Quality of Child Care Environment among the Parents of Children with Disabilities, In the case of Khovd Province, Mongolia

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to assess the quality of the childcare environment among parents of children with disabilities. The study also looks at the factors that influence the childcare environment and assesses the validity of using the Index of Child Care Environment in the context of Mongolia, particularly for children with disabilities. A total of 84 parents with disabled children were surveyed based on their self-reported responses, and the child care environment was assessed using the Index of Child Care Environment. Simple descriptive analysis, the X2 test, and logistic regression analyses were used for quantitative data analysis. All the statistical analyses were performed with IBM SPSS version 27. The qualitative methods were used to obtain deeper insights into parents’ perceptions and attitudes in relation to the study subjects. Content analysis was used for qualitative data analysis. The study results revealed that the Index of Child Care Environment can be used to assess the quality of the child care environment in Mongolia. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that parents’ education, employment status, and accommodation type were significantly related to the child care environment. On the other hand, the children’s age was significantly related to going shopping with parents and meeting children of similar ages. The children’s gender was related to reading books with their parents. The study also revealed that the quality of the child care environment was not sufficient for the selected parents. Further studies with more diverse settings are required to identify and assess child care environments in Mongolia to identify local-based strategies and models for caring for children in a local culture-based context.