Nutritional status and development of St. Lucian children at the day care centres

Abstract

This study compared St. Lucian children who attended day care centres with children coming from similar social backgrounds who stayed at home. They were compared using anthropometry and their performance on the Bettye Caldwell Preschool Inventory (BCPI) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary (PPV) tests. The quality of the service given in the day-care centres was assessed, and the environment of the centre was compared with that of the homes of the community children. The sample consisted of 60 children, 30 in three rural government centres and 30 from the communities nearest the centres. There were 28 boys and 32 girls with an age range of 40-64 months and a mean age of 51.7 months. It was found that there was no significant difference between the combined centre and the community anthropometry values. No significant difference was found between the centre and community children and PPV raw scores; however, a significant difference was found in the BCPI total scores between centre and community children. School achievement and language development test scores were similar to those for 4- year old Dominican children, but lower than those of Jamaican children. The centres were found to offer an environment richer in play equipment than that of the homes but not necessarily safer or with greater adult-child interactions. The centres were found to be deficient in safety measures such a fire safety, first aid, monitoring of health and nutritional status, furniture available, toilet facilities for children and staff, and space available for children to play. The staff had duties other than child care, and although reasonably qualified, with a reasonable staff child ratio of 1:12:5, interaction with the children was limited.