[Greet provider] Is now still a good time for you? Confirm that provider has received first gift card for provider interview #1.
Ask provider if they are more comfortable being on screen or off screen. They can have their video off and still view your shared screen for the photograph discussion.
Great! Thank you again for agreeing to talk with me today. As a reminder, this is the second and final conversation for the Home-Based Child Care Practices and Experiences (HBCC P&E) Study. Today’s interview will last about one and a half hours.
Before we begin, I want to remind you about the purpose of the research and ask for your continued consent to participate in this project.
The study seeks to learn about the strengths of home-based child care and to highlight the voices of people who care for the children of their family, friends, and neighbors. Millions of families rely on the care you and others like you offer children. Yet researchers and policymakers have not paid enough attention to home-based child care, especially care offered by relatives, friends, and neighbors. We hope the study will increase understanding about the important work that people like you do and the ways you support children and families.
[Briefly highlight these key parts from the consent statement: i.e. Information about HBCC P&E Study Activities for Providers.]
This is our last interview with you, and we will send you a $75 gift card if you complete the interview.
Your participation is completely up to you and voluntary. There is a small chance that responding to some of our questions could bring up topics that are upsetting to you. You can choose to not answer a question for this, or any other reason, if you wish. We can also pause or stop an interview at any point. There are no other risks, or benefits, to participation. There are no right or wrong answers to any of the questions. You may withdraw from the study at any point without consequences.
We will keep your participation private. We will only use your responses for research purposes and in ways that will not reveal who you are. We will not share your responses with others who participate in the study, including family members of the children you care for and the person in the community who supports you. There are a few exceptions to this; for example, if you indicate that you are planning to harm yourself or others, we may be required by law to share that with the appropriate authorities.
We will produce reports that will describe the experiences and viewpoints expressed by those we interview. However, in some previous studies, people have agreed to let researchers share additional details of their experiences and identity because they want to share this with others who take care of children and people interested in supporting child care. In the future, we might ask if you are interested in letting us share your details and identity in our reports. We will only share what you feel comfortable sharing and explicitly agree to share.
With your permission, we will record interviews. These recordings will not be shared outside the study team. If you want to say anything that you don’t want recorded, we can pause the recording during the interview. We will delete all recordings at the end of the study (after our analysis of responses from all participating providers is finished).
In the future, responses from this study (with nothing identifying participants) might be securely shared with qualified individuals for additional learning purposes to better understand the strengths of home-based child care.
Finally, because this is a federally funded study, I want to tell you that an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB number for this collection is 0970-0612 and the expiration date is 09/30/2024.
[End of consent statement information.]
Do you have any questions? (Answer any questions.)
Before we start, I would like to record our interview, so I don’t miss anything you say. If at any time you feel uncomfortable during the interview, you can ask me to turn off the recording or stop the interview altogether. Is it okay with you if I record?
If yes: Start recording
If no: Continue without recording
Do you agree to participate in the interview?
If yes: Continue with interview
This interview will be about your experiences caring for children. This interview should take about an hour and a half.
[IF PHOTO JOURNAL ENTRIES]
(IF CONSENT FORMS HAVE NOT BEEN UPLOADED, confirm that provider has received all signed photo consent forms and child assent forms (if applicable) and ask for them to be uploaded. If any parents did not sign a form or marked their child should not be in photos, or if a child who was 10 years or older did not sign an assent form, confirm with provider that those children are not in any of the photos the provider took. If that did occur, identify which photos so we can delete them.)
(For interview on Zoom: Before interview, prepare photographs from EthOS to show the provider’s photographs for each week.)
Now we’re going to look together at the photographs you shared with us.
(If they are on Zoom share your screen.)
I’m sharing my screen and showing the photos you took so we can talk about them. Can you see them?
(If they are not on Zoom) Let’s look at your photos in EthOS so we can talk about them. If you are talking to us on the phone we sent you, please switch to speakerphone. If you are talking to us on your own phone, please open the phone we sent you. Open the EthOS app and go to the project for Week 1. Look for the tasks that you completed (they should have 1 listed under Number of Entries)–then if you click the New Entries button, you’ll see the photo you already submitted.
