Child Care in Practice E-News

July 2010

Cait Doherty Assistant Editor

Hello everyone

The summer is flying by and it is time for another child care in Practice update. The review process continues to thrive however I do have a few papers in need of reviewers this time around – please look at the list and contact me if you are interested in any of the topics.

There are also a few overdue reviews so I urge you to take a look at the list below in case tehre is one you have forgotten about.

Books are continuing to arrive into my office so please adopt one if you can, remember you get to keep the book in return for a brief review! Who could turn down an offer like that?!

Best wishes,

Cait

Articles for review:

The following articles have become available for review again. If there is an article cited below which you wish to review please e-mail Cait at

·  Effect of parental presence and toy distraction during invasive procedures in children

Objective: To investigate the effect of the parental presence and the distraction of the attention by a toy in children undergoing a painful procedure.
Design: A randomized study of 130 children with two experimental groups and one control group.
Setting: Children who were admitted to the 1st and 2nd Pediatric Clinic of the General Children’s Hospital of Athens “P. & A. Kyriakou”, from September 2006 to March 2007.
Interventions: The verbal report scale of pain, the assessment of vital signs before and after the procedure and the STAIC scale.
Main outcome measures: Pain and stress levels in children undergoing painful procedures.
Results: Children who had their parent close to them presented a reduction of breaths (, mean blood pressure and pulses compared to the children whose parents were absent. They also felt less and they were less distressed.
Conclusions: Parental presence is considered to be an important in decreasing children’s pain, stress and generally their negative behavior during invasive procedures.

·  A Case Study of Pedagogy in Family Child Care

This case study considered pedagogical techniques used in family child care to promote children’s learning experiences. Data extracted from an earlier study was used to inform this examination of four family child care providers’ pedagogy. In the current study, I used sociocultural theory and the Reggio Emilia approach to address the following research question: how do family child care providers describe learning experiences of children in their care? Four themes emerged from the data: responsiveness to children, children’s play, reflective thinking, and didactic teaching. The study indicated that providers’ work is informal, but nonetheless these care givers follow a natural, experiential learning, along with more didactic practices common to traditional classrooms.

·  Readiness to Implement a National Quality Framework: Evidence from Irish Early Childhood Care and Education Centres

This study examines the factors associated with childcare staff members’ readiness to implement quality standards in early childhood settings in Ireland. To coincide with a new government policy which provides every three year old child with access to a free preschool year, a framework, designed to improve the quality of Early Childhood Care and Education Centres (ECCECs), is being roll out nationally. The new quality framework details the first national set of best practice standards for early childhood care and education in Ireland. This study measures support for this change in childcare practices in several pilot communities which introduced the framework prior to national roll out. The study uses the Organizational Change Recipients’ Belief Scale to determine how readiness for change is associated with job satisfaction and the work environment in childcare settings. One hundred and twenty surveys were completed by childcare staff in nine pilot ECCECs. The surveys were distributed in 2009 and, therefore, capture staff’s attitudes towards the introduction of the new quality framework. The results show that individual staff characteristics had little association with support for the implementation of the quality framework, while factors related to group dynamics were significantly associated with readiness for change. Specifically, a positive work environment and greater job satisfaction were associated with a lower belief that there is a need for the national quality framework, but a higher belief that the childcare staff will be supported by management when the quality framework is introduced.

Reviews Outstanding

The reviews of the following articles are overdue. Please be aware that each article requires two reviews and that even if you know that you have returned your review, your colleague may not have. Please forward outstanding article reviews of the articles cited below to Cait at as soon as possible.

·  Comparing fostering in Scotland and Norway With an emphasis on the use of private actors

·  Quality of care and parental satisfaction at child care centres in a Municipal Council area in Sri Lanka

·  Investigating the Effectiveness of the Incredible Years Basic Parenting Programme for Foster Carers in Northern Ireland

·  Prevalence of Bullying in Northern Ireland Schools; a comparative study in Northern Ireland

Books for Review

If you or one of your colleagues would like to review one of the below books please contact Cait at

·  Helping Kids and Teens with ADHD in School, A Workbook or Classroom Support and Managing Transitions, Joanne Steer and Kate Horstmann

·  Life Story Books for Adopted Children, A Family Friendly Approach, Joy Rees

·  The Pink Guide to Adoption, for lesbians and gay men, Nicola Hill

·  Access to Information for Post-care Adults, A guide for social workers and Access to Records Officers (AROs), Julia Feast

·  Meditation and Movement, Structured Therapeutic Activity Sessions, G Rosser

·  Where is Poppy’s Panda, David Pitcher

·  I wish I had been born from you, Poems and reflections on adoption, Karen Lomas

·  Adoption and Fostering Special Issue: Kinship Care, guest edited by Joan Hunt

·  The Primal Wound, Understanding the adopted child, Nancy Newton Verrier

·  Young People in Love and in Hate, Nick Luxmore

·  Looking After a Young Person who has been Trafficked, and Caring for a Young Person who has been Trafficked, both by Eileen Fusland

·  Managing child welfare and protection services, Paul Harrison

·  Ten Top Tips Supporting Kinship Placements, Hedi Argent

·  Dad David, Baba Chris and Me, Ed Merchant

·  Linking and Matching, A Survey of adoption agency practice in England and Wales, Cherilyn Dance, Danielle Ouwejan, Jennifer Beecham and Elaine Farmer

·  Holding On and Hanging In, The story of a boy, his foster family and their journey from trauma to healing. Lorna Miles

·  Caring for Children and Teenagers with Attachment Difficulties, Chris Taylor

·  Helping Children to Cope with Change, Stress and Anxiety, A Photocopiable Activities Book, Deborah M Plummer

Meetings

Please note the changes to times and dates of Editorial Board and Advisory Committee Meetings.

·  Editorial Board Meeting

8th September @ 14.30

·  Editorial Advisory Committee Meeting (Board members are also expected to attend)

8th September @ 15.00

New Members

The Child Care in Practice group is currently trying to strengthen its peer review process and would actively welcome nominations to their body of reviewers.

All nominations should be e-mailed to Cait at