Abstract
The reopening of child-care programs during COVID-19 demanded comprehensive preventive measures. Research to date has overlooked this reopening process as well as early childhood professionals’ (ECPs) implementation efforts and resulting changes in their work practices and well-being. As a result, this study sought insights into (1) the practical implementation of measures, (2) perceptions and evaluations of measures, (3) changes in work characteristics, and (4) its impact on well-being. Qualitative interviews were conducted with German child-care managers (N = 27) between June and August 2020. The semi-structured interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and content-analyzed using MAXQDA. ECPs, through a combination of high effort and engagement, ensured the feasibility of most preventive measures. This included practices which were perceived to be unreasonable or ones which were stricter than practices required for the public. This exacerbated the critical work characteristics (e.g., high workload, overtime, and multitasking) from pre-pandemic scenarios and led to new work demands (e.g., changes in work content and social interactions). ECPs maintained intensive work demands and consequently suffered from broad strain outcomes (e.g., worry, exhaustion, anger, fear of infection, and reduced psychological sense of community). This study highlights the adverse psychosocial work environment of ECPs despite the necessity of ensuring health and safety at work.
Highlights
Those child-care policies enumerated various occupational health and safety (OHS) measures as well as infection prevention and control (IPC) practices targeted at the reduction in SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission
Interviewees reflected on numerous conditions that needed be considered for fixed group settings: (1) number of regular groups in the center, (2) age structures, (3) current number of children attending child care, (4) staff’s availability, (5) duration of child care, (6) parents’ preferences, (7) upcoming elementary school children, (8) siblings, (9) common travel routes, and (10) emergency period groups
The present study explored the implementation of COVID-19 preventive measures in child care, their appraisal, its impact on work characteristics and early childhood professionals (ECPs)’ well-being from a qualitative perspective
Summary
Only children of essential workers relying on child care were able to attend throughout an emergency period. Child-care providers received protocols for operating child-care programs during COVID-19 from different sources (e.g., state/federal government, public health authorities, and direct employers) in order to safely recommence during the continued presence of COVID-19. Child-care managers established fixed group settings in terms of a fixed composition (children and staff) as well as permanently assigned and used premises. These group settings had no direct contact with each other. ECPs mainly labelled common areas (e.g., corridor and cloakroom) with tape and colors for different group settings or physical barriers were installed
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