{"title":"The Well-Being of Early Childhood Providers in Ireland","authors":"Laura Gormley, Roberta Hines","doi":"10.1007/s10643-024-01767-w","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Early childhood professionals play a critical role in the lives of the children they work with, and their psychological well-being significantly impacts this relationship. Over recent years, societal changes, coupled with new policy, has increased the demands and pressures faced by these professionals. Therefore, the current mixed methods study set out to explore the well-being of early childhood providers (i.e., owner, owner-managers) in Ireland. In total, 489 participants completed the anonymous online survey, which included the WHO-5 questionnaire and an open-ended question that explored reasons for any stress experienced in the previous 2-week period. Almost 60% of participants scored 50 or lower and over 20% scored 28 or lower, indicating poor well-being and potential depression. The majority of participants reported feeling stressed in the 2-week period prior to completing the survey and frequently cited work-related issues as being the source of their stress. The major themes that emerged were burden of administration, overwhelming financial pressure, and staffing issues. These findings indicate that early childhood providers would benefit from bottom-up and top-down assistance to positively support their well-being. This is vital if they are to thrive in their professional roles and provide high quality, transformative experiences for our children.</p>","PeriodicalId":47818,"journal":{"name":"Early Childhood Education Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Early Childhood Education Journal","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-024-01767-w","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Early childhood professionals play a critical role in the lives of the children they work with, and their psychological well-being significantly impacts this relationship. Over recent years, societal changes, coupled with new policy, has increased the demands and pressures faced by these professionals. Therefore, the current mixed methods study set out to explore the well-being of early childhood providers (i.e., owner, owner-managers) in Ireland. In total, 489 participants completed the anonymous online survey, which included the WHO-5 questionnaire and an open-ended question that explored reasons for any stress experienced in the previous 2-week period. Almost 60% of participants scored 50 or lower and over 20% scored 28 or lower, indicating poor well-being and potential depression. The majority of participants reported feeling stressed in the 2-week period prior to completing the survey and frequently cited work-related issues as being the source of their stress. The major themes that emerged were burden of administration, overwhelming financial pressure, and staffing issues. These findings indicate that early childhood providers would benefit from bottom-up and top-down assistance to positively support their well-being. This is vital if they are to thrive in their professional roles and provide high quality, transformative experiences for our children.
期刊介绍:
Early Childhood Education Journal is a professional publication of original peer-reviewed articles that reflect exemplary practices in the field of contemporary early childhood education. Articles cover the social, physical, emotional, and intellectual development of children age birth through 8, analyzing issues, trends, and practices from an educational perspective. The journal publishes feature-length articles that skillfully blend 1) theory, research, and practice, 2) descriptions of outstanding early childhood programs worldwide, and 3) quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research. Early Childhood Education Journal is of interest not only to classroom teachers, child care providers, college and university faculty, and administrators, but also to other professionals in psychology, health care, family relations, and social services dedicated to the care of young children.
Areas of Emphasis:
International studies;
Educational programs in diverse settings;
Early learning across multiple domains;
Projects demonstrating inter-professional collaboration;
Qualitative and quantitative research and case studies;
Best practices in early childhood teacher education;
Theory, research, and practice relating to professional development;
Family, school, and community relationships;
Investigations related to curriculum and instruction;
Articles that link theory and best practices;
Reviews of research with well-articulated connections to the field