Promoting Positive Social Development in Home-Based Child Care: Outcomes of an Efficacy Trial on the Carescapes Program

Much of the research investigating early childhood education environments and school readiness has taken place in formal preschool settings, with much less work encompassing home-based child care settings. The quality of family child care varies greatly, and caregivers are likely to have lower levels of education and training compared to those providing center-based care. Home-based child care providers have consistently reported that their greatest training need is in behavior management and dealing with problem behavior, yet there are a lack of professional development programs that meet the unique challenges that home-based child care providers face.

This research is a randomized controlled trial to assess the efficacy of the Carescapes program. The video-based training program was developed to improve home-based child care providers’ practices and the quality of the child care environment to facilitate children’s social development and prevent the escalation of behavioral difficulties that interfere with learning. The Carescapes program includes 3 small-group workshops with video-based examples, discussion, and practice activities, two site visit consultations, and a booster session.

Participating child care homes (N=155) were recruited from lower-than average income neighborhoods in the Northwest region of the United States. Behavioral assessments were conducted on 310 children who attended participating child care homes via caregiver, parent, and kindergarten teacher reports. We will describe outcomes on the child care environment, caregiver practices, and children’s behavior and social skills at immediate post and 1 year follow-up. Main outcomes for child care providers who participated in the Carescapes program compared to the waitlist control group include increased caregiver monitoring (Hedges g = .63) and increased caregiver responsivity (Hedges g = .49). Multi-level models were conducted to examine intervention child outcomes compared to the waitlist control group; caregivers reported that children had fewer oppositional (Hedges g = .35) and conduct problems (Hedges g = .32), and parents reported that children had improved peer relationships (Hedges g = .36) at post. After one year, these child outcomes did not maintain, however at follow up caregivers in the intervention group reported higher cooperation skills (Hedges g = .39). Kindergarten teacher report of children’s behavior did not differ between the two groups. Participation in the booster session moderated outcomes on the enrichment of the child care environment and activities. Time spent in the participating child care home moderated children’s behavioral outcomes. The challenges of maintaining effects found in child care settings will be discussed.