Objective: This study attempts to clarify ways by which childcare professionals can promote social competence in children. Method: Focus group interviews were conducted with nineteen child care ...professionals (three groups) working in a nursery center that had conducted competence-development programs for not only typically developing children but also children with developmental disabilities. Results: Care professionals were found to play seven roles: objective clarification, helping enjoy, interpersonal relationships, expanding social network, changing the rhythm, promoting flexibility and adjustment when participating in group activities, keeping the future in perspective, and evaluating the effects of measures to promote social competence. Through analysis of interview data, we extracted fifteen categories: clarification of childcare policy, inculcating self-efficacy in the children, improving communication skills, readiness to face challenges, relationship with children, recognizing each child's individuality, cooperation between staff members, cooperation with parents, new community, organizing events, changing the status quo, a curriculum that matched children's development, expansion of activity, sending out signals, and understanding parents' perspectives. Conclusion: The findings, which reflect the actual voices of childcare professionals, are expected to aid in the realization of community empowerment.
Team childcare, which is the theme of this research, is a childcare method in which one class is conducted by two or more childcare professionals, and in recent years this method has been adopted ...in many nursery schools and kindergartens. The previous researches clearly showed that there were no indicators that could objectively measure team childcare practice. Therefore this research developed a scale to measure a practice of team childcare and analyzed factors affecting team childcare. This scale consists of three factors: “1st factor: enhancement of communication”, “2nd factor: collaboration for effective childcare practice”, “3rd factor: implementation of reviewing for improvement”. Furthermore, based on the result of examining the relationship between this scale and the role of the childcare professionals, it became clear that the presence or absence of a change of roles, which is a difference in the role form of teachers, has an influence on the practice of team childcare.
Recent prevention research has established the efficacy of some child sexual abuse prevention programs targeting adults; however, less is known about the feasibility of implementing such programs. ...The current study examines the feasibility and acceptability of a child sexual abuse prevention program for child care professionals provided in two different formats: in person and Web based. The sample consisted of 188 child care professionals from a large-scale, multisite, randomized controlled trial. Findings indicate that both in-person and online training formats are feasible to implement and acceptable to professionals. When comparing formats, the in-person format was favored in terms of comfort level and likelihood of sharing information with others. These findings have significant implications for dissemination of child sexual abuse prevention programs for child care professionals.
The aim of this research is to study the improvement of empathy in child-care professionals (i.e., teachers, psychologists, social workers) involved in the prevention of sexual abuse against children ...and youngsters. An E-Learning training pilot program was conducted with pre- and post-measures (T
1
= at the beginning and T
2
= after 6 months) using the program's standardized questionnaires of Situational Empathy and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) as a Dispositional Empathy measure. A sample of 42 experienced professionals involved in activities with children and youngsters was obtained from the International Movement of Popular Education in Latin America called "Fe y Alegría." Significant progress was found in the scales of Situational Empathy and in some Coping subscales. The final outcomes seem to indicate that the prevention program elicits important changes in the cognitive sphere and that these changes are more intense when the implication level for the situation is greater. This research shows that empathy can be improved through professional experience and careful situational involvement.
Abstract
In 1998 Ghana harmonised its child care legislation to conform to the Convention on the Rights of the Child by enacting the Children's Act 1998, Act 560. Some stakeholders expressed ...misgivings at its capacity to ensure child protection, but little literature exists on the views of professionals working within the law. This paper presents an investigation of the views of professionals who are mandated to work within the law to ensure the rights of the child to legal protection in Ghana. The findings suggest that there is a gap between legal intent and practice. It is concluded from these findings that for better child protection, the provision of legal rights for children is only an initial step; the administrative framework including better professional training, adequate resources for social care agencies and the establishment of new structures also needs to be reconsidered.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, PRFLJ, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Previous research has described a discourse where men working within Early Childhood Education and Care are viewed as potential pedophiles. The aim of this study is to describe and analyze how men, ...working in Swedish preschools, position themselves in relation to this "pedophile discourse." Twenty-five men were interviewed about their work-experiences and the result shows two dominating positions: (1) giving up or (2) maneuvering the "pedophile discourse." The discourse is maneuvered by: avoiding certain tasks, do the tasks but in ways that minimize suspicion or do the tasks without acknowledging the personal risk, as the tasks are required in their professional role. Thereby, men do not have the same ability to develop "professionalism" in childcare as women. However, by "overcoming" the fear of the "pedophile discourse," these men create 'new discourses', where men "can" be viewed as caregivers. The result highlights an overall question, of what a professional approach is when it comes to care for children in ECEC.
Case reports indicate that fear of child sex abuse (CSA) - in the media and among laypeople called "paedophilia" - is emerging in Denmark. In this study, the hypothesis that the fear of CSA has ...consequences for childcare personnel, in general, and for male personnel especially is investigated. In spring 2010, we made a cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of staff in childcare institutions and a randomly selected non-matched control group of citizens outside childcare institutions, aged between 18 and 70 years. All groups were asked about their thoughts about the risk of being accused of "paedophilia", about their suspicions against others and whether they had changed their behaviour towards children. The childcare staff were also asked whether they had considered leaving their profession. The results show a current tendency of shift to a suspicious perception of men and to an increasingly distant attitude towards children among both the childcare professionals and the control group. This suggests that the fear of CSA in Danish society has consequences for the professional care of children.
Given the significant rates and deleterious consequences of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), identifying effective primary prevention approaches is a clear priority. There is a growing awareness that ...childcare professionals (e.g., teachers, childcare personnel, clergy) are in a unique position to engage in prevention efforts due to high accessibility to children and expertise in child development. However, CSA prevention programs targeting childcare professionals have received insufficient attention. The goal of this study was to conduct an independent multi-site controlled evaluation of an existing CSA prevention program,
Stewards of Children
, offered through both in-person and web-based formats. This study included 352 childcare professionals recruited from children’s advocacy centers across three states. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) in-person training, (2) web-based training, or (3) waitlist control. Dependent variables included CSA knowledge, CSA attitudes, and self-reported CSA preventive behaviors. Results indicated that
Stewards
impacted knowledge, attitudes, and preventive behaviors. No differences were found between training modalities (i.e., in-person versus web-based) on knowledge and preventive behaviors. Results indicate that brief trainings for childcare professionals may impact CSA prevention efforts.
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