how reseach into attachment and day care has influenced child care practices Flashcards
name three areas of childcare that have been influenced and by attachment research.
adoption, hospital visiting, quality of day care.
who’s research changed adoption?
Bowlby’s concept of the critical period for attachment has been applied to adoption. In the past biological mothers were encouraged to nurse their babies for a significant amount of time. The sensitive period may have passed, a change in protocol means that today most babies are adopted within the first week of birth and research shows that adoptive mothers and children are just as securely attached as non adoptive families.
who’s research changed hospital visiting?
research by the Robertsons showed the impact of short term separation on children who had either been hospitalized or had a parent in hospital. Emotional disruption could be minimized if substitute emotional care could be provided as well as links with existing attachment figures. This changed practice in foster homes, where substantial emotional care may have previously been viewed as inappropriately competitive with the primary attachment figure. It also lead to changes in hospital policies regarding parental visiting, it is now commonplace for parents to be residential with their hospitalized children.
who’s research changed quality of day care?
The Soho Family Centre have based their daycare on attachment theory. They believe that carers must function as secondary attachment figures, complementing and supporting the primary figure. To ensure this a carer is assigned a maximum of 3 children and paired with another carer who can step in if need be. Mothers are encouraged to include their own children in their group, this reduces the conflict between home and work and reduces staff turnover. The children also benefit from the experience of the women.
High quality daycare is associated with positive effects on social behaviour, low quality with negative. name the four ways child care has changed.
- Low child to staff ratios – The NICHD study found that sensitive care could only be provided when the ratios were as low as 3:1.
- Minimal staff turnover – If staff come and go, children may fail to form attachments with staff or suffer anxiety when they go.
- Sensitive emotional care – The NICHD study found that 23% of carers gave highly sensitive care, 50% only moderately sensitive care and 20% are ‘emotionally detached’
- Qualified staff – Sylva(2003) the higher the qualifications of the staff at the centre, particularly the manager, the better the outcomes for the social; development of the children. This may be ensured by Ofsted inspection.
The impact of research into daycare can be seen in the policies that are formulated for daycare provision and the way that they are monitored and enforced in the UK. For example, Staff to child ratios are a legal requirement in the UK. Training is likely to be a prerequisite of working with children and many qualifications have been devised to ensure staff understand the need s of children. The quality of daycare maybe ensured by organizations such Ofsted .
