Promoting Sensitivity in Center-based Childcare

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

Get a concise snapshot of the trial, including recruitment status, study phase, enrollment targets, and key timeline milestones.

Recruitment Status

UNKNOWN

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

110 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2021-03-19

Study Completion Date

2023-06-30

Brief Summary

Review the sponsor-provided synopsis that highlights what the study is about and why it is being conducted.

The purpose of this study is to test the efficacy of an attachment research-informed intervention adapted to the Danish childcare context in terms of improving process quality in center-based childcare for 0-2 years old children. Specifically, the aim is to improve caregiver interactive skills and mind-mindedness. The intervention is delivered in groups during eight weekly sessions and is based on the manualized Circle of Security Parenting model, but adapted to the childcare context: The Circle of Security Classroom model. Intake is planned to be completed in January 2023 and 110 childcare providers are estimated to be enrolled in the trial.

Related Clinical Trials

Explore similar clinical trials based on study characteristics and research focus.

Testing the Effects of the Caregiver Interaction Profile Training on the Interactive Skills of Daycare Providers

NCT05654116

Healthy Emotion Regulation Language Development +1 more

RECRUITING NA

Self-Compassion for Children and Caregivers

NCT05818397

Anxiety Depression

COMPLETED NA

The Effectiveness of MInding the Baby in a Danish Community Sample

NCT03495895

Family Pregnancy, High Risk

COMPLETED NA

The Experience of Caregivers of Children With Down Syndrome

NCT00695695

Down Syndrome

COMPLETED

Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT): An Intervention for Caregivers

NCT03730155

Psychological Distress

COMPLETED NA

Detailed Description

Dive into the extended narrative that explains the scientific background, objectives, and procedures in greater depth.

Background:

It is well-established that children's early attachment relationship experiences with their primary caregivers play an important role in psycho-social development. However, it has been shown that also the child's relationship with other important caregivers, such as early professional caregivers in childcare, is important for socioemotional and academic development. In particular, if a child grows up in an at-risk context the quality of early childcare is pivotal for long-term development.

Children with an insecure attachment to their parents are at heightened risk for developing insecure attachments to professional caregivers. However, caregiver interactive skills are found to be associated with children's attachment security to professional caregivers, irrespective of the child's attachment relationship to the primary caregiver. Therefore, professional caregivers' ability to establish optimal interactions with the children in their care provides an important target of intervention in terms of promoting healthy child development.

In a randomized waitlist control trial, this study aims to

1. investigate the efficacy of COS-C in enhancing caregivers' interactive skills when interacting with groups of children in a natural busy real-life setting, their mind-mindedness (MM), and their work-specific resources to cope with stress.
2. investigate if changes in the caregivers' mind-mindedness is related to changes in their interactive skills.
3. explore if effects of the COS-C are moderated by personal and structural factors, here operationalized as the caregivers' own attachment style and staff stability.
4. evaluate the implementation of the COS-C by examining childcare providers' experience of the intervention's acceptability and feasibility, and we will examine the degree to acceptability and feasibility are related to the intervention's effectiveness. Investigating feasibility and acceptability of the COS-C intervention is essential in terms of evaluating the potential for up-scaling and further implementation of the intervention in Denmark
5. employing a qualitative approach we investigate a) how the caregivers and their managers make sense of changes caused by the intervention and b) how the caregivers experience the intervention in terms of its feasibility and acceptability when implemented in their daily practice.

Methods:

Childcare centers are recruited from a Danish municipality with a high proportion of at-risk families. Teams of 2-5 caregivers working in Danish childcare centers with children aged 0-2 years are allocated to either COS-C (eight weekly two-hour sessions) or a waitlist. A total of 110 caregivers are estimated to be enrolled, and the intervention will be delivered in groups of 6-10 caregivers. To facilitate implementation, the managers of the participating childcare providers are invited to participate in the intervention.

Effects of COS-C are measured using observations of video-recorded caregiver-child interaction (coded for six key interactive skills: Sensitive responsiveness, Respect for autonomy, structuring and limit setting, Verbal communication, Developmental stimulation, and Fostering positive peer interactions) and Mind-Mindedness (representational and interactional Mind-Mindedness) is measured via coding of transcribed interviews and video-recorded caregiver-child interactions. Structural and caregiver attachment style are measured using observation and questionnaires answered by caregivers and managers. Feasibility and acceptability of the intervention are evaluated using questionnaires and via qualitative interviews.

Perspectives:

The project will provide new knowledge on whether a relatively cost-effective intervention can improve the quality of care in Danish childcare centers for young children. Also, findings on how structural factors influence the quality of care will directly inform practice.

Conditions

See the medical conditions and disease areas that this research is targeting or investigating.

Caregiver Interactive Skills

Study Design

Understand how the trial is structured, including allocation methods, masking strategies, primary purpose, and other design elements.

Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Participants are randomized into intervention group or a waitlist

Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Outcome Assessors

Study Groups

Review each arm or cohort in the study, along with the interventions and objectives associated with them.

COSC

Eight weekly manualized sessions of Circle of Security Classroom (COSC), delivered in groups, two hours per session, 5-10 childcare providers per group.

COSC is facilitated by a psychologist who is a registered COSP facilitator and who has completed the an additional COSC online training.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

COSC

Intervention Type OTHER

COSC is professional development program for early childcare providers adapted from the Circle of Security-Parenting (COSP) model. It is a manualized intervention that leverages research on attachment relationships combining psycho-education with a mentalization-based approach. The model uses pre-produced video vignettes of secure and problematic caregiver-child interactions to illustrate how caregivers' may struggle in meeting children's' attachment needs.

Participants are invited to reflect on how they meet and perhaps still not meet the needs of the children in their care with a particular focus on the challenging or 'difficult' children.

The COSP manual has been translated into Danish (Cooper, Hoffman and Powel, 2020, translated by Pedersen, Kronendorf von Wowern, Lier, \& Smith-Nielsen), and the additional COSC material has been translated into Danish for the purpose of this study.

Control

Usual care control condition, i.e., standard practice in the participating childcare centers.

Teams of childcare providers are allocated to either COSC or waitlist in clusters, and baseline and follow-up measures are collected parallel in both groups. Childcare providers allocated to the waitlist will receive COSC after the follow-up data have been collected.

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Learn about the drugs, procedures, or behavioral strategies being tested and how they are applied within this trial.

COSC

COSC is professional development program for early childcare providers adapted from the Circle of Security-Parenting (COSP) model. It is a manualized intervention that leverages research on attachment relationships combining psycho-education with a mentalization-based approach. The model uses pre-produced video vignettes of secure and problematic caregiver-child interactions to illustrate how caregivers' may struggle in meeting children's' attachment needs.

Participants are invited to reflect on how they meet and perhaps still not meet the needs of the children in their care with a particular focus on the challenging or 'difficult' children.

The COSP manual has been translated into Danish (Cooper, Hoffman and Powel, 2020, translated by Pedersen, Kronendorf von Wowern, Lier, \& Smith-Nielsen), and the additional COSC material has been translated into Danish for the purpose of this study.

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Check the participation requirements, including inclusion and exclusion rules, age limits, and whether healthy volunteers are accepted.

Inclusion Criteria

Childcare providers who work in Danish childcare centers ("dagtilbud") for children aged 0 - 60 months in the Municipality of Høje-Taastrup can participate in the study.

Childcare providers with an educational background within childcare as well as childcare providers without education within childcare are included.