The purpose of this study was to make a analysis of the job stress and coping style of caregivers in public and private daycare centers. It's meant to help shape childcare policies satisfactory for both private and public daycare center caregivers and...
The purpose of this study was to make a analysis of the job stress and coping style of caregivers in public and private daycare centers. It's meant to help shape childcare policies satisfactory for both private and public daycare center caregivers and to elevate the quality of daycare service.
The research questions were posed as below:
1. Does the type of institute make any differences to the job stress of caregivers?
2. Does the type of institute make any differences to the stress-coping style of caregivers?
3. Do the background variables of caregivers make any differences to their job stress and coping pattern?
The subjects in this study were 213 caregivers in Gyeonggi(Gwacheon, Suwon, Anyang, Hwaseong) province. Out of them, 110 and 113 caregivers worked at public and private daycare centers respectively. The instrument used to assess their job stress was Lee Myeong-hwa(2002)'s one that modified Gweon Gi-tae (1990)'s Job Stress Questionnaire, which adapted D'Arienzo, et. al(1981)'s modified version of Clark(1980)'s Job Stress Questionnaire. Lee Myeong-hwa's version was partly modified again in this study. To evaluate their job stress coping style, Park Seok-chul(2002)'s instrument that modified Kim Jeong-hui(1987)'s amended version of Folkman and Lazarus(1985)'s Ways of Coping Checklist was employed. Some overlapped portions of Park Seok-chul's instrument were ruled out, and some were modified again.
For data handling, statistical data on frequency and percentage were obtained to figure out the general characteristics of the subjects, and t-test was conducted to find out the job stress and coping pattern of the public and private daycare center caregivers. And t-test, one-way ANOVA were utilized to determine the influence of their background variables on their job stress and coping styles.
The major findings of the study were as follows:
First, regarding connections between the type of institute and the job stress of the caregivers, the private daycare center caregivers felt more job stress than the public daycare center caregivers due to preschoolers, work, administrative support, parents, compensation and welfare, and the gap between the two was statistically significant.
Second, as for the influence of the type of institute on their coping style, physiological coping and problem-centered coping were more prevailing among the private daycare center caregivers, but the type of institute made no significant differences to their use of those coping styles. Emotion-centered coping was more widespread among the private daycare center caregivers than the public daycare center caregivers, and the type of institute made a significant difference to their emotion-centered coping style.
Third, concerning the impact of the background variables on job stress, the caregivers were different from one another in job stress according to the number of young children in charge and their age. Those who were in charge of 25 or more preschoolers and whose age was between 26 and 30 suffered more job stress.
As to connections between the background variables and stress coping, their age and marital status made a difference to their physiology-centered coping. This coping style was more common among the younger caregivers and the single caregivers. Their emotion-centered coping varied according to their age and marital status. This coping pattern was more prevailing among the younger caregivers, and it was more common among the single caregivers than the married one
As stated above, work-related factor put a heavy pressure on both the public and private daycare center caregivers. This finding indicated that the caregivers were overwhelmed by excessive workload. A shortage of teaching materials and nonessential duties put strain on them, and it's required to take actions to cut down on their workload. Especially, the private daycare center caregivers were more stressed out than their counterparts, and there was a broad gap in administrative support, compensation and welfare benefits between the two. A more efficient support system should be built to raise the satisfaction level of the private daycare center caregivers.