Home-Based Child Care Toolkit for Nurturing School-Age Children Study

The goal of this observational study is to build psychometric evidence for the Home-Based Child Care Toolkit for Nurturing School-Age Children (HBCC-NSAC Toolkit) provider questionnaire. The main objectives of the study are to: 1) assess the reliability of the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit provider questionnaire, 2) assess the evidence for its validity compared to other existing measures of HBCC quality, and 3) examine invariance across subgroups (that is, look for the absence of any differential item functioning \[DIF\]). HBCC provider participants will complete a questionnaire in the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit. A subset of providers will also participate in an observation of their child care setting. Parents or guardians of children receiving care from HBCC providers will complete a survey.

Home-based child care (HBCC), child care and early education (CCEE) offered in a provider's or child's home by someone other than a parent, is the most common form of nonparental child care in the United States and is essential for many families. However, HBCC settings often use quality measures designed for center-based settings. The Home-Based Child Care Supply and Quality (HBCCSQ) project developed the Home-Based Child Care Toolkit for Nurturing School-Age Children (HBCC-NSAC Toolkit) to address the gaps in existing measures used in HBCC settings. The HBCC-NSAC Toolkit is intended to help HBCC providers who regularly care for at least one school-age child identify and reflect on their caregiving strengths and areas of growth. It consists of a self-administered provider questionnaire (composed of multiple newly developed measures) and a family communication questionnaire (composed of one communication tool). The provider questionnaire focuses on practices that may be more likely to take place in or be implemented differently in HBCC settings, such as racial and ethnic socialization, interactions among children of different ages, and interactions among children of similar ages. The current study builds upon the pilot study (completed under NCT05730075), which provided findings used to further refine the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit instruments and improve procedures for the subsequent validation study.

This validation study will recruit 150 purposively selected providers from diverse backgrounds to complete the English version of the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit provider questionnaire. The study team will ask providers to recruit one or more families to complete a family survey, for a total of up to 166 families. The study team will complete in-person observations in a subset of 50 providers' homes.

Results from the study will assist the field in understanding the extent to which the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit provider questionnaire can support home-based providers as well as how the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit addresses gaps in existing measurement.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria: Home-based child care providers who, at the time of the study, care for at least one school-age child (age 5 and in kindergarten, or ages 6 through 12) in a home setting for at least 10 hours per week and 8 weeks per year (within the past year) and must also be able to distribute the family survey to at least one eligible family. Providers who participate in observations must provide care in their own home.

* The families must be the parent or guardian of school-age children who receive care in a home-based child care setting for at least 10 hours per week and 8 weeks per year.
* All participants must be at least 18 years old and be able to read and answer questions in English.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Child care providers who do not care for at least one school-age child in a home setting for at least 10 hours per week and 8 weeks per year.
* Parents or guardians of children (families) who do not have school-age children who receive child care in a home for at least 10 hours per week and 8 weeks per year.
* Any providers or family members who are below 18 years old.
* Any providers or family members who cannot read and answer questions in English.