Parental Knowledge, Preference and Needs of Child-Rearing Family Programmes: A Case in Chinese Inner Mongolia Minority Region
Abstract
:1. Background
1.1. Theoretical Framework
1.2. Previous Studies on Parental Knowledge, Preferences and Needs
1.3. Parent Education Family Programmes in a Chinese Cultural Context
- What knowledge of parenting and resources can be gained from family programmes in the Chinese Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region?
- What are parents’ needs and preferences for family programmes in the Chinese Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region?
2. Instrument
3. Data Collection and Analysis
Participants
4. Results
- The child’s safety and nutrition;
- The child’s physical and mental development skills;
- The child’s soft skills.
4.1. Theme 1: The Child’s Safety and Nutrition
4.1.1. Child’s Safety in Home and EC Environment
“We live very close to a substation. We are not sure if the residential location would be appropriate for young children under six years [of age]. Some EC teachers told us that it should be fine for children to live near the highway, but they [were] not sure if the substation would be appropriate for children. You know, we cannot relocate in a short period, as the apartment is close to my husband’s workplace. Personally, I would like to learn more about the scientific information in the field.”(Participant 12)
4.1.2. Children’s Physical and Mental Development Skills
“I am very appreciative [of the fact] that I was invited to participate in the inter-views [for] this project. You know, I am very busy in my daily job, and most of the time, my wife looked after my children. When I finished my job and returned home, they slept and might not have seen me the following morning. In this case, what I could communicate with them was from the notebook provided by the EC teachers. It is really difficult for me to be asked to attend all kinds of parenting programmes because EC teachers told me that my younger daughter should receive an intervention. I asked the EC teachers and educators why [she] needed to see the specialist, and was only told that teachers found that she was too shy to play with others. Without any other sup-port, I felt very disappointed with these parenting programmes.”(Participant 24)
4.1.3. Children’s Soft Skills
“My parents and parents-in-law are [the] main carers [of] the two children. As the little one is a boy, my daughter always feels that grandparents love the little brother much more than her. When the two kids grabbed the same toys, the… grandparents always asked my daughter to give [them to] her little brother. Even when my daughter asked for support, my wife could not do anything. We believe that larger brothers and sisters should look after smaller siblings. This is our tradition.”(Participant 17)
5. Discussion and Limitations
6. Conclusions
- (1)
- An interdisciplinary team should be built to design family education programmes based on Bronfenbrenner’s model [11]. Relevant workshops and training sessions could be conducted to improve the awareness of EC educators and community workers of the need to build positive partnerships with families and communities and to enhance their ability to do so. Such a study could identify whether the strategies proposed in the related research could support frontline educators and benefit parents. Such research would also support the development of more appropriate parenting programmes.
- (2)
- Conduct a study involving variables related to family backgrounds, such as family ties, history, and life experience, to explore whether family heritage could affect parenting knowledge, needs, and preferences. Such a study could employ a longitudinal design based on the above suggestions, and thus determine how different parents perceive and behave in family education programmes. Such a study would provide information to authorities regarding how to tailor advice and support to families’ needs in different regions.
7. Implications
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
- How much do you know about your child or children in terms of mental and physical development? Where do you get this information?
- How do you currently communicate and collaborate with EC teachers/families?
- How important to you is the ability to obtain resources for your child or children’s development in the community/childhood centre?
- What are your experiences of joining the parents’ family education programmes?
- What skills and knowledge do you prefer to obtain as supportive information from family education programmes?
- What do you need to know as a priority from family education programmes?
- What are your views on future family education program design in the local context?
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Groups | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mother | Age | Job Classification | Child(ren) Age | Family Income | Education Level |
P1 | 30 | Housewife | 1.5 and 3 years old | CNY 50,000–100,000 | BA |
P2 | 32 | Government officer | 3 years old | CNY 50,000–100,000 | MA |
P3 | 27 | Housewife | 4 years old, 8 months | CNY 50,000–100,000 | BA |
P4 | 23 | Self-employed | 2 years old | CNY 50,000–100,000 | Diploma |
P5 | 29 | B2B business | 3 and 5 years old | CNY 100,000–200,000 | BA |
P6 | 30 | Housewife | 3.2 years old | CNY 50,000–100,000 | BA |
P7 | 48 | Pre-school teacher | 6 years old | CNY 50,000–100,000 | Diploma |
P8 | 43 | Restaurant manager | 5 years old | CNY 500,000–800,000 | Diploma |
P9 | 28 | Self-employed | 3.7 years old | CNY 50,000–100,000 | BA |
P10 | 29 | Accountant | 4 years old | CNY 50,000–100,000 | BA |
P11 | 32 | School teacher | 3.1 years old | CNY 50,000–100,000 | BA |
P12 | 34 | Housewife | 5.2 years old | CNY 50,000–100,000 | BA |
P13 | 29 | Self-employed | 6.3 years old | CNY 100,000–200,000 | Certificate |
Father | |||||
P14 | 35 | IT staff | 1 and 3.4 years old | CNY 50,000–100,000 | BA |
P15 | 37 | Civil officer | 6 years old | CNY 50,000–100,000 | BA |
P16 | 29 | Sales | 3.2 years old | CNY 50,000–100,000 | BA |
P17 | 41 | Self-employed | 4 and 7 years old | CNY 100,000–200,000 | MA |
P18 | 27 | Self-employed | 4.1 years old | CNY 100,000–200,000 | BA |
P19 | 30 | Driver | 3.6 years old | CNY 100,000–200,000 | certificate |
P20 | 32 | Engineer | 1 and 4 years old | CNY 500,000–800,000 | MA |
P21 | 36 | School teacher | 4.5 years old | CNY 50,000–100,000 | BA |
P22 | 34 | Businessman | 2 years old, and 5 years old | CNY Over 1,000,000 | BA |
P23 | 29 | Self-employed | 4.3 years old | CNY 100,000–200,000 | Diploma |
P24 | 46 | Family-owned business | 3.3 years old and 10 years old | Over CNY 1,000,000 | BA |
Theses and Subthemes | References |
---|---|
Child’s safety and nutrition:
| N = 68 |
N = 43 | |
N = 25 | |
Child’s mental and physical development:
| N = 57 |
N = 33 | |
N = 17 | |
N = 7 | |
Soft skills:
| N = 44 |
N = 26 | |
N = 12 | |
N = 6 |
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Lu, J.; Huang, Y.; Chen, J. Parental Knowledge, Preference and Needs of Child-Rearing Family Programmes: A Case in Chinese Inner Mongolia Minority Region. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 434. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010434
Lu J, Huang Y, Chen J. Parental Knowledge, Preference and Needs of Child-Rearing Family Programmes: A Case in Chinese Inner Mongolia Minority Region. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2023; 20(1):434. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010434
Chicago/Turabian StyleLu, Jinjin, Yi Huang, and Jian Chen. 2023. "Parental Knowledge, Preference and Needs of Child-Rearing Family Programmes: A Case in Chinese Inner Mongolia Minority Region" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 20, no. 1: 434. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010434
APA StyleLu, J., Huang, Y., & Chen, J. (2023). Parental Knowledge, Preference and Needs of Child-Rearing Family Programmes: A Case in Chinese Inner Mongolia Minority Region. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(1), 434. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010434