DOES THE CAREGIVING ENVIRONMENT MEDIATE THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN AN INSTITUTIONAL INTERVENTION AND CHILDREN'S DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES?

Most institutions described in the literature do not provide rearing environments conducive to promoting typical development (e.g., Rosas & McCall, in review; Van IJzendoorn, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & Juffer, 2007a). Institutions typically lack adequate structural (low child-caregiver ratios, small group sizes and trained caregivers) and process (responsive and positive interactions with caregivers) quality characteristics known to contribute to children's overall development. A socio-emotional institutional intervention combining caregiver training (to encourage caregivers to be more socially responsive in their interactions with infants and young children in every aspect of life in the orphanage) and structural changes (i.e., group size, caregiver-child ratios, and constant caregivers) aimed to create an environment in which caregiver-child relationships were more likely to develop. Results indicate that intervention-produced changes in caregiving quality significantly mediated the intervention effects on children's developmental outcomes. It is notable that the overall caregiving quality accounted for almost half the variance (43%) of the total effect of the intervention on children's developmental scores. Reduction of group size and children-to-caregiver ratios, fewer more consistent caregivers, and other factors providing a more family-like environment appear to support improvements in process quality which in turn had positive effects on children's development