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th Research Article

Health, Safety and Nutrition in Child Care Centres: Parents’

Perspectives
Mazlina CHE MUSTAFA1,2, Siti NURAZIMAH2 & Norazilawati ABDULLAH1,2
Abdul Halim MASNAN2
1
National Child Development Research Centre, Sultan Idris EducationUniversity, 35900 Tanjong Malim,
Perak.
2
Faculty of Human Development, Sultan Idris EducationUniversity, 35900 Tanjong Malim, Perak.

(*Corresponding author’s e-mail: mazlina.cm@fpm.upsi.edu.my)

Received: xxx, Revised: xxx, Accepted: xxx (Times New Roman, 10 pt, Italic)

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Text (Times New Roman, 10 pt, Tab 0.8 cm)

Abstract
This study aimed to identify management level on the aspects of the safety, health and nutrition in the
selected childcare centres in a state in Malaysia. Quantitative approach via survey using Likert-scale was
employed to collect the data. The respondents were 110 parents of children who attended the child cares.
Quantitative descriptive data analysis was carried out using Statistic Package for Sciences (SPSS) 20. The
findings showed that the level of implementation aspects of the safety, health and nutrition at childcare
centres is moderate with the overall mean score 3.40 (s.d. = 0.6) with individual range between 3.23 to
3.49. In conclusion, the findings highlighted that the systematic management on the aspects of safety,
health and nutrition management can ensure quality childcare centers. The implication of the study
suggests that the implementation of safety, health and nutrition management should adopt a systematic
approach in order to create awareness to all the stakeholders.

Keywords: health, safety, nutrition, child care.

Introduction
Globally, childcares have reopened following a period of lockdown due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
Nevertheless, the debate over childcare openings has highlighted the implications of the coronavirus
pandemic for children and their families. Current research suggests that though children are more likely to
be asymptomatic and less likely to experience severe disease than adults, they are capable of transmitting
to both children and adults [1]. Parents’ concern, then, are valid as they need assurance that the
management of health, safety, and nutrition adhere to the standard operating procedure (SOP).  Ensuring
that their children are well taken care of by the caregivers at their child's care center is often a top concern
for parents.
Health, safety and nutrition are intertwined and dependent on one another [2]. [3] argue that health,
safety, and nutrition interconnect since one informs the other and that wellness curriculum cannot exist if
one is absent. Similarly, based on developmental practices, health, safety, and nutrition are integrated
concepts to achieve goals for children well-being [4]. While it is common to view the perspectives from
teachers, it is very important to understand parents’ perspectives on health, safety and nutrition. Therefore
the main objective of this study is to view parents’ perspectives on the management of health, safety, and
management.

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Materials and methods

Quantitative approach via survey using Likert-scale was employed to collect the data. The
respondents were 110 parents of children who attended the nine selected child cares. The survey was
randomly distributed to 15 parents from each child care centre. The instrument was developed by a group
of researchers to investigate the management of health, safety, and nutrition for early childhood centre. It
has two sections which are, Section A which covered demographic information and Section B which
covered aspects on management of safety, health, and nutrition. The descriptive statistics were used to
analyse the data.

Results and discussion

Table 1 shows mean score interpretation of Likert-scale survey questions on implementation

level for management on safety, health and nutrition in institutional childcare centres. The likert scale has
four choices with its corresponding score values: “Strongly Disagree = 1”, “Disagree = 2”, “Agree = 3”
and “Strongly Agree = 4”. Average of the scores of each question will give the respective mean score and
will be interpreted using this table.

Table 1
Mean Score Interpretation
Mean Score Level
1.00 - 2.33 Low
2.34 - 3.66 Moderate
3.67 - 5.00 High
Adapted from Jamil (2002)

Table 2
Mean Value, Standard Deviation dan Interpretation For Implementation Level of Security Management,
Health Dan Nutrition From Parents’ Perspectives In Institutional Childcare Centre.
Item Mean S.D. Interpretation
1. My childcare centre reports every injury or accident that 3.40 .545 Moderate
happen to my child.
2. My childcare centre provides safe toys for children to 3.49 .571 Moderate
play.
3. My childcare centre has safe outdoor environment. 3.40 .578 Moderate
4. My childcare centre records injury and accident that 3.41 .610 Moderate
happen to my child in daily log book.
5. My childcare centre ensures that information regarding 3.48 .617 Moderate
my child’s health such as communicable disease conveyed
to the parents.
6. My childcare centre runs health related program for 3.23 .645 Moderate
parents.
7. My childcare centre provides nutritious food to my 3.43 .598 Moderate
child.
8. My childcare centre inform issues related to safety, 3.35 .642 Moderate
health and nutrition to the parents.

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Table 2 shows that, from the mean scores of the eight items above, the range of the mean scores are
from 3.23 to 3.49. The lowest mean score is regarding health programs with parents and the highest score
is for provision of safe toys for the children. Overall mean is 3.40 with 0.60 standard deviation, which
gives moderate level.

Further analysis into the frequency table of the scores, it generally shows very high percentage of
answers fall into the range of “Agree” and “Strongly Agree” for all question items (at least 90%). This
implies parents are generally satisfied with the management of safety, health and nutrition.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the parents viewed that the management of safety, health and nutrition for the
selected childcare centres was moderate and satisfactory. The childcare management team needs to
engage parents in ensuring that their views and suggestions are taken into consideration during planning,
implementing and reviewing the policies related to health, safety and children.

Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Research Fund, National Child Development Research Centre, Sultan
Idris Education University.

References

[1] Michaud, J. & Kates, J. (2020). What do we know about children and coronavirus transmission?.
https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/what-do-we-know-about-children-and-
coronavirus-transmission/

[2] Marotz, L.R. (2018). Health, safety, and nutrition for the young child. 10th ed. Cengage: NY.

[3] Sorte, J., Deaschel, I. & Amador, C. (2014). Nutrition, health, and safety for young children :
Promoting wellness. Pearson: Boston.

[4] Gordon Biddle, K. A., Garcia-Nevarez, A., Roundtree Henderson, W. J., & Valero-Kerrick, A.
(2014). Early childhood education: Becoming a professional. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Names of 5-9 referees

1. Azizah Zain, Sultan Idris Education University, Malaysia, azizah.zain@fpm.upsi.edu.my
2. Nor Mashitah Mohd Radzi , Sultan Idris Education University, Malaysia, nmashitah@fpm.upsi.edu.my
3. Zaharah Osman, Sultan Idris Education University, Malaysia, zaharah@fpm.upsi.edu.my
4. Loy Chee Luen, Sultan Idris Education University, Malaysia, loy.cl@fpm.upsi.edu.my
5. Hasviniy, Sultan Idris Education University, Malaysia, hasviniy@fpm.upsi.edu.my

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