influence the intergenerational transmission of attachment [1,4]. The application of PRF measures has expanded to different contexts such as drug-use disorders [25], mothers with childhood maltreatment [26,27], infant distress [28], and parenting programs [29,30,31,32,12,33]. ...
UNSTRUCTURED
Background: Parental reflective functioning (PRF) is the capacity parents have to understand their own mental states and those of their children's, as well as the influence of those mental states on behavior. Parents with greater capacity for PRF are more likely to foster secure attachment with their children. The Parental Development Interview (PDI) is a gold standard measure of PRF but is hampered by cost, training, and length of administration. The 18-item Parent Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ-18) is a simpler option developed to capture 3 types of PRF: (a) pre-mentalizing, (b) parent’s certainty, and (c) interest and curiosity surrounding a child’s mental state. Objectives: We sought to examine the factor structure and select psychometric properties of the PRFQ in a sample of Canadian parents. Methods: We examined the factor structure and discriminant and construct validity of the PRFQ- 18 among 308 parents (Males=120; Females=186) across Canada who also completed online measures of perceived stress, parental coping Scale, parenting competence social support. Results: A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the hypothesized 3-factor structure of the PRFQ-18 providing evidence that the PRFQ-18 may be a useful and practical measure of PRF in Canadian adults and showed minor revisions may improve the suitability of the PRFQ-18 for assessing PRF. Conclusions: These results add support for the construct validity of the PRFQ-18.
... Researchers found that coursework combined with coaching or home visiting was related to a greater use of teaching strategies for language learning (Ota and Austin 2013) and increased quality of language and literacy teaching (Koh and Neuman 2009). Group supports have also been linked to increased quality of interactions and environment (Gray 2015;Shivers 2012), although these studies did not focus specifically on instructional practices. ...
Background
Home-based child care is a widely-used form of child care. However, given its prevalence, there is little research examining the providers’ instructional practices and how these may vary by provider characteristics.
Objective
The goal of this study is to describe variation in instructional practices among home-based child care providers and to examine predictors of instructional practices, including provider, program, and community characteristics.
Methods
This study examines the instructional practices of listed and unlisted paid home-based child care providers using data from the National Survey of Early Care and Education through descriptive analyses and hierarchical multiple regression.
Results
Descriptive analyses suggest that providers across types report implementing learning activities, although this is more prevalent among listed providers. Results of a hierarchical multiple regression reveal that recent professional engagement predicts a higher frequency of planned learning activities for listed and unlisted paid providers, although the significant predictors are different for the two groups of providers.
Conclusions
Home-based child care providers vary by provider type in the frequency of their instructional practices. Increasing access to professional development and social support opportunities may be an important strategy for supporting their implementation of educational activities with the children they serve. Additionally, different supports may be beneficial for listed and unlisted paid providers.
... Regarding COS-P few empirical studies are published. Gray (2015) reported that COS-P was found valuable as a tool for childcare providers to improve their efficacy in dealing with challenging child-behaviors. COS-P has also been reported to be useful in clinical case-work to improve parental functioning (Pazzagli, Laghezza, Manaresi, Mazzeschi & Powell, 2014). ...
This study presents effects of adding Circle of Security-Parenting (COS-P) to an already established comprehensive therapeutic model for early parent-child intervention in three Swedish infant mental health (IMH) clinics. Parents' internal representations and quality of parent-infant interaction were studied in a clinical sample comprised of 52 parent-infant dyads randomly allocated to two comparable groups. One group consisted of 28 dyads receiving treatment as usual (TAU) supplemented with COS-P in a small group format, and another group of 24 dyads receiving TAU only. Assessments were made at baseline (T1), 6 months after inclusion (T2) and 12 months after inclusion (T3). Changes over time were explored in 42 dyads. In the COS-P group, the proportion of balanced representations, as assessed with Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI), significantly increased between T1 and T3. Further, the proportion of emotionally available interactions, as assessed with Emotional Availability scales (EA), significantly increased over time in the COS-P group. Improvements in the TAU-group were close to significant. Limitations of the study are mainly related to the small sample size. Strength is the real world character of the study, where COS-P was implemented in a clinical context not otherwise adapted to research. We conclude by discussing the value of supplementing TAU with COS-P in IMH treatment.
... In a study of 174 irritable infants randomized to the 4-week home-visiting (COS-HV4) model or a psychoeducational control intervention, there was no main effect of treatment, but an interaction revealed that there were significant intervention effects only for the most irritable infants ( Cassidy et al. 2011). The COS-P DVD program has begun to show potential benefits to parents in measures of parent risk factors ( Horton and Murray 2015) and child care providers in terms of self-efficacy and reduced depressive symptoms, but not reflective functioning ( Gray 2015). Recently, an RCT of the COS-P DVD program found that relative to a waitlist control group, COS-P mothers provided fewer self-reported unsupportive responses to child distress, and 3-5-year-old children of COS-P mothers had better observed inhibitory control ( Cassidy et al. 2017). ...
This chapter reviews the effects of intimate partner violence (IPV: defined here as male physical, psychological and/or sexual violence towards his female partner) on the early mother-child relationship, beginning during pregnancy and through the first few years postpartum. Attachment theory is used to explain the mechanisms through which IPV affects the mother-child relationship. Extant research has documented the significant toll that IPV takes on women’s physical and mental health. IPV and its consequent mental health effects may impair women’s parenting beginning in utero as women develop maternal representations of the baby and herself as mother. These representations are found to influence parenting behavior during infancy. Infants develop internal working models of attachment based on the parenting behaviors they experience. Thus, when IPV affects parenting, it can influence the kind of attachment relationship between the mother and child, laying the groundwork for the child for future significant relationships. In addition, poor attachment quality is associated with poor emotional self-regulation leading to behavioral problems in children. Thus, we conclude that targeted interventions for mothers and children exposed to IPV are critical for intervening in this intergenerational cycle of violence.
... We reduced this number to 79 by excluding citations. Finally, only three articles were selected after we applied qualitative search (i.e., Biringen et al., 2012;Gray, 2015;Angeles, Galinsky, & Kontos, 1998). ...
This paper discusses the prospects technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Nigeria through bridging the gap between the policy document and practice. At the 1969 National Curriculum Conference and the eventual emergence of the National Policy on Education (NPE) in 1977, TVET was given prominence but, unfortunately, in theory only. However, the imperative of TVET for national development is no longer arguable, especially in the face of a dwindling economy, mass unemployment and the irrelevance of some academic content to societal needs. In the conceptual framework of globalization of education, this paper discusses the gaps between the TVET policy document and practice. This is historical research for which both primary and secondary sources of information were explored, including: All editions of the NPE, the Internet, and relevant journals and textbooks. A number of recommendations are made including that making education relevant to the needs of the society is desirable.
