Subsidized childcare and child development in Colombia: Effects of Hogares Comunitarios de Bienestar as a function of timing and length of exposure

Rigorous evidence regarding the impact of early care and education on children's development comes primarily from high-income nations. A few studies from Latin America and the Caribbean have identified benefits of conditional cash transfer and home visiting programs on children's developme...

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Veröffentlicht in:Social science & medicine (1982) Jg. 97; S. 241 - 249
Hauptverfasser: Bernal, Raquel, Fernández, Camila
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: England Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2013
Pergamon Press Inc
Schlagworte:
Age
Age Factors
Age groups
Antipoverty programs
Child care
Child Care - economics
Child Care Services
Child Development
Child Development - physiology
Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
Child poverty
Child, Preschool
Childcare
Children
Cognition
Cognition - physiology
Cognitive Development
Colombia
Community-based programs
Cost analysis
Data analysis
Developing countries
Development Programs
Domiciliary visits
Early childhood education
Early childhood intervention
Effects
Emotional development
Emotions - physiology
Female
Financing, Government - statistics & numerical data
Home based
Humans
Latin America
LDCs
Low Income Groups
Male
Nutrition
Nutritional Status
Older children
Poverty
Program Evaluation
Psychosocial factors
Selfselection
Social Behavior
Stimulation
Time Factors
Colombia
Colombia
Childcare
Poverty
Child development
Nutrition
Developing countries
Early childhood intervention
Latin America
ISSN:0277-9536, 1873-5347, 1873-5347
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Zusammenfassung:Rigorous evidence regarding the impact of early care and education on children's development comes primarily from high-income nations. A few studies from Latin America and the Caribbean have identified benefits of conditional cash transfer and home visiting programs on children's development. However, there is still controversy around the impact and cost-effectiveness of childcare approaches. Further research is needed to understand how scaled-up childcare settings may support the development of low-income children in Latin America. To that end, the present study sought to identify the effects of exposure to a subsidized childcare program in Colombia on children's nutritional status, cognitive and socioemotional development. This community-based program, known as Hogares Comunitarios de Bienestar (HCB), serves 800 thousand low-income children under age 6, delivering home-based childcare, supplementary nutrition, and psychosocial stimulation. We analyzed data on 10,173 program beneficiary children (ages 3–6) collected in 2007. We compared beneficiary children who had been in the program for a long time with beneficiary children who had been in the program for a month or less, by age group, to estimate program exposure effects. We used a matching estimator to correct for self-selection into different exposure levels. Results indicated that cognitive development improved 0.15 to 0.3 of a standard deviation (SD) after at least 15 months of exposure for children between 3 and 6 years of age. Socioemotional skills improved 0.12 to 0.3 SD for children older than 3 after at least 15 months of program exposure. No significant gains were found for nutritional status. The estimated benefit-cost ratio ranged from 1.0 to 2.7, depending upon varying discount rates. Findings lend support for a potentially effective strategy to promote the development of low-income children in Colombia and other developing nations. ► We estimated effects of length of exposure to the largest public childcare program in Colombia on children's development. ► We found modest effects of the program on children's cognitive and socioemotional development but not on nutritional status. ► Scores on cognitive development were up to 0.3 SD higher for older children exposed to the HCB program 15 months or longer. ► Older children exposed to the HCB program for at least 15 months exhibited less withdrawal and isolation behaviors. ► The estimated benefit-cost ratio suggests that the HCB program may potentially afford beneficiaries a modest increase future earnings.
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ISSN:0277-9536
1873-5347
1873-5347
DOI:10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.10.029