Analysis on the establishment of early childhood development bases in China based on the mail survey

Objective To analyze the current status of the early childhood development bases from 2015 to 2019 in order to provide support for exploring sustainable development for them.

Methods A mail survey was conducted among the principals/participants of all the early childhood development bases in every provinces. Quantitative data were described by frequency and proportion, and qualitative data was analyzed by thematic framework.

Results Totally 326 early childhood development bases were established by July 2019. Most of them were at the national and provincial levels (87.4%), the others were at initial exploration stage. Most respondents perceived that the national level bases had played an active role in promoting the changes of children's care work philosophy (100.0%), strengthening multidisciplinary collaboration (84.6%), reinforcing personnel training (84.6%), and increasing institutional influence (84.6%). Under the guidance of national bases, various regions had gradually formed the government-led model of early childhood development bases, which had promoted the development of child health care services in the grassroots network. The respondents believed that the base development should focus on improving medical technology (80.8%), reinforcing the referral system (69.2%), and strengthening the development of grassroots bases (69.2%) in the future.

Conclusion The mode of establishment of early childhood development bases has been generally supported and recognized by all provinces. It is necessary to update the evaluation criteria, enrich the service connotation, strengthen the high-quality services, promote the development of bases at all levels, so as to provide assistance to achieve the goals of 'Children's Development Program (2021 - 2030)'.