Supporting adolescent mothers and their children through a high school-based child care center and parent support program.
BACKGROUND
A pilot study was conducted of adolescent parents and their children at a high school-based child care center to examine the influence of the program on parental competence, parent-child interaction, and child development.


METHODS
A convenience sample of 18 urban adolescent mothers with children was interviewed at the end of one academic year. Mothers completed the Maternal Self Report Inventory (MSRI; short form) and the Parenting Daily Hassles Scale (PDHS). Parent-child teaching interactions were rated with the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale (NCATS), and the Michigan Early Developmental Profile (MEDP) was used to evaluate child developmental outcomes.


RESULTS
Mothers reported positive scores on the MSRI and PDHS. NCATS observations indicated ratings significantly higher when compared (assuming unequal variances) with a group matched for age range and length of time in school of adolescent mothers from the Nursing Child Assessment Satellite Training (NCAST) national database. The MEDP indicated that 77% of the children assessed were within normal limits for all domains (fine motor, cognition, language, gross motor, and self care).


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this pilot study indicate that adolescent mothers and their young children in the sample benefited from the educational and support services offered at a school-based child care and parent support program. Further study is indicated to test the strength and duration of the effects.
Yale University School of Nursing, New Haven, CT 06536-0740, USA. lois.sadler@yale.edu
Lois S
LS
Sadler
Martha K
MK
Swartz
Patricia
P
Ryan-Krause
D000293:Adolescent; D002656:Child Day Care Centers; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D016487:Parenting; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012572:School Health Services; D012947:Social Work; D014481:United States