A phenomenological study of childcare staff's perceptions of parents' attitudes and their effect on childcare staff morale and service quality

For this applied dissertation the researcher investigated the effects of the staff's perception of parents' attitudes toward childcare staff, its impact on staff morale and, the effects of staff morale on quality of services in childcare. The study was conducted in a New York City childcare center. The researcher concentrated on the aspect of staff morale that pertained to the social relationship between parents and childcare staff perceptions. The study was conducted using phenomenological qualitative research methods including individual interviews, observations and written accounts of the phenomenon acquired from archived documents. The information was gathered and reduced to include only the responses and facts relevant to the study. The findings related to the study were organized based on the four research questions. Raw data were included to demonstrate the pattern in responses by the participants. The information presented indicated a positive relationship between the childcare staffs perception of parent's attitudes and their effect on the childcare staff morale. There was also a positive relationship between the parent/provider relationship and the delivery of quality childcare services. The childcare staff expressed that there was no direct connection between the childcare staffs morale and their ability to deliver quality services.