... We reduced this number to 79 by excluding citations. Finally, only three articles were selected after we applied qualitative search (i.e., Biringen et al., 2012;Gray, 2015;Angeles, Galinsky, & Kontos, 1998). ...
Because numerous studies show that early child-adult attachment significantly affects a child's socio-emotional and cognitive development, we propose that establishing attachment-based child care can contribute to a healthy and happy childhood. This proposition is part of a new theoretical and experimental field and, thus, research is limited. There is a lack of clarity in definition, criteria, and common terminology of this type of child care. By synthesizing the literature around the attachment-based interventions in early child care centres, this review provides a conceptualization of attachment-based child care. Based on research findings, major components of this type of child care are: Training for caregivers on attachment theory and sensitivity; employment of an appropriate policy, such as the appointment of a key person; a small child-adult ratio; and collaboration with parents that includes education about secure attachment and sensitivity.
... In a study of 174 irritable infants randomized to the 4-week home-visiting (COS-HV4) model or a psychoeducational control intervention, there was no main effect of treatment, but an interaction revealed that there were significant intervention effects only for the most irritable infants [67]. The COS-P DVD program has begun to show potential benefits to parents in self-report measures of parent emotion regulation, attributions, and discipline practices [109], and child care providers in self-reported self-efficacy, but not reflective functioning [110]. Recently, an RCT of the COS-P DVD program found that relative to a waitlist control group, COS-P mothers provided fewer selfreported unsupportive responses to child distress, and 3-5year-old children of COS-P mothers had better observed inhibitory control [70•]. ...
Purpose of Review
Early caregiver-child relationships are foundational to early development and central to efforts to promote well-being and prevent psychopathology. We discuss the role of caregiver-child relationships in early development and risk for psychopathology, and psychotherapeutic interventions targeting early caregiver-child relationships.
Recent Findings
Early risk for psychopathology is conferred through the dynamic interaction of biological and environmental factors, with sensitive caregiving playing a critical role. Recent research suggests that quality of caregiving moderates the effect of a child’s genetic risk for psychopathology. The protective role of sensitive caregiving is especially vital in the context of stress and trauma. Caregiver-child psychotherapeutic interventions are effective in increasing the rates of secure attachment and sensitive caregiving, and reducing early psychopathology. Emerging evidence suggests some interventions may be associated with changes to parents’ neural circuitry that underlies sensitive caregiving.
Summary
Relationship-based psychotherapeutic interventions are promising in the promotion of well-being and prevention of psychopathology in at-risk families.
... • Four families where the mother resided in an Australian mental health service showed a third overall reduction in parenting stress, improvements in understanding child behaviour, and more positivity when interacting with their child (Neish, 2012); • A convenience sample of 34 women admitted to a Queensland private mental health hospital provided feedback that gave significant findings of feeling less helpless about parenting ability, reduced stress levels, and viewing their child's behaviour more positively (Foster, 2013); • A quasi-experimental evaluation with 34 US family childcare providers, using a comparison control group of 17, found that the participants had a significant increase in self-efficacy in managing children's challenging behaviours, and improved stress levels and relationships with the children in their care (Gray, 2015); • For 15 mothers in a US residential treatment for substance abuse, greater improvements in emotion regulation, child behaviour understandings and discipline practices were found for those who attended more sessions, did not have abuse histories, and had been in the service for less time (Horton, 2015); and • Fifteen mothers of a NSW early intervention parenting service reported decreased levels of helplessness, stress and feelings of fear, anger or rejection towards the child. Helplessness and feeling rejection or anger towards the child were strongly positively correlated with fear in the parent-child relationship and higher levels of stress (Kohlhoff et al., 2016). ...
The Circle of Security Parenting (COS-P) program is the second most frequently offered group parenting course in NSW, but the evidence of its effectiveness is still emerging. Initial research has shown some improvements for parents in reducing stress, increasing self-efficacy and parenting skills, and in promoting understanding of child behaviour. Its underlying theory is to promote a more secure attachment in the parent-child relationship, and evaluations of its initial, more intensive format have shown some findings supporting this. However, the COS-P version has an overall parent education focus rather than a role in assessing quality of attachment, and thus is more suited to preventing, rather than addressing, risks to children. This paper evaluates the research and theory behind COS-P, and discusses principles and outcomes of group parenting programs generally, to provide an evidence-informed approach to implementation.
http://search.informit.com.au.ezproxy.une.edu.au/fullText;dn=606222164111134;res=IELFSC
... More recently, Gray's (2015) quasi-experimental study of the relationship-based Circle of Security training for licensed FCC providers found that an 8-week training series was well implemented and attended (providers were paid to attend) and that providers who attended the training reported greater self-efficacy related to managing children's challenging behaviors than a matched comparison group who did not attend the training. The training, however, did not impact participants' stress or depression levels or reflective functioning. ...
Research Findings: Home-based child care accounts for a significant proportion of nonparental child care arrangements for young children in the United States. Yet the early care and education field lacks clear models or pathways for how to improve quality in these settings. The conceptual model presented here articulates the components of high-quality support to child care providers; related factors; and hypothesized provider, family, and child outcomes. The model is based on a literature review of research on home-based child care, home visiting, early childhood mental health consultation, coaching, and family services. We hypothesize that high-quality support to home-based child care that offers relationship-based services focused on quality caregiving (individual home visiting and group supports such as training and networking) and sustainability (materials, equipment, referrals) is most likely to positively impact quality caregiving for children and families. Practice or Policy: Current federal efforts and policy initiatives to increase the supply and quality of infant–toddler child care focus on the development of systems that support home-based providers. The conceptual model of high-quality support described here will inform future program development and research on how to improve quality in home-based child care for the millions of low-income children in these settings.
... Unlike other disciplines that rely on tertiary treatments for effective healing, IMH support at the prevention and promotion levels can propel meaningful change in attachment relationships, resiliency, and building parental competence. [15][16][17] Nursing staff and early intervention therapists play pivotal roles in the lives of vulnerable infants and their families as they facilitate care, growth and development and thus are in the unique position to incorporate IMH principles into their routine interactions and protocols. Examples of these interventions include the Newborn Individualized Care and Assessment Program 18 which provides relationship based individualized developmental care, and Family Nurture Intervention (Welch, et al., 2015), which is provided on a short term basis during an NICU stay and is designed to promote attachment between parents and the hospitalized infant, or home visiting interventions (e.g., Nurse Family Partnership in O'Brian, 2005) once the infant has been discharged. ...