(For interviewer: As you go through each group of photographs also probe for how these spaces, activities, materials, are important for the particular ages of children in their care, children with disabilities in their care, children who are dual/multi language learners in their care. You will have this information about children in care from provider interview #1. For example, you might ask: “Tell me more about what you were doing in this photograph with the baby who is in your care” or “Tell me more about how you support children who are bilingual in this book reading activity.” “How does this space support children with disabilities?”)
(Also probe for how these activities/materials/spaces support children’s self-identity including cultural, ethnic, racial, and linguistic identities. For example, if some children are identified as Latina/o, “When you look at these photographs, tell me more about how they show that you help Latina/o children affirm their cultural and ethnic identity. How do you support their home language?”)
Here is the first group of photographs that you took in week 1.
Tell me about these photographs.
What do these photographs show about the way you take care of children that is important to you? PROBE IF NOT ANSWERED: What is important about this space for children in your care?
PROBE IF NOT ANSWERED: What was your reason for taking these photographs?
Stop screen share and select week 2 photos.
Now let’s look at the second group of photographs that you took in week 2.
Tell me about these photographs.
What do these photographs show about the way you take care of children that is important to you? PROBE IF NOT ANSWERED: What is important about these activities for children in your care?
PROBE IF NOT ANSWERED: What was your reason for taking these photographs?
How typical is this activity?
Stop screen share and select week 3 photos.
Now let’s look at the third group of photographs that you took in week 3.
Tell me about these photographs.
What do these photographs show about the way you take care of children that is important to you?
PROBE FOR MIXED AGES IF THEY HAVE NOT MENTIONED AND THEY CARE FOR MIXED AGES
PROBE IF NOT ANSWERED: What is important about these activities for children in your care?
PROBE IF NOT ANSWERED: What was your reason for taking these photographs?
How typical is this activity?
Stop screen share and select week 4 photos.
Now let’s look at the fourth group of photographs that you took in week 4.
Tell me about these photographs.
What do these photographs show about the way you take care of children that is important to you? PROBE IF NOT ANSWERED: What is important about these activities for children in your care?
PROBE IF NOT ANSWERED: What was your reason for taking these photographs?
How typical is this activity?
[IF PROVIDER DID NOT SUBMIT PHOTO JOURNAL ENTRIES] ASK THE FOLLOWING:
Let’s start by talking about your home where you take care of children. Tell me about any space in your home that shows what is important to you about the care you offer children. IF NEEDED: This could include things and objects in your home that are important to you around caring for children.
Tell me about any routines or activities you have for children that are particularly important to you.
Tell me about an activity that children love to do together.
Tell me about an activity that you like to do with children outside of your home (e.g. in your yard, porch, neighborhood).
[IF NO AUDIO JOURNAL ENTRIES]
As you think about your experiences taking care of children, please tell me about something that happened this past week that brought you joy, affirmed your love for this work, and made doing child care worthwhile.
Now, tell me about something that happened this past week that was stressful, frustrating, or made you feel discouraged.
Now we’re going to spend some time talking about how you support and interact with children and what is important to you in these interactions. In our first conversation (interview #1) you told me a little bit about yourself, your identity, and the things that are important to you. You also told me about the identities of the children that you take care of.
Please tell me more about how your own cultural identity and values influence the way you take care of and support children. For example, how does your identity influence your care of children?
PROBE: How do you share your own family or community traditions and values with children? Please share some examples.
PROBE: How do you draw on your own identity and experiences in your care of children? Please share some examples.
Are there other parts of your identity we haven’t talked about that influence the way you care for children (for example, your gender, religion, etc.)? If so, what are the unique challenges/successes?
[IF PROVIDER SPEAKS LANGUAGES OTHER THAN ENGLISH WITH CHILDREN IN CARE] You mentioned that you speak [LANGUAGE] with children you take care of. Why is that important to you and the children? The families?
As a [SELF-IDENTIFIER], what, if any, do you feel are the unique challenges you face in caring for children?
Given your experiences as a [SELF-IDENTIFIER], what are the unique strengths you bring to caring for children?
Sometimes providers share the same background as children in care and other times they come from different backgrounds. You shared in interview #1 that you care for children who identify as [fill in identifier from Table 1 in interview #1]. What does it mean to you to be a [SELF-IDENTIFIER] provider caring for and educating these young children?
IF SHARED BACKGROUND: How do you build on your shared background with children and families in your care of children? Even if you have a similar background, how do you learn about the values, traditions, and beliefs that are important to children and families?
