AN ASSESSMENT OF DIRECTORS OF MILITARY DAY CARE CENTERS' PERCEPTIONS OF THE ADEQUACY OF CARE PROVIDED IN DAY CARE CENTERS ON MILITARY INSTALLATIONS

The purpose of this study was: (1) to determine the adequacy of care provided in day care centers on United States military installations, as perceived by directors of these centers along lines of nine program objectives as presented on the Day Care Center Inventory (DCCI), (2) to determine statistically significant differences, if any, among the perceptions of day care center directors classified by the sponsoring branch of service (U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Navy) and by continent of installation location (North America, Europe, Asia, and Other), and (3) to interpret the findings from the perspective of suggested program and delivery modifications needed to achieve greater uniformity in the overall military day care undertaking. The following null hypotheses were tested in the study: (1) The adequacy of care provided in day care centers on U.S. military installations as assessed by the Day Care Center Inventory does not differ significantly among service branches: U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Navy. (2) The adequacy of care provided in day care centers on U.S. military installations assessed by the Day Care Center Inventory does not differ significantly according to continent of installation location: North America, Europe, Asia, and Other. The Day Care Center Inventory, The Day Care Center Clientele Checksheet, and the Day Care Center Personal Data Sheet were developed by the researcher to elicit by mail specific data from 459 military day care center directors worldwide. The Kruskal-Wallis statistic was used in hypothesis testing. Each study hypothesis was not rejected, to indicate that the adequacy of day care center care along lines of nine (9) program objectives showed no significant differences among day care centers by branch of sponsoring service or continent of installation location. This leads to researcher to conclude that military day care centers worldwide and in all service branches are delivering day care services with notable uniformity.