Quality in Home-Based Child Care: A Review of the Literature and Conceptual Model

• In Event: Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Topic - School Readiness/Childcare

Abstract

Overview
Millions of American families rely on home-based child care (HBCC), defined as child care offered in a provider’s own home. HBCC is the most common form of nonparental child care for young children and children living in poverty (National Survey of Early Care and Education [NSECE] Project Team, 2016). Yet, research on child care quality focuses primarily on center-based care. Many HBCC providers face substantial challenges in providing high-quality and sustainable care and in accessing resources and supports (Porter et al., 2010).
The proposed poster will summarize findings from a recent literature review and conceptual model that seek to answer the following research questions:
1. What are the features of HBCC quality and what is the relationship between quality and provider, child, or family outcomes?
2. What are the contextual factors that contribute to quality in HBCC?
Methods
The review focused on the small but growing body of research on HBCC quality and associated factors and included 28 literature reviews and 58 primary articles from peer reviews or gray literature published after 2010. It documented types of evidence along with evidence of the mechanisms that link features of quality to outcomes. Findings guided the development of a conceptual model for HBCC (See Figure 1).
Findings
The literature can be categorized into four broad components of HBCC quality: (1) home setting and learning environments; (2) provider-child relationships; (3) provider-family relationships and family supports; and (4) conditions for operations and sustainability. The review also identified provider and neighborhood characteristics as broad contextual factors that could shape HBCC quality features.
The most research evidence for links to provider, child, or family outcomes was found for two components: (1) home setting and learning environment; and (2) provider-child interactions. Fewer studies examined provider-family relationships and family supports or conditions for sustainability and operations in HBCC. Ample evidence was found for how provider characteristics shape HBCC quality, but no research examined the interaction of neighborhood characteristics and HBCC quality.
Several features may be more common in HBCC settings than in other early childhood settings. Examples of these include mixed-age groups, continuity of care, care offered outside traditional hours, logistical supports, and business practices. The review found no evidence of strong or consistent links to outcomes for these features. Other examples include close family-like relationships, working alone, and work-family balance, for which evidence for the effect on outcomes is largely unknown.
Recommendations
Gaps in current research on HBCC across studies suggests areas for future research and measurement development. Our review indicates a need for research on HBCC that includes racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse samples of providers, families, and children as well as research on school-age children and children with disabilities cared for HBCC.
Moreover, there is a need for research that uses mixed methods. Most research is cross-sectional, with few studies examining provider practices and outcomes over time. There is also a need for experimental research designs that investigate how HBCC quality mediates child and family outcomes.

Authors

• Juliet Sara Bromer, Erikson Institute
  Presenting Author

• Toni Porter, Early Care and Education Consulting
  Non-Presenting Author

• Christopher Hilton Jones, Mathematica Policy Research - District of Columbia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Marina Ragonese-Barnes, Erikson Institute
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jaimie Grazi, Mathematica Policy Research
  Non-Presenting Author