IF NOT SHARED BACKGROUND: How do you learn about the values, traditions, and beliefs that are important to the children and families in your care?
We know that many people may experience hardship, discrimination, racism, or other inequities in their daily lives or experiences with systems and policies around child care. How do you think your own experiences with discrimination, racism, or other inequities influence the way you take care of children? Your interactions with children?
PROBE: [IF PROVIDER DOES NOT IDENTIFY HAVING EXPERIENCED RACISM OR INEQUITIES THEMSELVES] How have your observations of racism or inequities influenced the way you take care of children? Your interactions with children?
What are the ways you prepare children for and protect them from day-to-day experiences with discrimination that they might encounter in their daily lives because of their gender, race, religion, language, disability?
PROBE: What are the ways you help children who may experience being insulted or bullied?
PROBE: How do you protect children from and prepare children for these stressors?
[SKIP IF PROVIDER ONLY CARES FOR INFANTS] How do you respond to children when they talk about their differences or show bias towards each other?
How comfortable do you feel talking about race and culture with children and families?
What are the ways you support children who may experience trauma or hardship? How comfortable do you feel talking about trauma and hardship with children and families?
For the next questions, ask about specific children in care. If more than one child in care, ask about two children of different ages, for example an infant and a school-age child:
Think about [CHILD]. What are the most important things this child gets from being in your care? Please share some examples.
PROBE: What do you think [CHILD] learns when they are with you?
How do you help [CHILD] stay safe and healthy? What, if anything, is hard about keeping [CHILD] safe and healthy?
Next question is more general, not about individual children in care.
Tell me about the ways you think children learn and how you help them learn.
PROBE IF NEEDED What are the different ways you help children learn? What does it look like?
[IF PROVIDER ONLY TALKS ABOUT ONE TYPE OF LEARNING E.G. ACADEMIC LEARNING] PROBE: What are the ways that children learn about other things such as emotions, behaviors, getting along?
Now I’m going to ask you some questions about your relationships and interactions with the parents or primary guardians of the children that you take care of.
NOTE: If a provider only offers care to one family and has not offered other child care, tailor the following questions to that particular family member.
Tell me about your relationships with the parents or primary guardians of the children in your care]. How would you describe those relationships? [If close relative, ask them to tell you about their relationship with their daughter or sister for example.]
PROBE: What do you find rewarding about working with parents or guardians of children in your care?
PROBE: What do you find stressful or challenging about working with parents or guardians of children in your care?
There are many different ways to care for children. Most caregivers we've talked to have some ways of caring for children that are similar and different from the children's own families. Tell me about some of the similarities between the way you care for the children in your care and the way their parent cares for them that you think are important.
PROBE: Now tell me about a time when you and a child’s parent saw things differently or disagreed around childrearing.
Tell me about the ways you help parents besides taking care of their children. What kinds of help do you give them? (Note: Reassure provider that all information in interview will be kept private.)
[IF ONLY RESPONDS WITH EXAMPLES RELATED TO CHILDREN] PROBE: What kinds of help do you give parents not about children?
PROBE FOR THE FOLLOWING TYPES OF HELP IF NOT MENTIONED; ASK FOR EXAMPLES IF NOT GIVEN
How about…
Errands or appointments?
Transportation for children or parents?
Personal advice to parents?
Financial needs outside of paying for child care?
Help connecting families to supports and services for their themselves and their children such as food pantries, vaccines, dental care, housing?
Help connecting families to other public assistance (e.g. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families [TANF], food stamps, Medicaid, supplemental nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children [WIC])?
Materials such as clothing or food?
[IF ANY SUPPORTS ARE MENTIONED] What are your reasons for supporting parents in these ways?
So now I want to understand how you think your own community and neighborhood where you live may influence the ways you take care of children and how you see your role in your community.
Tell me about your community/neighborhood where you live.
PROBE: What are the strengths and opportunities or good things in this community for children and families?
PROBE: What are the challenges or hard things about this community for children and families?
How do you see your role, if any, in the neighborhood and the broader community?
PROBE IF NEEDED: What kinds of interactions do you have with teenagers and other youth in the community? With neighbors? With local churches, community groups that work with children?
What do you think you offer children and families that is the same as other child care settings in your community like preschools, or PreK, or Head Start [IF SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN] or after-school programs?
