Description:
Although home-based child care is a widely-used form of non-parental child care, relatively little is known about the home-based provider workforce and their beliefs and practices related to children and families. This study validates a previously identified typology of listed home-based child care providers (Hooper and Hallam, Early Child Res Q 47:194–205, 2019). The typology categorizes providers based on their beliefs and self-reported practices, rather than by licensing status or other structural characteristics. The current study uses exploratory and confirmatory latent profile analysis (LPA) to categorize a statewide sample of home-based child care providers (n = 234). Results of the confirmatory LPA suggest that the original typology identified in previous analysis of a nationally representative sample—Educationally Focused, Educationally Aware, and Caregiver profiles-fit the data well. However, an additional profile of Highly Engaged providers emerged in the exploratory analysis. Using the results of the profile analyses, I discuss implications for designing and implementing quality improvement supports for home-based child care providers to support them in providing high-quality child care. (author abstract)
Resource Type:
Reports & Papers
Country:
United States