Parent Satisfaction with the Open kindergarten in Norway

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of the study sample (N = 286–288)

	N	%
Caregivers relationship to the child
Mother	243	84
Father	38	13
Other	7	4
Age of the caregiver (years)
≤19 years	2	1
20–30 years	108	38
31–40 years	145	51
41–50 years	28	10
51–60 years	1	0.5
≥61 years	2	1
How many children do you usually take to the open kindergarten?
1	246	86
2	33	12
3	7	2
≥4	0	0
Children’s age
0–12 months	160	50
13–23 months	106	33
2–3 years	40	12
4–5 years	17	5
Highest completed level of education
Primary and lower secondary school	12	4
Upper secondary school	88	31
College/university (1–3 years)	81	29
College/university (≥4 years)	102	36
What is your native language?
Norwegian	225	78
Another European language	30	11
Another non-European language	32	11
How many times have you visited the open kindergarten over the last 3 months?
Just once	13	5
2–5 times	94	33
6–12 times	104	36
≥12 times	76	27

Table 2. Frequency distribution of responses to survey items by user satisfaction category

	Min-Max	M	SD	Not at all/To a minor extent	To some extent	To a great extent/To a very great extent
Well-being of the child (N = 285–287)
Play and activities	1–5	4.06	0.78	2%	18%	79%
Kindergarten is fun	2–5	4.54	0.60	0%	4%	95%
Positive interactions with adult staff	2–5	4.41	0.69	1%	10%	90%
Good friendships with other children	1–5	3.97	0.92	6%	26%	69%
Physical environment (N = 148–289)
Outdoor space	1–5	3.08	1.32	33%	28%	39%
Indoor space	1–5	4.33	0.73	2%	11%	88%
Physical indoor environment	2–5	4.31	0.80	3%	12%	85%
Accessibility (N = 288–291)
Location	1–5	4.43	0.88	5%	8%	87%
Opening hours	1–5	3.88	0.93	8%	25%	67%
Staff (N = 286–291)
Shows consideration toward you	2–5	4.48	0.65	1%	7%	93%
Understands your situation	2–5	4.42	0.70	1%	8%	90%
Shows consideration towards your child	2–5	4.55	0.62	0%	6%	94%
Meets you with courtesy and respect	3–5	4.67	0.49	0%	1%	99%
Talks to you in a way that you understand	3–5	4.65	0.50	0%	1%	99%
Takes your views as a parent seriously	2–5	4.49	0.64	0%	7%	93%
Sufficient time to talk with staff	2–5	4.31	0.79	2%	14%	84%
Cooperates well with you	2–5	4.49	0.63	1%	5%	94%
Appears to be professionally capable	2–5	4.51	0.65	1%	5%	94%
Shows interest in your views	2–5	4.34	0.70	1%	9%	90%
Easy to make contact with	2–5	4.52	0.66	1%	7%	92%
Information (N = 281–287)
About child’s development	1–5	3.69	0.98	10%	31%	58%
About what is going on in the kindergarten	1–5	4.01	0.87	5%	19%	75%
About other services offered at the Family’s Houses/Family Centres	1–5	3.54	1.00	12%	38%	50%
Overall, the kindergarten provides me with the information I need	1–5	4.08	0.81	4%	18%	79%
User participation (N = 284–285)
Interest in your point of view^2	2–5	4.11	0.84	1%	26%	72%
Opportunities to influence the activities^2	2–5	3.79	0.87	3%	42%	56%
Benefits for the child (N = 285–286)
Social development	2–5	4.32	0.69	1%	8%	90%
Content of the activities	1–5	3.97	0.85	5%	23%	72%
Contribution to language development	1–5	3.72	0.99	10%	31%	59%
Overall, how beneficial were the services at the open kindergarten for your child^1	1–5	4.33	0.73	0%	14%	86%
Benefits for the caregivers (N = 286–290)
Support role as a parent	1–5	4.11	0.85	4%	18%	78%
Connect/socialize with other parents	2–5	4.12	0.84	3%	19%	77%
Ask staff for advice	1–5	3.93	1.06	10%	22%	68%
Overall, how beneficial were the services at the open kindergarten for you as a parent?^1	1–5	4.27	0.79	2%	15%	84%
Overall satisfaction (N = 286)
Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the open kindergarten?^2	1–5	4.66	0.59	1%	3%	96%