Successful mental health support in the neonatal intensive care unit and post-hospitalization relies on policies and systems that are aligned with infant mental health principles and practice. This article explores important considerations essential to promoting effective and competent care including a focus on building trauma-informed settings, the training of nursing and ancillary staff, and the reflective support necessary to help cope with the experience and stress of caring for very ill infants and their families. The types of evidence-based infant mental health treatments and interventions are discussed and the ways in which these treatments are financed are highlighted.
The Circle of Security is a recognizable and accessible graphic for translating and sharing attachment science with caregivers. The Circle of Security graphic was first used as part of an intervention model focused on groups of high-risk parents. More recently, interventions for a broader range of caregiving contexts across a range of cultures have been developed. This chapter summarizes the different models of intervention, including Circle of Security Intensive and Circle of Security Parenting, and introduces the more recent application of the COSP program to the classroom and early care environment. Evidence of impact for the various models of intervention are reviewed alongside descriptions of how the models were developed and how they differ.
Objective
The present study assessed the associations between caregivers' adverse experiences with childhood caregivers, adult and parental reflective functioning (RF), and emotion socialization strategies with their preschoolers in an effort to illuminate the unique and joint contribution of adult and parental RF in caregiving.
Background
Parental RF is defined as parents' ability to reflect on their child's state of mind, whereas adult RF involves parents' capacity to reflect on their own experiences with childhood caregivers. Most research on adult and parental RF has examined these constructs separately, making it unclear whether adult and parental RF play similar or different roles in caregiving.
Method
Participants were 64 preschooler–caregiver dyads from Head Start programs ( M childage = 4; 81% Black). A multimethod approach was used, including self‐report, interview, and observational measures. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were employed to evaluate whether adult and parental RF accounted for unique or joint variance in caregivers' emotion socialization behaviors after accounting for caregivers' adverse experiences with childhood caregivers. Adult RF also was tested as a moderator of the relation between caregivers' adverse experiences with childhood caregivers and emotion socialization strategies.
Results
Adult and parental RF each demonstrated unique associations with particular emotion socialization strategies. Adult RF also moderated the association between caregivers' exposure to maladaptive parenting in childhood and emotion socialization behaviors.
Conclusion and implications
Findings suggest that both types of RF are important for caregivers' ability to validate children's emotions and that reflecting on caregiving received in childhood can act as a protective mechanism and help promote effective caregiving behaviors.
Background
The Circle of Security Parenting programme is a manualised parenting intervention that aims to enhance secure attachment and improve relationships between children and their caregivers. It is gaining global popularity and acquiring emerging support. Researchers are increasingly interested in its effectiveness in enhancing parent–child attachment, improving parent psychological flexibility and reducing parental stress. However, research to date has predominantly focused on parents of typically developing children, despite the Circle of Security Parenting intervention being used as a parenting programme in specialist services for children with learning disabilities. There is, however, no clear evidence that this programme meets the diverse needs of parents who encounter additional challenges that may impact on the development of secure parent–child attachment relationships. This case study aims to pilot a seven‐session Circle of Security Parenting programme for parents of children with learning disabilities.
Methods
Four participants completed pre‐ and post‐intervention outcome measures specified by Circle of Security Parenting, including: the Parental Stress Scale, Parental Acceptance Questionnaire, Acceptance and Action Questionnaire II and the Caregiver Helplessness Questionnaire.
Findings
Quantitative results are mixed, and did not demonstrate the improvements in parental stress or psychological flexibility that might be expected. Qualitative accounts of participants' experiences offer potential explanations for the findings that may be unique to parents of children with learning disabilities.
Conclusion
This paper recognises that further research is needed to identify evidence‐based programmes that meet the needs of this population.
The detrimental impact of childcare institutions (CCIs), or orphanages, is well known. Despite deinstitutionalisation strategies in Uganda, CCIs remain the predominant intervention method employed by Western actors responding to the needs of children there. Reforming this approach requires contextualised critical understandings of the children’s experiences and perspectives of their institutionalisation, to reduce the misidentification and misappropriation of children as orphans. Therefore, operationalising the theoretical lens of Bourdieu within critical hermeneutic analyses, this article draws upon the narratives of 30 children living within an orphanage in Kampala, to enhance critical understandings of their experiences, perspectives, and behaviours throughout transition from home to an orphanage, via the streets of Kampala, illuminating how and why they come to be living there. Guided by Ricœur’s critical hermeneutic approach, the study found that poverty drives children to the streets in search of economic opportunity and organisations perceived to offer access to basic services of which they are deprived, such as education. Education, as a form of cultural capital, is understood amongst participants as ensuring an elevated position within society, or a means of overcoming poverty. Within this transition from home to the orphanage, whilst on the streets, socially acquired dispositions and harmful stereotypes contribute to the manifestation of the ‘street kid’ construct, for which the children are marginalised, and experience physical and sexual abuse. Girls are most at risk, whereby gender inequality contributes to their exploitation and the normalisation of rape. However, for the children entry into a CCI from the streets means relinquishing agency and social capital that is integral to them, often.
Barnelovas § 30 stadfester foreldres plikt til å gi barn omsorg, forsvarlig oppdragelse og forsørging og deres rett og plikt til å fatte beslutninger på barnets vegne (Barne- og familiedepartementet, 1981). Med unntak av visse bestemmelser (f.eks. plikt til å gi barnet utdanning, medisinsk behandling og sørge for at barnet ikke blir utsatt for vold) er det opp til foreldrenes skjønn å avgjøre hva som er godt nok. Det finnes ingen formkrav som definerer innholdet i god nok omsorg, ei heller bestemmelser som forplikter foreldre til å drive kunnskapsbasert barneoppdragelse. På den andre siden har helsetjenesten en plikt til å levere tjenester som er til nytte for pasienten, noe som forutsetter at det skal foreligge kunnskapsbasert praksis om nytten av tiltaket (Helse- og omsorgsdepartementet, 2019). Tilsvarende stiller barnevernlovens § 4–4 krav om at omsorgsendrende tiltak skal være bygget på allment akseptert kunnskapsgrunnlag (Barne- og familiedepartementet, 1992). Når barn har problemer som utløser rett til hjelp, forplikter det med andre ord tjenestene til å anvende metoder og arbeidsformer som har vist seg å fungere for de problemene barn søker hjelp for.
