National Health Outreach and Engagement Conference 2024

Wilson, H, Speirs, KE, Stewart, R, Bawden, M, and Myer, R.
Early childhood is a critical time in a child’s development. ECE professionals play an important
role in promoting young children’s early brain development, health and wellbeing. Professional
development (PD) and training are important tools for helping to prepare ECE professionals to
deliver the kind of care that promotes young children’s health and wellbeing (1). Appropriate
health, safety, and wellness training and PD are essential to ensure ECE professionals are
prepared to enrich the health of the children in their care.

In 2023, a team of Extension faculty and staff conducted a statewide needs assessment survey
(n=216) to better understand the training and PD needs of ECE professionals around health,
safety and wellness. The purpose of this survey was to inform the development of training and
other FCS programming to address these needs and support early care and education
professionals.

The survey included three main sections about PD opportunities 1) key knowledge areas based
on Child Development Associate requirements; 2) specific child health and wellness training
topics; and 3) staff health and wellness topics. Each section asked about participant interest in
PD on these topics and the ease or difficulty of finding that PD.

The needs assessment survey was implemented in two phases: 1) cognitive interviews over
Zoom to improve the quality of the survey questions; 2) dissemination of a 26-question survey
administered to ECE providers using Qualtrics and paper surveys. Cognitive interviews,
recruitment materials and surveys included English and Spanish text.

Survey analysis looked at the intersection of topics that were both of interest to survey
participants and difficult for them to find. Participants did not select child health and safety as
an area of high interest compared to PD in other areas. The topics of greatest interest and most
difficult for ECE providers to find were related to staff health and wellness. This intersection
highlights opportunities for FCS prioritize programming to support ECE providers. These
findings also align with research that found ECE providers experienced declines in mental
health following the pandemic and increased stress and chronic disease than the rest of the
United States (2, 3).

Session attendees will learn about the process used to complete the needs assessment and
identify FCS programming that can support the health and wellness of ECE providers.
Participants will participate in group discussions about utilizing findings and receive access to a
report of the study results