12 January 2023: Home is an important place for children to live in and grow up. Nice family interactions and appropriate home environment facilitate the growth of toddlers by offering them all-round quality stimulation. It is therefore vital to understand quality of home environment of children when examining the process of their growth. In order to allow local social workers to conduct family visits with objective criteria, the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs Association of Hong Kong (BGCA) introduced Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Inventory (HOME) developed by Caldwell and Bradley, and implemented domestic empirical research from September 2021 to August 2022.
HOME is an important tool to evaluate home environment and is widely used internationally. However, no validated Chinese version is available currently. The research was executed in the form of family interviews. 131 local families with preschool children (from 3-year-old-and-4-month to 6-year-old) and 129 local families with toddlers (under 3-year-old) participated in the research. Valid data were then co-analysed by Dr Cynthia Leung Man from the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University of Australia and Dr Anna Hui Na-na, member of the Steering Committee on Early Childhood Intervention of BGCA. They validated the research by analysing relationship of home environment with parenting stress, behaviours of children, development of children, family income and educational levels of parents.
First HOME in Hong Kong – assisting social workers to evaluate home environment of toddlers during home visits
The research showed that parenting stress and behavioural problems of children are negatively correlated to HOME whereas development of children, family income and educational levels of parents are positively correlated to HOME. The results are consistent with the results of the original English version. Dr Cynthia Leung Man stated that the research achieved high validity, reliability and measurement attributes of Chinese versions of HOME for toddlers and preschoolers. It is the first HOME in Hong Kong which is suitable for families in town with toddlers and preschoolers. It helps local social workers to conduct family visits with objective criteria and promote development of children by observing and evaluating interactions between parents and toddlers and the family environment.
Eight indicators for parents to provide quality home environment for toddlers
“The golden age for the brain and body development of children is 0 to 6 years old. Quality and stimulating home environment and facilities, and proper parent-child interaction are crucial for their development,” said Ms Ma Yeuk-nung, Acting Assistant Director of BGCA. In the Chinese version of HOME for preschoolers, eight indicators of home environment are listed for parents’ reference, including “learning materials”, “language stimulation”, “home environment”, “responsiveness”, “learning stimulation”, “model”, “diversity” and “acceptance”. Take “learning materials” as an example, children should have at least two toys or games to allow him/her to express freely; for “home environment”, the interior design of living space should neither be dark nor monotonous while safety and attractiveness to children should be taken into considerations.
There are so many things to consider while taking care of toddlers. Some interviewed parents admitted that they felt frustrated in raising children. They did not know how to deal with crying babies and how to take proper care of them. They also felt lost when buying age-appropriate toys and household facilities. Social workers from Focal Point@Amazing Start at BGCA follow up and intervene these cases. They use HOME for family visits and provide suitable assistance by observing and evaluating home environment and parent-child interaction, and understanding the developmental needs of toddlers. For home environment, Focal Point@Amazing Start lend proper basic household facilities such as children’s desks, chairs, floor mats, toy boxes and kitchen gates to underprivileged families. For individual development of toddlers, social workers send age-appropriate toys and learning materials such as play house toys, building blocks with strings and books to underprivileged families, helping toddlers train muscles, communication skills, social skills and problem solving abilities through playing. Focal Point@Amazing Start hopes to provide equal chance of development to each child by offering underprivileged families suitable household facilities, toys and learning resources.
Single mom feeling frustrated when taking care of her son with SEN but promoting parent-child interaction with the assistance from social workers
Two year-old Ming-jai was diagnosed with overall developmental delay, with weaker concentration, language abilities and expressive skills than children of the same age. His mom suffers considerable life and emotional pressure as she takes care of him alone and the support network is weak. They live in a village house with limited space, and it lacks recreational facilities in the vicinity. Due to the poor financial condition, Ming-jai’s mom seldom buys toys for him, and the family lacks household equipment which protects young children. The mom gets frustrated in raising her son occasionally because she has to pay full attention to him 24/7.
After joining Focal Point@Amazing Start of BGCA, the mom no longer feels lonely and hopeless since she receives support from social workers and speech therapists. Social workers evaluate home environment and parent-child interaction using HOME during home visits. They therefore give Ming-jai age-appropriate toys which fits his developmental needs, for instance, figures sets which help train Ming-jai’s communication and social skills, and colour sorting toys which help train his problem-solving abilities. The mom understands her son’s ability and level, and learns to communicate and interact with him through the games suggested by speech therapists. Regarding the needs of home environment, Focal Point@Amazing Start lends items like kitchen gates, children’s desks and chairs and floor mats to Ming-jai’s family. Social workers also relieve parenting stress of the mom by providing her with emotional support.
Novice mom with financial difficulties receive toys to train social skills of her son
Another novice mom Carman is raising her 2-year-old son Him-him. She lived separately with her son for a period of time, and thus, does not understand the developmental needs of her son at the beginning. Worse still, she faces financial difficulties in raising and parenting her son. Social workers from Focal Point@Amazing Start evaluate her home environment and Him-him’s developmental needs. They help Him-him get training through games and give him corresponding toys such as push-pull musical toy cars, puzzles, building blocks with strings and carpark toys, hoping to improve Him-him’s control over muscles, social and communication skills.
During home visits, social workers observe interaction between mom and son and encourage mom to understand emotional needs of her son. Parent-child interaction is elevated as mom hugs her son more instead of scolding him. Following suggestions from social workers, she brings her son to Community Gathering Centre or parks every week, increasing his exposure. Carmen realizes that even if the family resources are limited, she can still provide Him-him with all-round quality stimulation.
Suggestions
Research has shown that the Chinese versions of HOME for toddlers and preschoolers are the first HOME in Hong Kong which suits local families with toddlers and preschoolers. Dr Anna Hui Na-na suggested workers could use this measurement scale to evaluate home environment of toddlers and preschoolers during home visits. They can also prompt families to provide a more caring and nurturing environment to children at different developmental stages by referring to relevant indicators of parenting stress and child development, thus, attaining the result of protecting children. Furthermore, by intervening families in need, sharing objective criteria in the measurement scale and providing appropriate guidance and demonstration, workers can help improve the quality of parent-child interaction, so parents can adapt to their roles more easily.
Research has also shown that parents, who have the closest contact with toddlers, have a close relationship with child development in terms of home environment and parent-child interaction they provide. Therefore, in addition to evaluating home environment of toddlers using HOME, workers should also strengthen parenting ability of parents. They can also use this measurement scale to understand needs of families and refer to the Framework on Parent Education (Kindergarten) issued by the Education Bureau so as to offer parents with evidence-based curriculum on parent education. Parents can then understand developmental milestones and needs of toddlers, together with learning positive parenting skills and child-oriented parenting mode, such as positive discipline skills, ways to handle emotions, parent-child game skills and parent-child dialogic reading strategies. Hence, all-round development of toddlers is achieved.
Please click here to view the synopsis for research
