Homeless Shelter Staff: Who They are and What They Know About Early Childhood Development

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Abstract

Staff working at family homeless shelters play a critical role in supporting children’s healthy development (Guarino, 2014); however, little is known about these individuals and their knowledge of early childhood development. Because approximately half of children residing in shelters are under age 6, it is imperative to understand the potential for shelter staff to improve the developmental appropriateness of shelter environments (Solari et al., 2017). Our goal is to describe characteristics of these individuals working in shelters across the U.S., and to assess their understanding of developmental needs of the youngest children and families they serve.

Participants were one staff person from each of 50 different emergency/transitional housing shelters across 25 states, representing each of the ten HUD regions. Researchers requested that participating staff be those working in roles related to young children and/or families. In a semi-structured interview, staff responded to items related to demographics, educational and professional background, and child development knowledge of themselves and their colleagues. Perceived knowledge was measured with 9-item (self-report) and 5-item (colleagues) questionnaires developed for the present study. Participants responded to items with “Not at All,” “Somewhat,” “Fairly Well,” and “Very Well” (e.g. “I know how to help caregivers bond with their children ages 0-3.”; “Overall, shelter staff know how to help caregivers bond with their children ages 0-3.”). We also measured staff knowledge more objectively with an assessment of 12 items such as “You shouldn’t respond to a baby every time they cry (true/false)” and “Baby walkers help children walk earlier (true/false)” that were developed by our community partners for use with at-risk families.

Shelter staff were predominately White (72%) and female (92%), with about half reporting a bachelor’s degree (52%). Annual family income varied considerably: under $30,000 (8.3%), $30,000-$60,000 (33.3%), $60,001-$90,000 (31.3%), and over $90,000 (27.1%). Shelters varied in the numbers of their youngest residents, reporting an average of 9.11 children under age 6 (SD = 11.23) at the time of the survey.

Participants’ self-reported knowledge and their demonstrated knowledge were moderately positively correlated r(48) = .43, p = .002, indicating individuals were accurate in their self-perceptions. When participant gender, ethnicity, income, educational attainment, and self-reported knowledge were included in a regression model predicting demonstrated knowledge, only female gender (β = .445, p < .001), income (β = .246, p = .044) and self-reported knowledge (β = .360, p = .004) emerged as significant predictors of knowledge of child development. A paired-samples t-test revealed that scores for self-reported knowledge were significantly higher than colleague knowledge (t(49) = 4.74, p < .001).

Results suggest that homeless shelter staff working in roles related to children’s services are generally accurate in perceptions of their knowledge, and that they rate their knowledge as significantly higher than that of their colleagues. The variability in both self-reported and demonstrated knowledge warrants further investigation to understand strengths and limitations of these individuals in their roles serving very high risk families. Such an understanding will support efforts to promote child, family, and community resilience.

Authors

• McKenna Marie Halverson, University of Delaware
  Presenting Author

• Laura Wallace, Villanova University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Janette E. Herbers, Villanova University
  Non-Presenting Author