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Preschool children's sickness absenteeism from Norwegian regular and outdoor day care centres: a comparative study
Kiari H Moen1, Hjørdis K Bakke, Øyvind Bakke
1Queen Maud's College of Early Childhood Education, Trondheim, Norway. khm@dmmh.no
Insights
Children without chronic conditions show no difference in sickness absenteeism between outdoor and regular day care centers. However, children with chronic conditions experience higher sickness absence in outdoor settings.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Health
- Pediatric Health
- Childcare Research
Background:
- Day care centers offer crucial early childhood education and socialization.
- Outdoor day care centers provide increased exposure to natural environments.
- Understanding sickness absenteeism is vital for child health and resource management in childcare.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare sickness absenteeism rates between children in outdoor and regular day care centers.
- To identify predictors of sickness absenteeism in young children attending day care.
Main Methods:
- A 4-week study involving 531 children across 32 regular and 37 outdoor day care centers.
- Data collected on sickness absence and explanatory variables.
- Generalized linear modeling used for data analysis.
Main Results:
- Overall sickness absence rate was 5.1%.
- No significant difference in sickness absenteeism between outdoor and regular day care centers for the general child population.
- Age (negative relationship) and having a chronic disease/disability in an outdoor setting (positive relationship) were significant predictors.
Conclusions:
- Sickness absenteeism for children without chronic diseases or disabilities is not influenced by day care type (outdoor vs. regular).
- Outdoor day care centers do not appear to offer health benefits for children with chronic diseases or disabilities.
- Evidence suggests increased sickness absence for children with chronic conditions in outdoor day care settings.
Aims:
To examine whether there are any differences in sickness absenteeism between children in outdoor day care centres and regular day care centres and also to investigate whether other variables predict sickness absenteeism.
Methods:
Data on sickness absence during a 4-week period together with several explanatory variables of 531 children in 32 regular and 37 outdoor day care centres were collected and included in the analysis. The data were analysed by generalized linear modelling.
Results:
The overall frequency of sickness absence was 5.1%. There was no general significant difference between sickness absenteeism in regular and outdoor day care centres. Of the other possible explanatory variables only two were found to contribute significantly: age, with a negative relationship, and the interaction effect of a child with a chronic disease or disability going to an outdoor day care centre, with a positive relationship.
Conclusions:
The present study indicates that sickness absenteeism of a child without a chronic disease or disability is not affected by whether the child attends a regular or an outdoor day care centre. There seem to be no health benefits for children with chronic diseases or disabilities to attend outdoor day care centres--there is in fact evidence that sickness absence for those children is higher in outdoor centres.
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