BACKGROUND
This article is a systematic review of the effects of the Incredible Years (IY) universal prevention program Attentive Parenting in the Nordic countries. IY Attentive Parenting is a program provided to parents to prevent behavioral problems and strengthen social and emotional competence among children aged 2 to 6 years. The Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare, Northern Norway (RKBU Nord), is the purveyor of IY Attentive Parenting in Norway and has a national responsibility for providing training in the program. IY Attentive Parenting is one of several in the series of IY programs for parents and children, which was originally developed in the United States (www.incredibleyears.com).
METHODS
IY Attentive Parenting is evaluated and classified according to the Ungsinn criteria and procedures for describing interventions, as well as providing a summary of effect studies, quality of the research methods, and quality of implementation. A literature search was carried out in the following databases: Embase, Medline, PsychInfo, NORART, Cochrane, Cristin, NORA, SCOPUS, and SweMed. The search resulted in three articles based on one Norwegian study that were included. In addition, information about IY Attentive Parenting was obtained through documentation provided by the program purveyor (including a manual and other materials).
RESULTS
IY Attentive Parenting is well-described in several documents, including a detailed manual. There is one Norwegian study which has examined the effects of the program on child behavior problems, parenting practices and parental sense of competence. The study is a randomized controlled trial with assessments at baseline, post-treatment, 1, and 4 years follow-up, and was considered to have adequate methodological quality. IY Attentive Parenting appears to provide an improvement in symptoms of behavioral problems at post-treatment, compared to participants in the control group. There was no difference between groups during follow-up at 1 and 4 years. The effect of IY Attentive Parenting may thus be understood as providing a more rapid and immediate reduction in symptoms of behavioral problems. The long-term study documented a lasting effect on positive parenting practices over the 4-year period. Parents receiving the IY Attentive Parenting program also reported less use of harsh disciplining on individual measurement occasions. In addition, the study showed increased parenting satisfaction among parents at post-treatment and 1-year follow-up, and an increased sense of competence at post-treatment and 4-year follow-up. The study did not examine any other primary child outcomes such as social and emotional competence. IY Attentive Parenting is considered to have adequate systems to ensure the quality of implementation.
CONCLUSION
Despite the lack of more long-term effects on children in terms of the main program objectives, IY Attentive Parenting is classified at evidence level 4 – satisfactory evidence of efficacy.
Early caregiver-child relationships are foundational to early development and central to efforts to promote well-being and prevent psychopathology. We discuss how parenting can be affected by caregivers’ experience of trauma, and how children’s early relationships with caregivers contribute to their development and risk for psychopathology. Recent research suggests that the quality of caregiving moderates the effect of a child’s genetic risk for psychopathology. The protective role of sensitive caregiving is especially vital in the context of stress and trauma. Several psychotherapeutic interventions show promise in ameliorating the types of caregiver-child relationship difficulties that are common among trauma-exposed parents and their young children. These interventions have been found to be effective in increasing the rates of secure attachment and sensitive caregiving, and reducing early psychopathology. Emerging evidence suggests some interventions may be associated with changes to parents’ neural circuitry that underlies sensitive caregiving. Relationship-based psychotherapeutic interventions are promising in the promotion of well-being and prevention of psychopathology in at-risk families.
Research Findings: Although there has been considerable research on the associations between the qualifications of teachers in center-based settings and preschool-age children’s developmental outcomes, very little is known about the relationships between home provider qualifications and the developmental outcomes of toddlers who attend licensed family child care settings or unregulated family, friend, and neighbor care settings. Analyzing a sample of toddlers and their providers drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort, we found positive relationships between home-based quality and higher education degree (defined as an associate’s degree or at least a bachelor’s degree), field of major, and coursework in early childhood education or a related field. However, provider qualifications were unrelated to children’s cognitive outcomes and related to a limited number of social-emotional outcomes. Practice or Policy: Our results suggest that as states consider the spectrum of supports needed for strengthening home-based child care in ways that facilitate responsive and developmentally supportive caregiving, strategies should include opportunities for home-based care providers to pursue higher education. A more nuanced analysis of the content and comprehensiveness of providers’ formal education is needed to better understand relationships between toddlers’ social and cognitive development and providers’ formal education.
The work of home visitors in early childhood fields may include addressing many challenges to achieving curricular outcomes, including issues such as maintaining boundaries and managing one's own reactions to children, parents, and overall family situations. Increasingly, reflective supervision and consultation are recognized as a way for workers in home-visiting early intervention and early care fields to address these personal and professional challenges and build competence (Watson, Gatti, Cox, Harrison, & Hennes, ). The features of home visiting that make reflective supervision/consultation essential are discussed. Next, results of a pilot project in which a sample of Part C early intervention providers respond to a vignette portraying a challenging parent-child interaction are briefly presented and discussed. Despite often stating the importance of relationships, participants did not identify concrete methods of supporting relationship or demonstrate recognition of parallel process. In addition, providers seldom endorsed the use of reflective skills such as observing, listening, wondering, or reflecting (Weatherston, ), and no providers discussed a need for reflective supervision/consultation. We suggest that these findings illustrate some of the areas in which early intervention home visitors could benefit from participation in reflective supervision/consultation to move from identifying reflective skills as important to actually being able to use such skills in their work with families.
Few studies have examined correlates of quality ratings in family child care arrangements. This study analyzes data from a multi-state sample of family child care providers actively seeking professional development for two purposes. First, we examine predictors of observed quality ratings focusing on characteristics of child care providers, the most proximal influences of quality in family child care. Second, we explore associations between three targets of professional development (providers’ attitudes, beliefs, and practices) and the pre-academic and social–emotional skills of preschool-aged children. Provider characteristics indicative of personal and professional resources and stress, as well as providers’ professional attitudes and beliefs, are predictive of observed quality measures. Observed quality and providers’ child-centered beliefs and perceptions of job demands are related to children's developmental outcomes. Implications for future research, policies, and practices are discussed.
This is a report of post-treatment findings from a completed randomized pilot study testing the preliminary efficacy of the Mothers and Toddlers Program (MTP), a 12 week attachment-based individual parenting therapy for mothers enrolled in substance abuse treatment and caring for children ages birth to 36 months. Forty-seven mothers were randomized to MTP versus the Parent Education Program (PE), a comparison intervention providing individual case management and child guidance brochures. At post-treatment, MTP mothers demonstrated better reflective functioning in the Parent Development Interview, representational coherence and sensitivity, and caregiving behavior than PE mothers. Partial support was also found for proposed mechanisms of change in the MTP model. Together, preliminary findings suggest that attachment-based interventions may be more effective than traditional parent training for enhancing relationships between substance using women and their young children.
