| Summary: | 碩士 === 朝陽科技大學 === 幼兒保育系 === 102 === This study aims to investigate the current situation of job stress and job satisfaction of caregivers in infant care centers in Taichung City and related factors. The questionnaire survey method was adopted to collect data. The participants of study were caregivers in registered infant care centers in Taichung City. 230 questionnaires were sent out, with 204 valid questionnaires. The resulting data were analyzed with statistical methods such as descriptive statistical analysis, t test, ANOVA analysis, and Pearson product-moment correlation. The results are as show in the following.
1. The job stress of the caregivers in infant care centers in Taichung City is low, with the average score 1.94, among which "workload" is the greatest perceived stress.
2. Job satisfaction of the caregivers in infant care centers in Taichung City is high, with the average score 3.23, among which caregivers are most satisfied with "interpersonal relationships".
3. Differences of job stress of the caregivers with different backgrounds are as shown below.
(1) There are significant differences on job stress in caregivers’ educational background, working years, titles, whether they have children or not, age of their yonugest children, and whether they serve administrative duties.
i. In job stress of the caregivers aged 30-39, "workload," "classroom instruction," "interpersonal relationships," and "overall job stresss" are significantly higher than the caregivers aged under 29.
ii. Job stress of caregivers graduated from college or high school is significantly higher than that of caregivers with a bachelor degree or above .
iii. In job stress, "workload" of married caregivers is significantly higher than unmarried caregivers.
iv. In job stress, "workload" of caregivers with children is significantly higher than caregivers with out children.
v. The younger the age of the youngest child of caregivers is, the greater "workload" job stress will be.
vi. The longer working years of caregivers have, the greater "workload" job stress will be.
vii. Job stress of non-babysitter preschool educators is significantly higher than that of babysitters.
viii. Job stress of caregivers concurrently serving with administrative duties is significantly higher than that of caregivers without concurrently serving with administrative duties.
(2) There are significant differences on job satisfaction in caregivers with different ages, titles, teacher-student ratios, with or without concurrently serving with administrative duties.
i. In "executive leadership," job satisfaction of the caregivers aged 40 years and older is significantly higher than that of the caregivers aged 30-39.
ii. In "work environment," "training and promotion," and "overall job satisfaction," job satisfaction of babysitters is significantly higher than that of non-babysitter preschool educators.
iii. In "work feedback," job satisfaction of the caregivers concurrently serving with administrative duties is significantly higher than that of the caregivers without concurrently serving with administrative duties.
iv. In "work environment" and "executive leadership," the higher the teacher-student ratio among caregivers is, the higher job satisfaction will be.
4. Job stress and satisfaction of caregivers in infant care centers are negatively correlated.
In this study, the following recommendations are proposed:
1. In this study, it is found that in organizing the professional growth training camp for caregivers, the job stress of the caregivers aged 30 to 39 is significantly higher than that of the caregivers aged below 29 on the levels of "job stress," "work load," "class management," and "interpersonal relationships." The caregivers in this phase are in the "novelty stage" in the growth stage of preschool educators proposed by Katz (2002). Therefore, it is suggested that caregivers and operators of infant care centers are encouraged for more contact and the exchange of experience and knowledge and the "caregiver training camp" should be established with the infant care centers in other regions. In the learning process, caregivers can mutually learn some techniques and methods; meanwhile, in the courses related to infant development and infant care, the scholars with related discipline backgrounds are invited to give a speech, allowing caregivers benefit from it.
2. Enhancing wages and welfare of caregivers. In this study, it is found that caregivers are most dissatisfied with "wages and welfare" according to the job satisfaction situation of the caregivers in the infant care center in Taichung City and obviously, caregivers’ wages are not proportional to their work contribution. Therefore, infant care center operators and authorities should consider caregivers’ wages and welfare to formulate reasonable wages and welfare and provide caregivers with an assured work environment.
3. Implementing administrative organization and division of labor of infant care centers. In this study, it is found that the greatest job stress of caregivers lies in "workload," among which most subjects feel the stress from long working hours, work overtime, concurrently serving with administrative duties, and unscheduled events. Therefore, it is recommended that the competent authorities need to assist infant care centers develop sound administrative organization; when infant care centers organize activities, there should be a clear division of labor and the rewards so as to reduce job stress sources of caregivers and increase welfare measures and childcare performance with high quality.
|
|---|
