Health Status and Factors Related to Health Status of Children Attending at the Early Childhood Development Center

Abstract

Children attending at an early childhood development center are prone to get upper respiratory tract infection and diarrhea more than children who received care at home. This study aims to determine health status and factors related to health status of children who attending at the Early Childhood Development Center, Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songkla University.

Sample consisted of one hundred and twenty-two paired of children and parents as well as the twenty-four staff of the Early Childhood Development Center at the Faculty of Nursing; Prince of Songkla Univrsity. Four instruments used in this study consist of 1) The Demographic Data Questionnaire, 2) The Daily Report for Child’s Health and Illness, 3) The Staff’s Behaviors in Caring for Children, and 4) The Parent’s Behaviors in Caring for Children at Home. The reliabilities of the three instruments except the Demographic Data Questionnaire were 0.92, 0.92 and 0.87, respectively. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and Spearman’s correlation coefficient were used to analyze data.

This study revealed that 45.1 % of children attending at the Early Childhood Development Center had respiratory infection more than 8 times/ year. In addition, 36 % of children attending at the Early Childhood Development Center had diarrhea approximately 1-3 times per year. Child’s age and attending days were related to respiratory infection (r = - 0.43 and r = - 0.20) and diarrhea (r = - 0.42 and r = - 0.25), respectively. Moreover, father’s educational levels was related to the respiratory infection (r = - 0.24) whereas parent’s behaviors in caring for their children at home was related to the respiratory infection and diarrhea (r = - 0.27 and r = - 0.22). As well, the staff’s behaviors in caring for children at the Early Childhood Development Center was related to respiratory infection and diarrhea (r = - 0.37 and r = - 0.28). Thus, a consideration on children, parents and the early chihood’s personnels is recommended when promoting heath status of the early chihood children.