This paper presents a naturalistic investigation of the patterns of formal education, early childhood education training, and mentoring of a diverse group of urban early childhood educators participating in the Los Angeles: Exploring Children's Early Learning Settings (LA ExCELS) study. A total of 103 preschool teachers and family child care providers serving primarily low-income 3- and 4-year-old children in Los Angeles County provided data on their education, training, and beliefs about teaching. This sample worked in public center based preschool programs including Head Start classrooms and State preschool classrooms (N=42), private non-profit preschools including community based organizations and faith-based preschools (N=42), and licensed family child care homes (N=19). This study uses a person-centered approach to explore patterns of teacher preparation, sources of support, supervision, and mentoring across these 3 types of education settings, and how these patterns are associated with early childhood educators' beliefs and practices. Findings suggest a set of linkages between type of early education setting, professional development, and supervision of teaching. Public preschools have the strongest mandates for formal professional development and typically less variation in levels of monitoring, whereas family child care providers on average have less formal education and more variability in their access to and use of other forms of training and mentorship. Four distinct patterns of formal education, child development training, and ongoing mentoring or support were identified among the educators in this study. Associations between professional development experiences and teachers' beliefs and practices suggested the importance of higher levels of formal training for enhancing the quality of teacher-child interactions. Implications of the findings for changing teacher behaviors are discussed with respect to considering the setting context.
Meta-analysis aggregated results of 40 investigations involving 2,867 children who averaged 29.6 (SD = 8.6) months of age when their attachments to care providers were assessed using either the Strange Situation (SS) or the Attachment Q-Set (AQS). As opposed to parents, secure attachments to nonparental care providers were less likely (using SS) or equally likely (using AQS), respectively. Secure child-care provider attachments were more likely in home- than center-based care, when the children were assessed longer after enrollment, and when they were girls. Whereas care providers' sensitivity to individual children predicted attachment security only in the small groups that characterize home-based settings, group-related sensitivity was a reliable predictor of secure child-care provider attachment, especially in child care centers.
The Circle of Security intervention uses a group treatment modality to provide parent education and psychotherapy that is based on attachment theory. The purpose of this study was to track changes in children's attachment classifications pre- and immediately postintervention. Participants were 65 toddler- or preschooler- caregiver dyads recruited from Head Start and Early Head Start programs. As predicted, there were significant within-subject changes from disorganized to organized attachment classifications, with a majority changing to the secure classification. In addition, only 1 of the 13 preintervention securely attached children shifted to an insecure classification. Results suggest that the Circle of Security protocol is a promising intervention for the reduction of disorganized and insecure attachment in high-risk toddlers and preschoolers.
A large literature has documented the influence of child care on young children's development, but few studies have examined low-income children in community care arrangements. Using data from Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study (N = 204), this study examined the influence of child care quality and the extent of care on low-income children's (ages 2-4 years) cognitive and socioemotional development over time. Higher levels of child care quality were modestly associated with improvements in children's socioemotional development, and extensive hours in child care were linked to increases in children's quantitative skills and decreases in behavior problems. Analyses suggest that child care quality may be particularly salient for subgroups of children from low-income families.
The author discusses the current status of family day care, including its demographics, organization, regulations, quality-control issues, and relevant research on its effects on children, families, and child-care workers. Family day care is a pervasive underground child-care system that merits far more attention by the social work profession in state and national child-care policy considerations. Social workers are in a unique position to help family-day-care providers enter mainstream child care in the United States.
The present study examined associations between the quality of teacher-child relationships and behavior problems among elementary school students using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, a study of 1,364 children from birth through adolescence. There were two main findings. First, high-quality teacher-child relationships predicted low levels of externalizing behaviors. Second, high-quality relationships acted as protective factors, helping to prevent children with high levels of internalizing behaviors in early childhood from developing trajectories of long-term internalizing behavior problems. Teacher-child relationships may be proximal phenomena that can be targeted in interventions to help prevent behavior problems in middle childhood.
This study examined how patterns of caregiving behavior differ between family and center providers over time, and to what extent caregivers’ attitudes and beliefs shape those caregiving patterns. Ninety-eight child care providers (59 family child care-based [family] and 39 center-based providers) self-reported their initial demographics, attitudes, and beliefs about children and caregiving. Their caregiving behavior in the child care setting was independently and reliably observed three times over the course of one year. When controlling for relevant demographic and structural variables, growth curve analyses revealed patterns of caregiving behavior that varied as a function of provider type and of the interaction between provider type and caregiver attitudes and beliefs. Center-based providers’ caregiving behavior was more heavily influenced by attitudes and beliefs and showed greater variability over time than family providers’ behavior. Implications for choosing child care and improving professional development are discussed.
In this paper we focus on the first wave of outcomes in a pilot phase randomized control trial of a home-based intervention for infants and their families, Minding the Baby® (MTB), an interdisciplinary, mentalization-based intervention in which home visiting services are provided by a team that includes a nurse practitioner and a clinical social worker. Families are recruited during mother's pregnancy and continue through the child's second birthday. Analyses revealed that intervention families were more likely to be on track with immunization schedules at 12 months, had lower rates of rapid subsequent childbearing, and were less likely to be referred to child protective services. In addition, mother-infant interactions were less likely to be disrupted at 4 months when mothers were teenagers, and all intervention infants were more likely to be securely attached, and less likely to be disorganized in relation to attachment at one year. Finally, mothers' capacity to reflect on their own and their child's experience improved over the course of the intervention in the most high-risk mothers.
Teachers' ratings of children's competencies may in part reflect characteristics and perspectives of teachers who assigned the ratings, which compromises their validity as a measure of child attributes. The purposes of this study were to use multilevel modeling to (a) estimate between-rater variance in teachers' ratings of children's social behaviors and relationships with teachers and (b) examine characteristics of teachers and classrooms associated with teachers' perceptions of these social competencies. Ratings of 711 children completed by 210 prekindergarten teachers indicated that between 15% and 33% of the total variance in teachers' ratings was attributed to mean differences between raters. After controlling for characteristics of children and their families, teachers' ratings of positive relationships and behaviors were associated with fewer years of experience, higher self-efficacy, non-White race/ethnicity, shorter length programs, better child-teacher ratios, and programs located within school settings. Implications are discussed for interpreting and analyzing teachers' ratings of children's competencies.
