Evaluation of the effectiveness of a pilot program that promotes sensitive response in the educational staff of Chilean nursery schools

Article history: Received 4 April 2016 Received in revised form 13 February 2017 Accepted 15 February 2017 Available online 16 February 2017 The relationship between the sensitive response of the caregiver and the formation of secure attachments in infants has beenwidely studied. It iswithin this framework that the present investigation examined the effect of an intervention that promotes sensitive response in nursery school caregivers. The intervention took place in early education centers for children between 0 and 2 years of age, from a low socio-economic background and identified as being at psychosocial risk. Using the Care Index (Crittenden, 1985), 53 nursery school caregivers were evaluated at the beginning, middle and end of the intervention. The results indicate a significant increase in the sensitive response of the participants as much at themiddle as at the end of the intervention. This study discusses the implications of the results for early childhood education, especially, in cases where the child is identified as being in psychosocial risk. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.