Answer categories 1 = not at all and 2 = to a minor extent and also 4 = to a great extent and 5 = to a very great extent were combined. ¹1 = not beneficial to 5 = extremely beneficial. ²1 = very dissatisfied to 5 = very satisfied.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics (N = 280–292)

	M	SD	1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.	7.	8.	9.	10.
Demographic characteristics
1. Child >12 mo^1	-	-	-
2. Norwegian language^2	-	-	−.17**	-
User satisfaction categories
3. Well-being of the child	4.24	0.60	−.00	.06	.80
4. Physical environment	4.12	0.76	−.10	−.11	.37**	.67
5. Accessibility	4.16	0.71	−.06	−.01	.36**	.35**	.38
6. Staff	4.49	0.54	−.01	.08	.56**	.31**	.28**	.96
7. Information	3.84	0.79	.01	−.01	.60**	.37**	.36**	.62**	.89
8. User participation	3.95	0.79	.18**	−.02	.54**	.35**	.36**	.59**	.60**	.83
9. Benefits for the child	4.08	0.65	.05	.03	.70**	.44**	.39**	.60**	.67**	.72**	.80
10. Benefits for the caregivers	4.10	0.69	−.01	.14*	.65**	.31**	.31**	.62**	.59**	.64**	.74**	.78
Overall evaluation
11. Overall satisfaction	4.66	0.59	−.02	.11	.45**	.30**	.23**	.45**	.37**	.39**	.49**	.47**

Cronbach’s alpha is presented in cursive in the diagonal above the correlation coefficients. ¹0 = At least one child younger than 13 months and 1 = Child older than 12 months. ²0 = Other language than Norwegian and 1 = Norwegian language.

*p <.05. **p <.001 (two-tailed).

Table 4. Multilevel analyses predicting overall satisfaction (N = 265)

	Model 1		Model 2
Parameter	B	SE	B	SE
Demographic characteristics
Age caregiver	.06	.05	.06	.04
Child >12 months^1	.01	.07	−.05	.06
Education level of caregiver	−.00	.04	.01	.03
Norwegian language^2	−.11	.08	.07	.07
User satisfaction categories
Well-being of the child			−.02	.07
Physical environment			.09*	.04
Accessibility			.01	.04
Staff			.21**	.07
Information			−.02	.05
User participation			.03	.05
Benefits for the child			.18*	.08
Benefits for the caregivers			.17**	.06
−2*log likelihood	446.42		307.97

¹0 = At least one child younger than 13 months and 1 = Child older than 12 months. ²0 = Other language than Norwegian and 1 = Norwegian language.

*p <.05. **p <.01.

Table 5. Multilevel analyses predicting benefits for the caregivers and the child (N = 274)

	Model 3		Model 4
Parameter	B	SE	B	SE
Demographic characteristics
Age caregiver	−.01	.06	−.02	.05
Child >12 months^1	.20*	.09	.09	.07
Education level of caregiver	−.07	.05	−.02	.04
Norwegian language^2	.30**	.11	.19*	.09
User satisfaction categories
Well-being of the child			.47***	.08
Physical environment			−.06	.05
Accessibility			−.11*	.05
Staff			.17	.09
Information			.06	.06
User participation			.20**	.06
−2*log likelihood	590.30		449.88

¹0 = At least one child younger than 13 months and 1 = Child older than 12 months. ²0 = Other language than Norwegian and 1 = Norwegian language.

*p <.05. **p <.01. ***p <.001.

Data availability

Based on the requirements from NSD - Norwegian Centre for Research Data under which permission to conduct the research was obtained, we are unable to make these data openly accessible.