Founded in social cognitive theory, teachers' self-efficacy beliefs have been repeatedly associated with positive teaching behaviors and student outcomes. However, teacher efficacy has developed a storied history regarding construct validity and measurement integrity. Study of teacher efficacy now stands on the verge of maturity, but such developmental growth will likely be contingent on development of strong theoretical models and effective instrumentation to assess theoretical constructs. The purpose of this article is to (a) briefly review the theoretical foundation of teacher efficacy and critically evaluate historical attempts to measure teacher efficacy, (b) discuss important substantive implications stemming from efficacy research that may advance the field, (c) present recent measurement advances, and (d) highlight several methodologies that have been underutilized in development of teacher efficacy instruments.
Home-based child caregivers face unique stressors related to the nature of their work. One hundred and fifty-five home-based child care providers in Oregon, USA participated in this cross-sectional study. We investigated associations between indicators of caregiver stress and child care working conditions, the quality of caregiver practices, frequency of child behaviour challenges, and caregivers’ tolerance for those behaviours. Levels of stress in this sample were moderate to low. Significant associations were found between greater caregiver stress with higher child–caregiver ratio, working in isolation, less frequently observed caregiver positive attention, more caregiver-reported child problem behaviours and lower tolerance for problem behaviours. A multiple regression analysis with these variables significantly contributed to 23% of the variance of caregiver stress. Number of hours worked, observed caregiver negative attention, and responsiveness to children were not associated with caregiver stress. Implications of these findings and the need for future studies are discussed.
Rates and predictors of preschool expulsion and suspension were examined in a randomly selected sample of Massachusetts preschool teachers (N = 119). During a 12-month period, 39% of teachers reported expelling at least one child, and 15% reported suspending. The preschool expulsion rate was 27.42 per 1000 enrollees, more than 34 times the Massachusetts K-12 rate and more than 13 times the national K-12 rate. Suspension rates for preschoolers were less than that for K-12. Larger classes, higher proportion of 3-year-olds in the class, and elevated teacher job stress predicted increased likelihood of expulsion. Location in a school or Head Start and teachers' positive feelings of job satisfaction predicted decreased likelihood of expulsion. Expulsion was relatively rare in classes where both class size and teacher job stress were low. A higher proportion of Latino children in the class and lower teacher job satisfaction predicted an increased likelihood of suspension. Implications are discussed regarding policy, prevention, and future research.
The goal of this study was to explore the effects of reflective and traditional supervision and training on caregiver insightfulness. Caregiver insightfulness, or caregiver ability to understand “motives underlying the child's behavior in a complete, open, and accepting way” (D. Oppenheim, D. Goldsmith, & N. Koren-Karie, 2004, p. 352) was assessed at two time points with 21 new caregivers at two university-based childcare sites. Trends suggest that caregiver insightfulness was relatively stable while increased levels of components of caregiver insightfulness over a period of approximately 2.5 months were positively associated with reflective supervision and training. These findings suggest that encouraging caregivers to reflect on their interactions with the children in their care fosters caregivers' ability to see from the child's perspective in an open and accepting way.
Teachers' judgments of relational conflict are unique indicators of children's academic and social adjustment. Using a large, hierarchically nested sample of preschoolers (N = 2282) and teachers (N = 597) this study examines the individual and classroom factors associated with teachers' ratings of conflict, both before and after adjusting for problem behaviors ratings. Over half of the variance in teachers' reports of conflict with children was explained by ratings of children's problem behaviors. However, many children had more (or less) conflict than predicted based on teacher-rated problem behavior. Older children were more likely to have conflictual relationships with teachers than expected based on their level of problem behavior. Furthermore, teachers who reported more depression and lower self-efficacy and teachers who were observed to provide less emotional support in the classroom tended to report more conflict with students in their classroom than expected based on levels of problem behaviors.
Early childhood mental health (MH) consultants work closely with childcare teachers onsite to serve as a resource for childcare providers as they foster and enhance children's early development. The increase in the quality of care that can be supported through an early childhood MH consultation program makes this type of consultation an optimal tool for enhancing the childcare environment and overall child development. This article details the initial launch of the MH consultation program to childcare centers in the state of Louisiana. Analyses support the assertions that (a) a model of MH consultation can be implemented successfully at a statewide level, (b) MH consultation is associated with an increase in teacher self-efficacy, and (c) teachers' report that the MH consultation increased their competence in specific areas related to children's socioemotional development. Analyses indicate that there is a differential impact on teachers based on their age and level of experience. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
This article introduces a new method to assess mothers' insightfulness regarding their children's inner world. Maternal insightfulness involves the capacity to see things from the child's point of view, and is based on insight into the child's motives, a complex view of the child, and openness to new information about the child. Insightfulness is seen as the capacity underlying positive parenting and providing the context for secure child–parent attachment. In the assessment of insightfulness mothers view video segments of their interactions with their children and are subsequently interviewed regarding their children's and their own thoughts and feelings during the segments. This article describes how the maternal interviews are coded and provides vignettes of both insightful and noninsightful mothers. Empirical findings supporting the validity of the insightfulness assessment are reviewed, and the implications for children's development are discussed. ©2002 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.
The quality of experiences in child care has significant, lasting impact on children's development. With the growing number of young children attending child care homes, it is imperative to provide a safe environment which nurtures their development. In efforts to offer family child care providers with useful education and resources, this descriptive study summarizes the results of a survey of 178 family child care providers on their training needs. Focus group feedback from family child care providers attending training workshops on safety, environmental arrangements, and proactive behavior management is also described. The caregivers reported that training in behavior management has the highest priority. Participants described a need for low-cost training in the evening or on weekends that is relevant to family child care settings with one caregiver serving children of varying ages.
Mental health professionals have speculated that their consultation services should improve the overall quality of a child care center, but few research studies have shown this effect in child care settings. In the present study, mental health consultation services were provided by four agencies to 25 urban child care centers to enhance children's emotional lives and social abilities, and to strengthen child care center staff's capacity to work with children who have difficult behaviors. A one-year evaluation was conducted to assess the impact of the mental health services on the teachers and child care centers using observational measures, director- and teacher-completed questionnaires, and qualitative focus group data. Centers with more than one year of consultation showed increases in overall quality, teachers' self-efficacy, and teachers' competence. In addition, staff expressed satisfaction with the mental health consultation services provided. Implications of findings and suggestions for future interventions are discussed.
