Process and Findings from Engaging Community Members as Technical Advisors in a Study of Home-Based Providers

• In Event: Learning With Home-Based Child Care Providers and Parents Through Participatory Research Approaches

Abstract

Introduction
This paper describes my process and findings collaborating with a group of mothers and grandmothers to serve as technical advisors for a mixed-methods study on programs and policies to support the home-based early care and education workforce. The decision to enlist community experts is grounded in Black feminism, which centers the experiences of Black women as the vantage point at the intersection of gender, race, and class, from which to critically examine economic, political and social structures and practices (Collins, 1996). Black feminism suggests that through their distinct positions in society, Black women, and other women who are “outsiders within” can offer intimate, insider knowledge about how to remediate broken and biased systems (Collins, 1986). This paper describes my process for enlisting 10 advisors, learning the dimensions and characteristics of home-based ECE workers that matter to them when selecting individuals to care for their children; co-interpreting data from the National Survey for Early Care and Education (NSECE, 2019); and co-developing questions to include in interviews and focus groups with home-based providers. I describe the themes in which their expertise, insights and recommendations advanced and deepened the quality of the study.

Hypotheses
This work is a study (of working with community-based Technical Advisors) that exists within a larger study (of what programs and policies could support home-based care workers). Consistent with my use of the grounded theory methodological approach in the larger study, I consciously and effortfully avoided hypotheses and allowed findings to emerge from meetings (focus groups) with Technical Advisors.

Study Population
The Technical Advisors are ten East Harlem mothers and grandmothers who belong to a community group, the East Harlem Action Collaborative. All members identify as women; 6 members identify as Latina, 4 identify as Black/African-American. As for language preference, 5 members communicate in Spanish, 4 members communicate in English, and 1 member communicates in both English and Spanish languages.

Methods and Results
The technical advisors participated in three semi-structured meetings (focus groups), one which included a gallery walk of tables and figures depicting descriptive data on home-based care providers’: (i) demographic characteristics (e.g., race/ethnicity; age; language; nativity; education); (ii) enrollment (e.g., number, age, race/ethnicity of children in their care); (iii) the care they provide to children (e.g., main responsibilities when caring for children, time spent on various activities); and (iv) professional development activities. Meetings were audio-recorded and transcribed for analysis. Analyses are underway and will be presented alongside learnings from the technical advisory process.

Author

• Zoelene Hill, New York Academy of Medicine
  Presenting Author