Thesis (M.A.)--Cincinnati Bible Seminary, 1988. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [126]-128).

Thesis (Ph.D)--Murdoch University, 2007. / Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts and Education. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 355-383).

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-118).

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-118) Also available in print.

This study investigated the question of whether an adaptation of documentation as practiced in the schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy, can be successfully utilized in the United States. If documentation is successful, connections, extensions, and projects will develop as a result of the documentation process. A case study approach was used. Four teachers were given seven training sessions dealing with the theory and application of specific documentation techniques. These teachers were observed and interviewed to determine whether they used documentation more effectively in the classroom than at the start of the study. They were compared with other teachers who had not received instruction in the documentation process.

Considerable evidence indicates that touch is vital to the healthy psychological development of children. However, teacher-child physical contact has rarely been investigated. This study was therefore designed to obtain descriptive data on teacher-child touch in preschool classrooms, the teacher, child and center variables which affect such contact and the messages teachers give to children regarding human closeness. The central question addressed was: do all children receive physical affection from caregivers? The frequency and duration of seven categories of touch were measured in eight preschool classrooms in four day care centers: Affectionate, Caretaking-Helpful, Comfort, Play, Attentional-Control Neutral, Attentional-Control Negative-Punishing and Attentional-Control Affectionate. Data was collected through observation of teachers and 148 children, and interviews with twenty teachers and four directors. The results indicated that while teachers do provide physical affection for children, they are more likely to use touch for caretaking-helpful purposes or to control-punish children than to comfort, express affection or touch in the context of play. However, great variance was found among individual teachers and centers in both the frequency and nature of touch. Education and positive attitudes toward physical contact were found to be related to higher rates of positive teacher touch. Center variables influencing higher rates of positive touch and lower rates of controlling touch were director attitudes and leadership styles, implicit center policies and director expression of physical affection to teachers. A small percentage of children received the majority of all types of physical contact; some children received little or no affection. The most important child variable influencing the frequency of positive teacher touch was whether the child expressed affection to caregivers. Children named as challenging by teachers received far more negative-punishing touch than those named as easy. Children identified as having a painful touch history (physical or sexual abuse; deprivation of affection) similarly received a greater frequency of negative-punishing touch than children in general. The findings were discussed in terms of the need for teacher-parent education on the developmental significance of touch and for an increase in positive touch in early childhood programs.

This study examined the demographics, self-perceived autonomy and isolation of the work, and level of burnout of the family child care provider. This was done by surveying the 249 licensed small group family child care providers of New Hampshire. The analysis is based on 71 participants who represented a 28.5% return. The Family Child Care Provider Work Conditions Survey assessed her self-perceptions of the autonomous and isolating factors of the job. Levels of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment and burnout ranking were measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey. Demographic information was gathered. Participants were female, European American and married. Most were 31 to 50 years old, 71.8% had some to four years of college, and 46.4% had children of their own under 10 years old. They worked for an average of 12.78 years with a span of one to forty years. Their workday ranged from 3 to 12.5 hours with an average of 10 hours. The characteristics of this sample were contrasted to Kontos' 1992 review of the family child care provider literature. Results demonstrated that the majority reported low burnout profiles. Correlations were evident between several of the perceptions of autonomy and isolation and the burnout subscales. Those participants reporting moderate to high emotional exhaustion were more likely to feel lonely, wish for more contact with other providers, to share responsibilities with other adults and for more time to themselves during the day. Participants reporting moderate to high depersonalization were also likely to report this. Those with high feelings of personal accomplishment were more likely to report rarely feeling lonely, and scored high on the degree to which they liked being their own boss. Those providers reporting a high sense of accomplishment were also those likely to be experiencing little role conflict and an internal locus of control. Results were also discussed in terms of what factors of their work may be moderating the high demands of this job. Implications included suggesting research into understanding when and how the family child care provider chooses to define her work as a career choice.

This study examined the utility of an integrative assessment process in developing interventions for young children with at-risk behavior. Additionally, the study examined the effectiveness of interventions focused primarily on manipulating antecedents of the target behavior and environmental variables potentially contributing to the target behavior. Tools and procedures from functional and ecobehavioral assessment were used in a consultative process to guide the behavioral assessment and to inform the development of interventions implemented in the classroom. Specifically, interviews and observations were supplemented by an evaluation of the classroom environment, and information from these tools was used to develop interventions. Three applications of the assessment and intervention process are provided. In Case Study I, the process was used to develop interventions to increase the social play of a socially withdrawn preschool male. In Case Study II, the process was used to design interventions to increase compliance in a preschool female. Case Study III provided a small group application of the process as it was used with a classroom of six preschool age children. In all cases, antecedent-based or environmentally-based interventions derived from the integrative process were demonstrated to be effective in addressing the target behaviors. Through case study replications, this study provides support for an assessment process that integrates functional and ecobehavioral assessment as well as support for interventions focused on manipulating antecedents or environmental variables.

This dissertation will examine the determinants of international variations in child welfare. In particular, I intend to focus on the relationship between child welfare and the distribution of power in societies. In pursuing this objective, I will proceed in four steps. First, I will identify elements to construct a holistic child welfare index (WINOCENT). Second, drawing on the chapter on literature review, I will assemble and present data on various determinants of child welfare identified in that chapter. I will sort these determinants into two broad categories: structural variables, which are not readily amenable to alternation by policy makers, at least in the short run; and the policy variables, which can be more readily manipulated. Third, I will calculate the National Performance Gaps (NPG)s for the child welfare index (WINOCENT) and the variables comprising it, by regressing them against per capita income using the ordinary least squares method. In the fourth and last stage, regression analysis will be used to examine the relationships between the dependent variable, i.e. the WINOCENT and its constituent elements, and the independent variables, i.e. the structural and policy variables.

Action research has proven to be a powerful protocol for enhancing best-practices pedagogy and for guiding reflective practitioners in becoming effective change agents. This dissertation uses action research methods to, first, frame the institutional process of crafting a new, complex water exhibit at a Massachusetts children’s museum; and second, to closely follow, reflect upon, and assess the efforts by multiple stakeholders across a two-year period to produce an exemplary learning environment. This research provides parameters by which other children’s museums can likewise maximize their creativity and resources in exhibit development through the use of fully substantiated action research methodology.