This study examines family child care providers’ perspectives regarding effective professional development and their role
in the early learning and care system. Four focus groups were conducted annually for 3years involving a total of 54 licensed
family child care providers. Supportive social relationships emerged as an important dimension of family child care providers’
professional development experience. Providers preferred a cohort design which enabled them to establish relationships with
colleagues and a long-term relationship with the same instructor. Trust and a non-judgmental atmosphere were critical to the
learning environment. A collaborative approach to evaluation and assessment that focused on a small number of specific items
each month supported the continuous quality improvement process better than a single annual assessment by an objective evaluator.
Family child care providers valued professionalism, but viewed their services as a unique segment of the early learning and
care system worthy of distinct professional development and respect. Recommendations for designing and delivering effective
professional development for family child care providers are discussed.
KeywordsFamily child care–Professional development
Based on attachment theory, two aims were addressed. Firstly, we tested whether close teacher-child relationships may buffer children who are less securely attached to their mothers against negative outcomes, such as aggressive behavior. Secondly, our study evaluated whether teacher sensitivity may protect less securely attached children against forming less close relationships with their teachers. In a sample of 127 children, mother-child attachment was observed in preschool. In kindergarten, teacher sensitivity was observed, and teacher-child closeness and child aggressive behavior were rated by the teacher. Results of multilevel hierarchical regression analyses first showed that with high teacher-child closeness, less securely attached children are no longer at risk for more aggressive behavior. Secondly, it was found that with high teacher sensitivity, less securely attached children are no longer at risk for developing less close relationships with their teachers.
This study of 231 regulated family child care providers proposed a theoretical model to explore the effects on quality of: (1) provider level of general education; (2) provider degree of intentionality; (3) provider training and experience in family child care; (4) provider use of support services; and (5) provider work environment. Hierarchical linear regressions confirmed the predictive power of the provider's degree of intentionality, level of education in early childhood education or a related discipline and use of support services. All these variables had a positive relationship with quality as measured by the Family Day Care Rating Scale (FDCRS). Higher level of general education in any field was a predictor until a college or university credential in ECE or a related discipline was included in the model. None of family child care training, length of experience as a provider, or any of the variables in the work environment block emerged as predictors. The data also supported the proposed associations between intentionality and the use of support services, training and the use of both support services and the work environment, and the use of support services and the work environment. While not totally supported by the data, the proposed theoretical model has value as a framework for further research. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for governments.
The current study describes the prevalence of self-reported depressive symptoms in a sample of 1217 nonfamilial caregivers and examines the relation between depression and the quality of interactions between caregivers and young children. One hundred and fourteen of these caregivers (9.4%) reported clinically significant levels of depressive symptoms. Analyses provided evidence of small, but consistent and unique associations between caregivers’ self-reported depression and the quality of their interactions with children. Caregivers reporting more depression were less sensitive and more withdrawn than caregivers reporting fewer depressive symptoms. Depression was more closely associated with negative behavior for caregivers working in family child-care settings, as well as among caregivers with less education and among those that spend more time without other adults present. The current study provides preliminary evidence that expanding knowledge of caregivers’ characteristics may be an important component of understanding the nonfamilial caregiving environment.
After a series of instrument development studies, a mail survey was conducted with 196 randomly selected family day care providers (FDCPs) and child care center workers (CCCWs) residing in the state of Maryland (response rates were 76.6% and 70.5%, respectively). Embedded in the instrument were three job stress scales, specific to child care workers, measuring job demands, job control, and job resources. Extensive psychometric testing of the three 17-item instruments demonstrated several areas of strength. The job demands scale, because of its breadth of stressors covered, fared slightly worse on indicators of reliability (alpha = 0.77; mean interitem correlation [MIC] = 0.17; item-to-total correlations [ITCs] = 0.14 to 0.49) than did job control (alpha = 0.88; MIC = 0.31; ITCs = 0.26 to 0.69) and job resources (alpha = 0.89; MIC = 0.35; ITCs = 0.32 to 0.70). Known groups validity was demonstrated through a conceptually meaningful pattern of differences between FDCPs and CCCWs. Construct validity for all three scales was demonstrated by a pattern of stronger correlations with conceptually similar versus dissimilar instruments. Average correlations with similar versus dissimilar instruments were: job demands, 0.54 versus 0.24; job control, 0.74 versus 0.30; and job resources, −0.53 versus 0.30. Similar to the reliability analysis, results of factor analysis were stronger for job control and job resources than for job demands.
Given the importance of effective teaching to children’s development in child care and the difficulty of keeping highly educated teachers in the field, we examined pathways to effective teaching within a group of primarily African-American and Latino teachers working in child care programs serving low-income children. We used classroom observations to assess effective teaching, and clinical interviews and participant observation to understand pathways. Less than one-quarter of the teachers had BA degrees or higher. Only 20% of the teachers had had preservice training, and almost all of the teachers with preservice experiences were the BA level teachers. Over half of the teachers had been mentored as they began teaching either as a mother volunteer or as a beginning teacher. About 40% of the participants talked of staying in the field because of feeling responsible to and for a community; the remainder talked of staying for the children. About 40% of the participants experienced reflective supervision. The participants in this study, even those with less formal education than a BA degree, were more responsive and more engaged with children than participants in two more representative studies. In this sample, after controlling for formal education, responsive involvement could be predicted by staying in the field for the community, being mentored and being supervised. Engaging children in language play could be predicted by formal education and being supervised. Providing language arts activities could be predicted by formal education, being mentored and being supervised.
The quality of the child care environment and caregiver practices can potentially have significant, lasting impact on children’s social development. This study involves the development and a small-scale efficacy trial of the Carescapes program, a video-based training program that focuses on promoting positive social development in young children attending family child care. Fifty-seven caregivers who provided child care in their homes were randomly assigned to immediate intervention or waitlist control groups. Random coefficients analyses showed significant increased use of effective behavior management practices and decreased overall children’s problem behavior for the intervention group. A mediation model demonstrated that increases in effective behavior management practices were associated with decreases in problem behavior. A medium intervention effect was found for caregiver’s monitoring and a small effect for use of positive attention. These effects declined 5 months following the intervention. Implications for future efficacy and effectiveness studies in family child care settings that involve strategies to facilitate maintenance are discussed.