What do you think you offer children and families that is different from other child care settings in your community like preschools, or PreK, or Head Start [IF SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN] or after-school programs?
So we are at the end of the interview. Let’s reflect for a minute. Think about all of the things that we have discussed over these 2 calls. What are the one or two most important things you want people to understand about your experiences taking care of children?
Thank you so much for your time today and sharing your experiences with me. Like I said at the beginning of the interview, this is our final research activity with you! Thank you so much for all of the time you took to share your experiences with us over the past several weeks.
[IF PROVIDER COMPLETED ALL OR MOST JOURNAL TASKS]
[IF FAMILY OR COMMUNITY CONTACTS ARE STILL MISSING]
We are still hoping you might be able to ask a family/community member to participate in a one-time interview for the study. Have you tried to reach out?
(If yes) Great, can you tell me their contact information? If you wrote it down on the forms we mailed you, it might be easiest to look at that. [GET CONTACT INFORMATION]
(If
no) Is there
anything making it difficult to ask them? (Discuss
if needed.) As
soon as you’ve talked to [COMMUNITY MEMBER AND/OR FAMILY
MEMBER CONTACTS], can you please let me know? You can upload a
photo of the contact form in EthOS as we discussed in an earlier
call or I can call you to get their contact information over the
phone. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll follow up in
about a week.
Note to interviewer: Find out local options for FedEx in provider’s community before interview.
Now that you are finished, we would like you to send back the study phone and any completed consent and contact forms you received back from the parents, and assent forms from children if relevant. Feel free to keep any other handouts we sent you. In the initial FedEx package we sent you, we included a box and return label for you to send the materials back to us. As soon as you can, please put the consent and contact forms and study phone (INCLUDING THE CHARGING BLOCK AND CABLE) in the box with the label attached to the outside of the box, seal it up, and either take it to a FedEx facility or call them for pick up. You will not need to pay to send out the package, as we’ve prepaid for the shipping.
Do you know a FedEx drop off location near you? Or do you know how to call them to pick up from your home? IF NOT, MENTION LOCAL OPTIONS. IF THAT IS CONFUSING OR DIFFICULT FOR PROVIDER, ASK THEM TO GIVE PACKAGE TO TRUSTED PARTNER.
IF THEY ARE ABLE TO DROP OFF TO FEDEX OR ARRANGE PICK UP: Please be sure to get a tracking number, either when you drop it off or get a receipt which includes a tracking number if they pick it up. Do not put the package in a FedEx drop box as we will not be able to track the package if it is delayed in the mail.
Once we receive the phone, we will send you the remaining Visa gift cards, which are $100 for the journals and $75 for this interview. Please feel free to contact me at any point with questions or issues related to sending back the phone and materials and receiving the gift cards.
[IF PROVIDER DID NOT COMPLETE JOURNAL TASKS]
I will mail you the $75 Visa gift card for this interview. Please feel free to contact me at any point with questions or issues related to receiving the gift card.
[IF FAMILY OR COMMUNITY CONTACTS ARE STILL MISSING]
As we discussed last time, we’d like to interview up to two family members and a community member (someone who is a source of support or information to you). Did you have a chance to get permission from [COMMUNITY MEMBER AND/OR FAMILY MEMBER CONTACTS] for us to contact them about an interview?
(If yes) Great, can you tell me their contact information? If you wrote it down on the forms we mailed you, it might be easiest to look at that. [GET CONTACT INFORMATION]
(If no) Is there anything making it difficult to ask them? (Discuss if needed.) As soon as you’ve talked to them, can you please let me know? I can then call you to get their contact information over the phone. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll follow up in about a week.
[ALL STUDY PARTICIPANTS]
Our next step is to review all of the interviews, journal entries, and photographs from all of the providers who participated in our study and write up a report on our findings. As we are reviewing this information and working on our report, we would like to talk to providers who participated in the study again to share what we are learning and get your help making sense of what we have learned. We plan to hold a 1-hour virtual group discussion with providers and we will offer a $50 gift card for participation. It is completely optional to join. Do you think you might be interested in being part of that group? We will send you more details in a couple months and you can let us know if you are able to join.
Before we say goodbye, do you have any other questions for me?
Thank you!
Mathematica®
Inc.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | MATHEMATICA |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2023-12-15 |