Effect of Improving Caregiving on Early Mental Health

This project will provide experimental evidence that warm, sensitive, responsive caregiving and structural changes that promote more consistent and fewer caregivers will lead to better physical, mental, social, and emotional development of young children. Structural changes are designed to facilitate a more family-like environment and include smaller group sizes, more consistent caregiving from fewer caregivers, integration by age and disability status, and establishing two daily 60-minute Family Hours in which children and caregivers interact together. The project also attempts to demonstrate that training caregivers can be beneficial to both caregivers and children.

All caregivers and children in three orphanages for children under 4 years old in St. Petersburg, Russia will participate in this study. One orphanage will implement both training and structural changes. A second orphanage will receive training only. The third orphanage will serve as a control, receiving neither training nor structural changes. Caregivers are assessed annually for attitudes to and problems with their jobs; anxiety and depression; coping styles; traditional versus progressive attitudes toward caregiving; sensitivity to children's emotions; values; and perceptions of their own relationships. Children are assessed at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, and 48 months for physical growth, chronic and acute disorders, functional abilities, and mental, motor, social, and emotional development.