Far less is known about predictors of quality for family child care homes than for child care centers. The current study of 120 randomly-selected family child care providers in four Midwestern states examined distal, state policy-level variables (family child care regulations and the concentration of children cared for who received public child care subsidies, referred to as subsidy density), and proximal, provider-level variables (providers’ level of education and reported annual training hours) as influences on global quality and caregiver sensitivity. More regulation, lower subsidy density, higher levels of provider education and more training hours were associated with higher global quality in family child care homes. Lower subsidy density and higher provider education were associated with more sensitive caregiving, but no effects on sensitivity were observed for regulation and training hours. An interaction effect indicated that regulation moderated the relation between education and sensitivity; education was especially important for sensitive caregiving among providers low in regulation. In addition, after including all predictor variables in the model, significant mean differences between states were noted. Findings demonstrate that both policy-level variables and provider characteristics influence quality in family child care homes, and further, that they may interact to affect observed child care quality. Implications for state child care policies are discussed with emphasis on implications for quality of care for low-income children whose tuition is paid by public child care subsidies.
Data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care were used to assess whether regulable features of child-care homes affect children’s development. Child-care homes selected were those in which there were at least two children and the care provider received payment for child care (ns=164 when the study children were 15 months old, 172 at 24 months, and 146 at 36 months). Caregivers who were better educated and had received more recent and higher levels of training provided richer learning environments and warmer and more sensitive caregiving. Caregivers who had more child-centered beliefs about how to handle children also provided higher quality caregiving and more stimulating homes. In addition, when settings were in compliance with recommended age-weighted group size cut-offs, caregivers provided more positive caregiving. Quality of care was not related to caregivers’ age, experience, professionalism, or mental health, or to the number of children enrolled in the child-care home or whether the caregivers’ children were present. Children with more educated and trained caregivers performed better on tests of cognitive and language development. Children who received higher quality care, in homes that were more stimulating, with caregivers who were more attentive, responsive, and emotionally supportive, did better on tests of language and cognitive development and also were rated as being more cooperative. These findings make a case for regulating caregivers’ education and training and for requiring that child-care homes not exceed the recommended age-weighted group size.
Child care homes are the most common type of child care in the U.S. for very young children who receive regular non-parental care. Compared to center-based care, much less is known about relations between structural and process quality within this type of care. Further, professional associations have developed guidelines based on number and ages of the children in the child care home, but these have been empirically examined. We asked two questions in secondary analyses of two large studies of over 300 child care homes. First, we identified the structural dimensions that best predicted global quality. Regression analyses replicated previously reported finding that caregiver training, but not ratio, was the structural characteristic that most consistently predicted observed global quality. Next, we compared observed quality of care in child care homes as a function of the professional association’s guidelines regarding group size weighted by age of the children. No reliable association between quality of care and ratio guidelines obtained. These findings suggest that parents and policy makers should rely more heavily on characteristics such as caregiver training or education than on group size or child:adult ratios as they make decisions about child care homes, at least among settings in which group sizes are small to moderate.
Reflective functioning refers to the essential human capacity to understand behavior in light of underlying mental states and intentions. The construct, introduced by Fonagy, Steele, Steele, Moran, and Higgitt in 19915.
Fonagy , P. ,
Steele , M. ,
Moran , G. ,
Steele , H. and
Higgitt , A. 1991. The capacity for understanding mental states: The reflective self in parent and child and its significance for security of attachment. Infant Mental Health Journal, 13: 200–216. View all references, and elaborated by Fonagy and his colleagues over the course of the next decade, has had an enormous impact on developmental theory and clinical practice. This paper introduces the construct of parental reflective functioning, which refers to the parent's capacity to hold the child's mental states in mind, and begins with a review of Fonagy and his colleagues' essential ideas regarding the reflective function. Next, the applicability of this construct to parental representations of the child and the parent – child relationship is considered. A system for coding parental reflective functioning, which will serve as the organizing framework for this special issue, is described. Finally, the three papers that make up this special section are introduced.
There is a widespread belief that high-quality early care and education can improve children's school readiness. However, debate continues about the essential elements of a high-quality experience, about whether quality means the same things across different types of care settings, about how to measure quality, and about the level of quality that might make a meaningful difference in outcomes for children. Are the aspects of the child care environment that researchers measure the ones that are most strongly related to children's development? This article argues that the ways in which researchers currently measure early care environments are flawed and that the conclusions drawn about the relationship between these measures and outcomes for children are frequently incorrect or overstated. The article addresses four questions: How is the quality of the child care environment commonly defined and measured? Do the most commonly used measures capture the child's experience? Do they work well across all settings? Are researchers drawing the correct conclusions from studies that relate the child care environment to child outcomes? Finally, the article discusses some possible directions for future research.
The Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire: Development and preliminary validation Manuscript submitted for publication
- P Luyten
- L C Mayes
- L Njissens
- P Fonagy
Luyten, P., Mayes, L.C., Njissens, L., & Fonagy, P. (2014). The Parental
Reflective Functioning Questionnaire: Development and preliminary
validation. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Building leadership capacity of family home childcare providers
- J D Lanigan
- K Peterson
- J Jewett
Lanigan, J.D., Peterson, K., & Jewett, J. (2006). Building leadership capacity of family home childcare providers. Journal of Family and
Consumer Science, 98(1), 70-74.
Teacher Opinion Survey. Richmond: Virginia Commonwealth University Intellectual Property Foundation and Wingspan
- S Geller
- K Lynch
Geller, S., & Lynch, K. (1999). Teacher Opinion Survey. Richmond: Virginia Commonwealth University Intellectual Property Foundation
and Wingspan, LLC.
Handbook of classroom management: Research, practice, and contemporary issues
- B Larrivee
Larrivee, B. (2011). The convergence of reflective practice and effective
classroom management. In C.M. Everston & C.S. Weinstein (Eds.),
Handbook of classroom management: Research, practice, and contemporary issues (pp. 983-1004). New York: Routledge.
Characteristics of families served by Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) based on preliminary FY 2012 data
Child Care Bureau. (2013). Characteristics of families served by Child
Care and Development Fund (CCDF) based on preliminary FY
2012 data. Retrieved February 2 2014, from http://www.acf.
hhs.gov/programs/occ/resource/characteristics-of-families-servedby-child-care-and-development-fund-ccdf
Published on behalf of the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. Circle of Security in Family Childcare • 319
Infant Mental Health Journal DOI 10.1002/imhj. Published on behalf of the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.
Circle of Security in Family Childcare • 319
Characteristics of families served by Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) based on preliminary FY
- Child Care
- Bureau
Building leadership capacity of family home childcare providers
- Lanigan J.D.