This article describes the origins and symptoms of staff burn-out in child care jobs, and offers ten suggestions to help combat such burn-out. (CM)

Results of a study of personal job-stress factors among day care center personnel focus on impact of staff-child ratio, working hours, time out, staff meetings and program structure. Recommended institutional changes for prevention of staff "burn-out" involve reduction in amount of direct staff-child contact, development of social-professional…

The residential treatment program described here emphasizes the involvement of parents in their children's treatment. Positive findings from a follow-up study suggest that parental involvement is directly related to children's treatment gains. (Author)

Post-training assessment of family day care providers (N=13), who participated in Family Day Care Project training sessions and biweekly on-site consultations and then mainstreamed young handicapped children (N=27) into their homes, demonstrated an overall significant positive change in knowledge and attitudes toward disabilities and improved day…

Introduces the concept of "developmental niche" as a framework for examining the cultural structuring of child development. Focuses on (1) anthropological perspectives on human development, (2) psychology and the environment, (3) subsystems and other aspects of the developmental niche, and (4) changes which occur in niches as individuals…

Investigates the belief that caregivers' sensitive and contingent behavior is closely related to children's perceived control by analyzing the interactions between mothers and their 3 1/2- to 4 1/2-year-old children during a problem-solving task. (HOD)

Amendments to many child abuse laws mandate the reporting by staff members of suspected abuse or neglect in out-of-home settings. This article discusses legal protections and potential liabilities for filing or failing to file such complaints. (Author/NH)

A conference on bonding and attachment attended by professionals and foster and adoptive parents was followed by a questionnaire survey of participants which was designed to measure effectiveness. A follow-up survey was conducted six months later. Professionals and parents benefited from combined training sessions. (BB)

Discusses job-related health problems, such as infectious diseases and job stress, that are of concern to child caregivers in child care settings. Ways that these problems can be alleviated and/or medically treated are also discussed. (BB)

Discusses the qualities that educators need to function effectively in a range of child care settings (multiple settings) such as traditional schools, shopping malls, industrial establishments and museums. Decision-making skills, sensitive communicative skills, interest in continuing to learn, and questioning of practice are among the qualities…

Examines the influence on children's social development of variation in the quality of child care environments. Findings suggest that overall quality, caregiver-child verbal interactions, and director experience were each highly predictive of the children's social development in day care. (Author/RWB)

Maintains that the reasons behind child care workers' low pay are inequitable wages for women, devaluation of children, and minimization of the skill involved in working with children. (BB)

Examines the relationships between childrearing environments, adult control behaviors, and children's compliance and violation in Israeli town and Kibbutz children. (HOD)

Reviews approaches to the study of temperament and ways in which knowledge about temperament can be helpful in planning day care and counselling parents. Discusses the nine dimensions of temperament developed by Thomas, Chess, and Birch (1965) to describe infants and children and standardized instruments for measuring temperament developed by…

Examines the issues involved in determining the criteria to use for excluding ill children from day care centers. (HOD)