Parent's Needs for Center-based Child Care Health Program

Han, Kyung Ja; Kim, Ji Soo

Abstract

PURPOSE: To investigate the actual conditions of health care management in child day care centers and parents needs for a Center-based Child Care Health Program.
METHODS
Study design was cross-sectional descriptive study. 937 parents from 33 day care centers in Seoul completed a structured questionnaire.
RESULTS
73.0% of the parents experienced sick events with their child at least once or more every 1-3months. These events resulted in 35.2% of the parents having to leave work early or to be absent from their jobs. 30.4% were asked to drive a sick child from the child day care centers to their home. Most parents (76.7%) agreed on the need for a Center-based Child Care Health Program (CCCHP), and expected general health & illness management, and growth & development evaluation from the CCCHP.
CONCLUSION
These results show that there is a great demand for Center-based Child Care Health Program. They suggest that there is an urgent need to develop CCCHPs to promote children's health and to support parents. Also the results of this study can be utilized as a basis for the establishment of a childcare policy in Korea.