Supporting Responsive Caregiving for the Youngest Children (Journal Article)

The Quality of Care for Infants and Toddlers (QCIT) observational measure was designed to address the need for a valid and reliable measure of the quality of caregiver-child interactions that could be used in both center-based and family child care (FCC) settings, and with diverse populations. The studies presented here examine (1) whether the QCIT is a reliable and valid measure of quality interactions in those diverse settings, and (2) whether it is sensitive to change through participation in a professional development intervention with infant and toddler caregivers. Results from a psychometric field test of 400 classrooms indicated that the QCIT demonstrated strong evidence of reliability and validity. The QCIT was then used as the focal measure to capture the quality of caregiver-child interactions for the professional development system We Grow Together (WGT). From before to after implementation, average scores improved in the Support for Social-Emotional Development domain of the QCIT for caregivers participating in the WGT field test. Study findings shed light on using this measure as an assessment of quality and tool for measuring effects of professional development in diverse infant and toddler settings.